Cybersecurity Research Engineer

AI Security Assurance; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision benefits

Life insurance

Short-term and long-term disability

Job summary

AI Security Assurance is a remote-first startup researching and developing automated tools for systems security and safety assurance. We seek a senior-born researcher to analyze software behavior, recover insights from code and binaries, and evaluate analysis tools to improve evidence quality.

You will work with AI engineers and systems researchers to design experiments, validate findings, and connect low-level results to higher-level models while navigating complex uncertainties.

Qualifications

• In-depth, hands-on reverse engineering and binary-analysis experience with explanation.

Responsibilities

• Analyze source code and binaries to recover behavior, identify vulnerabilities, and explain triggering conditions.
• Evaluate reverse-engineering and program-analysis tools, investigating errors and ambiguities.
• Help design and review reference cases and datasets for reproducible evaluation of recovery and security-analysis methods.
• Define technical requirements and experiments for analysis tools, building and validating them with AI assistance.
• Connect low-level findings to higher-level models while preserving actual behavior, defects, dependencies, state, and ordering.
• Explain findings and uncertainty clearly, review work, and help teammates develop sound analysis practices.

Skills

Reverse engineering

Binary analysis

C/C++ knowledge

Assembly language

Debugging tools

Scripting/programming

Experiment design

Clear communication

Education

No degree requirement

Tools

Ghidra

IDA

Binary Ninja

Job description

Remote / U.S.-Based | Anticipated full-time W-2 employment

The Opportunity - Please Read First

AI Security Assurance is recruiting in anticipation of a government-funded research and development contract. Position availability and the start date depend on contract award and funding. We are beginning conversations now with people interested in the work and available to join if the contract is awarded. There is no guarantee of award or employment.

About Us

AI Security Assurance is a remote-first startup developing automated tools for systems security and safety assurance. Our research connects source code and binary behavior to higher-level models so that interactions, security weaknesses, and their consequences can be examined across a system. We combine systems-theoretic analysis, formal methods, and AI-assisted engineering, with evidence and human judgment guiding the results.

The Role

You will bring deep cybersecurity and reverse-engineering knowledge to research on recovering software behavior and evaluating automated analysis. Your judgment will help the team determine what tools can establish, where they fail, and what evidence is needed to trust a finding.

Working with our AI engineers, software developers, and systems-assurance researchers, you will:

• Analyze source code and binaries to recover behavior, identify vulnerabilities, and explain the conditions that trigger them.
• Evaluate reverse-engineering and program-analysis tools, investigating incorrect, incomplete, or ambiguous results.
• Help design and review reference cases and datasets that support reproducible evaluation of recovery and security-analysis methods.
• Define technical requirements and experiments for analysis tools, and work with the team to build, adapt, and validate them using AI assistance where useful.
• Connect low-level findings to higher-level models while preserving actual behavior, including defects, dependencies, state, and ordering.
• Explain findings and uncertainty clearly, review technical work, and help other team members develop sound analysis practices.

What We're Looking For

We value demonstrated depth and sound judgment, with no fixed degree or years-of-experience requirement. You should be able to investigate difficult problems independently and explain how you validated your conclusions.

Must-haves:

• In-depth, hands-on reverse engineering and binary-analysis experience, supported by work you can explain in detail.
• Vulnerability-research experience: understanding a weakness, its triggering conditions, and how to validate its security implications.
• Strong low-level knowledge of C or C++, assembly, memory, and software or firmware internals; practical experience with debuggers and tools such as Ghidra, IDA, or Binary Ninja.
• Practical static and/or dynamic analysis skills, with the critical judgment to recognize misleading tool output and test competing explanations.
• Ability to read and reason about code, use scripting or programming to support investigations, and guide and validate tools developed with teammates and AI assistance.
• Ability to plan reproducible experiments, document evidence and limitations, and collaborate across disciplines.
• Ability to work in the U.S. without sponsorship; willingness/ability to obtain a U.S. security clearance for future government work.

Nice-to-haves:

• Fuzzing, firmware analysis, compiler or decompiler knowledge, or contributions to program-analysis tools.
• Experience evaluating AI-assisted analysis or developing research datasets and benchmarks.
• Exposure to STPA/STPA-Sec, systems modeling, formal methods, or connecting software vulnerabilities to system-level weaknesses.

What We Offer

• Annual base salary of $140,000 - $160,000, based on relevant capabilities and experience, for the anticipated full-time W-2 position.
• Remote work within the United States, a multidisciplinary team, and the opportunity to shape research methods and tools.
• Health, dental, and vision benefits; life insurance; and short-term and long-term disability coverage.

Transparency Note: Employment would begin when awarded, funded work starts, with the initial term tied to that contract. Any extension would depend on additional funding, business needs, and performance.

EEO: AI Security Assurance is an equal opportunity employer, including disability, protected veterans, and other characteristics protected by law. AI Security Assurance operates a drug-free workplace.