Founding Director, Product Security - Physical AI

Akkar; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 260,000 - 380,000; Full time

Job summary

Akkar is seeking a Senior Director of Product Security to architect and lead the security function for a ground-breaking physical-AI robotics platform. You will report to the COO, define strategy, build the team, and embed security across hardware, firmware, AI and connectivity as the product moves toward real-world deployment.

This is a founding leadership role focused on secure-by-design in a complex cyber-physical product.

Qualifications

• 12+ years in security engineering or product security.
• 5+ years leading security organisations.
• Experience building a function from the ground up.
• Deep experience with embedded systems, robotics or autonomous machines.
• Strong understanding of secure boot, firmware, cryptographic key management.
• Experience with supply-chain security.
• Familiarity with IEC 62443, NIST, OWASP, CWE, ITAR and EAR.

Responsibilities

• Own the company's end-to-end Product Security strategy and roadmap.
• Build and lead the Product Security organisation, including hiring, mentoring and defining the future team structure.
• Establish security monitoring, threat detection, escalation and incident response capabilities for deployed robots.
• Work closely with Hardware, Embedded Software, Systems and AI/ML engineering teams to drive security-by-design.
• Define security requirements across secure boot, firmware, SoC/enclave security, communications, OS hardening, AI model integrity and physical attack surfaces.
• Own the security architecture and requirements for OTA updates, including integrity verification and rollback protection.
• Establish product security review and sign-off processes for new features, integrations and releases.
• Develop supply-chain and third-party security requirements across hardware suppliers, manufacturers and technology partners.
• Define physical security, anti-tamper and anti-cloning protections.
• Build security escalation frameworks, response SLAs and incident-management processes.
• Support customer security reviews and help enterprise customers integrate the product into their security environments.
• Advise leadership on regulatory and security considerations across commercial, international and government/defence-adjacent deployments.

Skills

Security leadership

Embedded systems

Robotics security

Threat modeling

OTA security

Job description

Akkar is seeking a Senior Director of Product Security to architect and lead the security function for a ground-breaking physical-AI robotics platform. You will report to the COO, define strategy, build the team, and embed security across hardware, firmware, AI and connectivity as the product moves toward real-world deployment.

This is a founding leadership role focused on secure-by-design in a complex cyber-physical product.