Founding Security Engineer – AI Platform & Cloud Security

Qualis; New York (NY); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Qualis is building a core founding security team for a cloud-native cybersecurity startup focused on AI-native risk protection. You will own and strengthen security across a modern Kubernetes-based infrastructure and collaborate with engineering to deploy secure-by-default systems.

The role emphasizes hands-on security automation, incident response readiness, and the ability to shape security strategy as the platform scales.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in Infrastructure Security, Platform Engineering, or Security Operations.
• Hands-on experience securing Kubernetes environments, including RBAC, network policies, admission control, and secrets management.
• Experience designing and operating SIEM, SOAR, and detection & response capabilities.
• Strong coding ability and experience building automation or security tooling.
• Proven incident response experience, including working cross-functionally during high-pressure situations.

Responsibilities

• Own and strengthen the security posture across a modern cloud-native infrastructure.
• Build and improve detection, monitoring, and incident response capabilities.
• Design and manage identity, secrets, credential, and access management systems.
• Partner closely with engineering to implement secure-by-default infrastructure, IAM, network segmentation, and access controls.
• Help define the security strategy for next-generation AI and agentic systems as the platform evolves.
• Play a key role in building a scalable security function as the company grows.

Skills

Kubernetes security

RBAC policies

SIEM SOAR

Automation tooling

Incident response

Job description

Qualis is building a core founding security team for a cloud-native cybersecurity startup focused on AI-native risk protection. You will own and strengthen security across a modern Kubernetes-based infrastructure and collaborate with engineering to deploy secure-by-default systems.

The role emphasizes hands-on security automation, incident response readiness, and the ability to shape security strategy as the platform scales.