Founder's Associate (£110k + Equity) at Refractal

Jack & Jill; Greater London; On-site; GBP 94,000 - 127,000; Full time

Job summary

Refractal, a London-based seed-stage startup building security infrastructure for autonomous systems, is hiring a Founder's Associate to work directly with the co-founders on research, product and commercial strategy.

This versatile role blends technical exploration with business development, requiring analytical thinking and the ability to move fast in a high-ownership environment while onsite in London five days a week.

Responsibilities

• Synthesize information across research and product to guide strategic decisions on threat vectors and pipeline metrics.
• Own end-to-end operational projects, from building internal data pipelines to shaping high-stakes conversations with government defense teams and enterprise customers.
• Act as a versatile force multiplier for the executive team, bridging the gap between technical depth and commercial execution in a fast-paced environment.

Job description

Job Title

Founder's Associate

Salary

£110k + Equity

Company Description

Refractal is a London-based seed-stage startup building critical security infrastructure for autonomous systems. Recognized by MIT's CSAIL Alliances and Google's Gemini Cybersecurity Startup Forum, the team develops adaptive defense tools to protect agents from offensive cyber operations, achieving detection speeds 11x more efficient than current market alternatives.

Job Description

As Founder's Associate, you will partner directly with Refractal's co-founders to navigate the intersection of technical research and commercial strategy. You'll tackle high-impact problems across operations, product development, and customer engagement. This is a high-ownership role designed for a versatile generalist ready to build the defense layer for the AI era.

Location

London, UK

Why this role is remarkable

• Work directly alongside founders with elite pedigrees from MIT, NASA, and top-tier VC, gaining a front-row seat to scaling a category-defining AI security company.
• Join a mission-critical startup tackling the urgent 2026 shift where autonomous agents require specialized security infrastructure beyond simple model alignment.
• Benefit from Refractal's unique market position, supported by Google's Gemini Cybersecurity Startup Forum and validated by MIT's CSAIL Alliances program.

What You Will Do

• Collaborate across research and product to synthesize complex information, helping the founders make strategic decisions on threat vectors and pipeline metrics.
• Own end-to-end operational projects, from building internal data pipelines to shaping high-stakes conversations with government defense teams and enterprise customers.
• Act as a versatile force multiplier for the executive team, bridging the gap between technical depth and commercial execution in a fast-paced environment.

The ideal candidate

• Proven analytical and research background with the ability to synthesize complex data into actionable strategy, likely from a startup, consulting, or investing background.
• Deep curiosity for AI and cybersecurity with a generalist mindset, comfortable switching between technical research and commercial operations with minimal direction.
• Thrives in high-ambiguity environments and possesses the grit to own problems end-to-end while working onsite five days a week in London.