Security Engineer

Dark Trace; Cambridge; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private medical insurance

Life insurance

Salary sacrifice pension

Enhanced family leave

Cycle to work

Birthday off

23 days' holiday (rising to 25)

Job summary

Darktrace is seeking candidates for a hybrid role in Cambridge and London. You will complete a 12‑week structured training programme to develop expertise in threat detection and investigation, working with security analysts on real incidents and learning how the Darktrace platform detects and responds to threats.

Post training you will join the security engineering team to create AI‑driven hypotheses, conduct initial research, and release improvements to customers, collaborating with machine

Qualifications

• PhD in any technical area or equivalent research background.
• Knowledge or interest in the cyber security landscape, including network and AI threats.
• Experience with Python, including asynchronous code and structured data analysis pipelines.
• Knowledge of software engineering best practices (e.g. object‑oriented code, continuous integration, unit testing).
• Experience with AI and machine learning techniques (e.g. statistics, clustering, classification, anomaly detection, embeddings, LLM usage).

Responsibilities

• Complete a 12‑week structured training programme to develop expertise in threat detection and investigation, working alongside security analysts reviewing real incidents, understanding attacker techniques across hybrid networks, email, and AI usage.
• Join the security engineering team after training and own the end‑to‑end creation of AI‑driven hypotheses that investigate activity across the digital estate, including initial research and development, release to customers, and continuous improvement based on feedback, with collaboration across ML, security research, and software engineering teams.

Skills

Python

AI/ML techniques

Software engineering practices

Data analysis pipelines

Threat detection knowledge

Education

PhD or equivalent research background

Job description

Darktrace is a global leader in AI for cybersecurity that keeps organizations ahead of the changing threat landscape every day. Founded in 2013, Darktrace provides the essential cybersecurity platform protecting nearly 10,000 organizations from unknown threats using its proprietary AI. To learn more, visit http://www.darktrace.com.

The Darktrace Active AI Security Platform™ delivers a proactive approach to cyber resilience to secure the business across the entire digital estate—from network to cloud to email. Breakthrough innovations from our R&D teams have resulted in over 200 patent applications filed. Darktrace's platform and services are supported by over 2,400 employees around the world.

Job Description

This is a hybrid position requiring attendance in the Cambridge office at least two days per week. Join our dynamic R&D teams in Cambridge and London, where you will contribute to the development and enhancement of products driving our company's rapid growth.

What will I be doing?

Successful candidates will complete a 12‑week structured training programme to develop expertise in threat detection and investigation, working alongside security analysts reviewing real incidents, understanding attacker techniques across hybrid networks, email, and AI usage. The programme includes direct experience with the Darktrace platform and how it detects and responds to threats, exposure to progressively more complex attacks and environments, and concludes with Darktrace security certification.

Following this training, candidates will join the security engineering team, working directly on Darktrace's Cyber AI Analyst, automating the security analysis process. Candidates will own the end‑to‑end creation of AI‑driven hypotheses that investigate activity across the digital estate, including initial research and development, release to customers, and continuous improvement based on feedback. This process will also include extensive collaboration with machine learning, security research, and software engineering teams.

What experience do I need?

• Ideally a PhD in any technical area, or equivalent research background.
• Knowledge or interest in the cyber security landscape, including network and AI threats.
• Experience with Python, including asynchronous code and structured data analysis pipelines.
• Knowledge of software engineering best practices (e.g. object‑oriented code, continuous integration, unit testing).
• Experience with AI and machine learning techniques (e.g. statistics, clustering, classification, anomaly detection, embeddings, LLM usage).

Benefits

• 23 days' holiday + all public holidays, rising to 25 days after 2 years of service.
• Additional day off for your birthday.
• Private medical insurance which covers you, your cohabiting partner and children.
• Life insurance of 4 times your base salary.
• Salary sacrifice pension scheme.
• Enhanced family leave.
• Confidential Employee Assistance Program.
• Cycle to work scheme.

Darktrace is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran or military status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. Darktrace is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with applicable laws. If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate in the application or interview process, please contact your Talent Partner.