Software Security Architect, Operating Systems | Consumer Devices
Defines the security architecture for a next-generation operating system, spanning trust boundaries, hardware-backed protections, isolation, secure updates, and AI-agent guardrails. The role requires deep privileged-systems expertise, systems programming ability, and experience securing platforms across hardware, firmware, and software.
About the job
Responsibilities
- Define the operating system’s security architecture, trust boundaries, privilege model, and protections for sensitive user data.
- Integrate roots of trust, secure elements, trusted execution environments, and processor security capabilities with the operating system.
- Design platform defenses including secure boot, code signing, attestation, secure updates, key protection, and device recovery.
- Establish isolation and access controls across the kernel, applications, system services, and AI workloads.
- Define guardrails for AI applications and agents accessing information, sensors, tools, and retained context.
- Lead threat modeling and architecture reviews, translating emerging threats into enforceable requirements.
- Prototype solutions, review security-critical systems code, and guide engineering teams through technical and product tradeoffs.
Requirements
- Deep experience designing or securing operating systems, kernels, embedded platforms, hypervisors, or other privileged systems software.
- Complex understanding of operating system internals, including memory protection, process isolation, executable loading, device drivers, and privilege boundaries.
- Experience building security architectures spanning hardware, firmware, operating systems, applications, and cloud services.
- Practical expertise with secure boot, code signing, device identity, attestation, trusted execution, and hardware-backed key protection.
- Ability to write or review systems code in C, C++, Rust, or comparable languages.
- Strong understanding of secure development and exploit mitigation.
- Ability to build threat models, influence cross-functional teams, and communicate security tradeoffs clearly.
Nice to Have
- Experience shipping security technologies for consumer operating systems, mobile platforms, or connected devices.
- Kernel hardening, memory-safety mitigations, virtualization-based security, or secure enclave integration.
- Security architecture for AI agents, sensitive-context isolation, permissioned tool use, or prompt-injection resistance.
- Device provisioning, manufacturing security, secure recovery, or hardware-product lifecycle security.
Compensation
- Annual salary range: $268,000–$342,000 USD.
Skills
Operating Systems, Kernel Security, C, C++, Rust, Secure Boot, Code Signing, Attestation, Trusted Execution Environments, Threat Modeling, Hypervisors, Memory Protection, Process Isolation, Hardware Security
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