Lead Security Researcher

Escape; Paris; Sur place; EUR 75 000 - 95 000; Plein temps

Avantages offerts par ce poste

Significant equity

Top-tier health insurance

Meal vouchers

Sport subscription

Access to books and online courses

Top-tier equipment

Free time for Open Source Projects

Opportunities to present at international conferences

Résumé du poste

A leading AI cybersecurity startup is seeking a Lead Security Researcher in Paris to enhance vulnerability detection capabilities for their products. The role emphasizes research, algorithm design, and cross-team collaboration to ensure high efficacy of security solutions. Candidates should have over 5 years of experience in security research, proficiency in compiled languages like C/C++, and a strong analytical mindset. Additional perks include equity, top-tier health insurance, and opportunities to present research internationally.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in security research or R&D roles.
• Strong depth in web security or related domains.
• Proficiency in at least one compiled language.

Responsabilités

• Research new vulnerabilities and detection techniques.
• Design and improve detection algorithms.
• Collaborate with other teams to integrate research outputs.

Connaissances

Security research

Vulnerability detection

Algorithm design

Collaboration skills

Analytical mindset

Formation

Degree in Computer Science or related field

Outils

C/C++

Go

Rust

Description du poste

👉 We are seeking a Lead Security Researcher to join Escape and play a central role in advancing the detection capabilities of our DAST and ASM products.

This role focuses on applied research: discovering novel vulnerability detection techniques, improving existing algorithms, and ensuring Escape remains best‑in‑class in terms of accuracy, performance, and real‑world relevance.

As part of the Security Research team, you will work on transforming security insights into concrete detection logic that runs at scale in production. Your work will directly shape the effectiveness of Escape’s scanners and have a measurable impact on customer security outcomes.

Context

• Location: Paris (75002), 2 days remote/week
• Company: Escape – Leading AI Cybersecurity Startup
• Cofounders: CEO Tristan Kalos and CTO Antoine Carossio
• Engineering Team: 15 Engineers, 4 Technical Leads, 1 Product Owner
• You’ll be working in a close‑knit team of 3 outstanding engineers under supervision of a technical lead.

Key Responsibilities

• Vulnerability Research: Research and identify new classes of vulnerabilities and novel detection techniques across web applications, APIs, and modern application architectures.
• Algorithm Design & Improvement: Design, evaluate, and continuously improve detection algorithms with a focus on signal quality, performance, and reduction of false positives.
• Applied R&D: Turn research ideas into practical, implementable detection logic suitable for large‑scale, automated scanning.
• Performance & Accuracy Focus: Evaluate trade‑offs between coverage, accuracy, and execution cost to keep scanners efficient at scale.
• Cross‑Team Collaboration: Work closely with the Scanners and Platform teams to ensure research outputs are effectively integrated into production systems.
• Technical Leadership: Act as a senior contributor within the research team, setting technical direction, reviewing research approaches, and mentoring other researchers.
• Technology Watch: Stay up to date with emerging vulnerabilities, exploitation techniques, and defensive research in the application security ecosystem.

Tech Stack

• Languages: Compiled languages (C/C++, Go, Rust) and scripting languages for prototyping.
• Research Focus: Vulnerability discovery, detection algorithms, and performance‑oriented analysis.
• Execution Context: Research outputs integrated into large‑scale automated scanners.
• Collaboration Surface: Close interaction with production systems and distributed scanning workloads.
• Engineering Focus: Accuracy, performance, and applicability of detection logic at scale.

Perks

• 💸 Significant equity (Stock Options/BSCPE), making you a true stakeholder in our success.
• ❤️🩹 Top‑tier health insurance with Alan.
• 🍕 Meal vouchers with Swile.
• 💪 Sport subscription with EGYM Wellpass (ex Gymlib).
• 📚 A place to learn and grow: Access to books and online courses to help you excel in your role.
• 💻 Top‑tier equipment to do your best work.
• 🎁 Free time to work on cool Open Source Projects.
• 🌎 Opportunities to present research and engineering work at international conferences such as RSAC, BSides, BlackHat, DEFCON, APIDays (New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco, London, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona).

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience: Proven experience in a security research or R&D‑focused role, ideally within an applied or product‑oriented environment.
• Deep Expertise: Strong depth in at least one security or computer science domain (e.g. web security, program analysis, protocols, compilers, networking).
• Broad CS Knowledge: Solid understanding of computer science fundamentals, enabling cross‑domain reasoning and problem solving.
• Compiled Languages: Proficiency in at least one compiled language such as C/C++, Go, or Rust.
• Results‑Oriented Research: Demonstrated ability to drive research from idea to tangible, measurable outcomes.
• Collaboration Skills: Comfortable working with software engineers to transition research into scalable, production‑ready systems.
• Curiosity & Rigor: Strong analytical mindset, intellectual curiosity, and high standards for technical rigor.

We respect your time and will make it quick and efficient. The entire process will be completed within 1 week.

🤓 1 meeting with the HR representative – 30 minutes

💻 Technical challenge

🤔 1 technical deep dive with the Technical Lead – 1 hour

👋 1 personal experience interview with the Head of Engineering – 1 hour

👀 1 leadership & strategy interview with the CTO – 30 minutes

💌 Formal hiring proposal.