Founding IT Security Engineer - AI Research Lab

MATS Research, Inc.; Berkeley (CA); Hybrid; USD 210,000 - 290,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

In-office catered meals

Professional development support

Hybrid work arrangement

Job summary

MATS Research, Inc. is seeking a Cybersecurity Engineer (IT Security) to build and own our corporate IT and security function across Berkeley and London. This role focuses on endpoint, identity, and collaboration security with emphasis on enabling secure research partnerships.

You will lead the security program, implement Zero-Trust concepts, manage audits (SOC 2, ISO 27001) and data-protection obligations across UK/US, and ensure researchers can move fast with trusted security controls.

Qualifications

• Security generalist capable of standing up IT/security from scratch.
• Autonomous in early-stage environment with ambiguity.
• Familiarity with compliance frameworks (SOC 2, ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials).
• Ability to translate security requirements for non-technical staff.

Responsibilities

• Build and own IT security function for hybrid, multi-location staff.
• Define identity lifecycle and implement access controls (Zero Trust, SSO, MFA).
• Secure email, phishing protection, and secure collaboration workflows.
• Lead audits (SOC 2, ISO 27001) and vendor security reviews across UK/US.
• Run day-to-day security program: access reviews, backups, incident response.

Skills

Security generalist

Autonomy

SIEM

Identity management

Compliance awareness

Tools

Rippling MDM

EDR (CrowdStrike/SentinelOne/Defender)

SIEM (Panther/Sumo/Datadog)

KnowBe4 / Hoxhunt

Vanta / Drata / Secureframe

Job description

MATS Research, Inc. is seeking a Cybersecurity Engineer (IT Security) to build and own our corporate IT and security function across Berkeley and London. This role focuses on endpoint, identity, and collaboration security with emphasis on enabling secure research partnerships.

You will lead the security program, implement Zero-Trust concepts, manage audits (SOC 2, ISO 27001) and data-protection obligations across UK/US, and ensure researchers can move fast with trusted security controls.