Principal Engineer - Security AI

Uber; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 302,000 - 336,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonuses

Equity

Benefits

Job summary

Uber is seeking a Principal Engineer focused on Security in the era of AI, based in Sunnyvale, CA. You will lead efforts to secure AI systems, LLMs, and agentic platforms, shaping security practices across infrastructure and apps.

You'll collaborate with senior security leadership and engineering leaders across AI/ML teams to define a long-term security roadmap, mentor engineers, and influence development velocity while maintaining high assurance and reliability.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering with security focus.
• Proven track record as a technical leader—driving design, influencing architecture, and mentoring senior engineers.
• Expert knowledge in secure systems design, cryptography, cloud security, identity and access management, zero trust architecture, or AI/agentic security.
• Hands-on experience building or securing AI/ML platforms, LLMs, or agentic systems, with ability to anticipate new threats and define a long-term security roadmap.
• Strong coding skills in Go, Python, Java, C++, or Rust.
• Experience building scalable, secure infrastructure and developer tooling.

Responsibilities

• AI & Security Leadership: Lead Uber’s approach to securing AI systems, including LLMs, agents, and next-gen infrastructure.
• Engineer at Core: Design, prototype, and ship secure systems and tools; contribute to code reviews, frameworks, and libraries that harden infrastructure and apps.
• Technical Leadership: Serve as a trusted security domain expert across identity, access, data protection, secure networking, and AI/agentic systems.
• Architecture & Strategy: Drive long-term security-focused architecture decisions to balance security, scalability, and velocity.
• Hands-on Problem Solving: Investigate incidents, dive into code, and solve hard security challenges.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with infrastructure, product engineering, and business teams to embed security.
• Innovation & Research: Stay ahead of emerging threats and technologies like cloud, AI agents, zero trust, and supply chain security.

Skills

Security leadership

AI security

Cloud security

Identity & access management

Secure systems design

Programming

Education

Advanced degree (Master’s or PhD)

Tools

Go

Python

Java

C++

Rust

Job description

About the role and team

Uber’s Security Engineering team’s mission is to protect, defend, and secure Uber’s products, infrastructure and data by building highly available, scalable and extensible security solutions and services. We are focused on proactively identifying and remediating security risks as well as swiftly detecting and mitigating security incidents. In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity, we continuously adapt and evolve our defenses in order to always stay one step ahead of potential threats.

As a passionate and pragmatic technologist, you will lead efforts within the organization to drive the development and operations of security services and frameworks to support user-facing products and platforms across Uber. At Uber, Principal Engineers are among the top 2% of our engineering community—senior technologists who combine vision with execution. They are trusted experts who design at scale, write production-quality code, mentor senior engineers, and set the technical culture across teams.

In this role, you will be the Principal Engineer focused on Security in the era of AI. As machine learning and generative AI reshape technology, new security challenges and opportunities are emerging at scale. Uber is looking for a leader who can anticipate, design, and implement security solutions that protect our systems and users while enabling rapid innovation.

You’ll work directly with Uber’s senior security leadership and partner with engineering leaders across infrastructure, product, and AI/ML teams. The impact of this role spans the company: defining how Uber secures agentic systems, LLM platforms, and AI-driven products that touch millions of people worldwide.

What you’ll do

• AI & Security Leadership: Lead Uber’s approach to securing AI systems, including LLMs, agents, and next-gen infrastructure. Develop strategies for access management, monitoring, and threat detection in an AI-first world.


• Engineer at Core: Design, prototype, and ship secure systems and tools. Contribute to code reviews, frameworks, and libraries that harden our infrastructure and applications.


• Technical Leadership: Serve as a trusted technical leader and domain expert in cybersecurity—covering areas like identity, access, data protection, secure networking, and AI/agentic systems.


• Architecture & Strategy: Drive long-term architecture decisions with a focus on security, scalability, and developer velocity. Influence engineering practices across the organization to embed security into design.


• Hands-on Problem Solving: Investigate incidents, dive into code, and solve the hardest security challenges.


• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with infrastructure, product engineering, and business teams to integrate security seamlessly.


• Innovation & Research: Stay ahead of emerging threats and technologies (cloud, AI agents, zero trust, supply chain security) and apply them to our environment.

What you’ll need

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering, with deep expertise in security.


• Proven track record as a technical leader—driving design, influencing architecture, and mentoring senior engineers.


• Expert knowledge in one or more of: secure systems design, applied cryptography, cloud security, identity and access management, zero trust architecture, or AI/agentic security.


• Hands-on experience building or securing AI/ML platforms, LLMs, or agentic systems, with the ability to anticipate new classes of threats and define a long-term security roadmap.


• Strong coding skills in languages such as Go, Python, Java, C++, or Rust.


• Experience building scalable, reliable, and secure infrastructure and developer tooling.


• Hands-on problem solver with ability to dive into complex codebases and debug.


• Strong communication skills with ability to influence executives, peers, and engineers alike.


• Passion for building secure systems that enable business innovation rather than slow it down.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree (Master’s or PhD) in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.


• Experience in rapidly scaling tech environments, taking security products from zero-to-one.

Ready to Ride?

This isn't the kind of place where you follow a playbook — it's where you help write one. If you're driven by impact, energized by challenge, and ready to shape how the world moves — we'd love to hear from you.

You may be eligible for bonuses, equity, and other compensation, as well as a range of benefits.

Offices remain key to collaboration and Uber's culture. Unless approved for full remote work, employees must spend at least 50% of their time in-office. Some roles, like those at greenlight hubs, require full-time in-office presence. Ask your Recruiter for details about this role's requirements.

Uber is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know by completing this form.

For Seattle, WA-based roles: The base salary range for this role is USD $302,000 per year - USD $336,000 per year.

For Sunnyvale, CA-based roles: The base salary range for this role is USD $302,000 per year - USD $336,000 per year.

For all US locations, you will be eligible to participate in Uber's bonus program, and may be offered an equity award & other types of comp. All full-time employees are eligible to participate in a 401(k) plan. You will also be eligible for various benefits.