Senior Backend Engineer | Cybersecurity AI AppSec

Escape; Paris (TX); Hybrid; USD 97,000 - 131,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Health insurance

Meal vouchers

Sport subscription

Learning budget

Premium equipment

Open-source time

Conference research opportunities

Job summary

Escape, a Paris-based AI-powered cybersecurity leader, is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer. You will join a security-focused team to translate cutting-edge research into production-grade systems for autonomous, large-scale vulnerability detection and testing.

You will work with Python and Go on Kubernetes-based infrastructure, delivering fast, scalable scans and reliable platforms while collaborating across research and engineering to advance memory models and data architectures.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of backend engineering, security research, or applied R&D in a product environment.

Responsibilities

• Agentic scanning systems: Build systems that autonomously explore applications, maintain context, and execute complex testing strategies.
• Security detection engine: Design and implement reliable, production-grade vulnerability detection logic.
• AI-driven testing: Integrate LLMs and structured reasoning into scanning workflows to improve coverage and reduce false positives.
• Distributed infrastructure: Work on systems that orchestrate thousands of concurrent scans (Kubernetes, queues, resource management).
• Performance & reliability: Ensure scans are fast, deterministic, and cost-efficient despite high complexity and concurrency.
• Core platform design: Contribute to architecture decisions around memory systems, execution environments, and data models.

Skills

Backend engineering

Security research

System design

Distributed systems

Python

Go

Tools

Kubernetes

PostgreSQL

Redis

Kafka

Playwright

Grafana

GitLab CI

Terraform

Job description

Location: Paris (75002) | Hybrid (2 days remote/week)

About Escape

Join Escape, a fast-growing leader in AI-powered cybersecurity. Our mission-driven engineering team (18 engineers, 4 technical leads, 3 product owners) is dedicated to redefining application security with cutting-edge detection and automation.

We operate at the forefront of technology and research from our Paris office.

About the Role

As a Senior Backend Engineer you will work in a team with talented security researchers. You’ll champion innovation, and ensure research translates into impactful production solutions.

What You'll Do

• Agentic scanning systems: Build systems that autonomously explore applications, maintain context, and execute complex testing strategies.
• Security detection engine: Design and implement reliable, production-grade vulnerability detection logic (injection, auth issues, business logic flaws, etc.).
• AI-driven testing: Integrate LLMs and structured reasoning into scanning workflows to improve coverage and reduce false positives.
• Distributed infrastructure: Work on systems that orchestrate thousands of concurrent scans (Kubernetes, queues, resource management).
• Performance & reliability: Ensure scans are fast, deterministic, and cost-efficient despite high complexity and concurrency.
• Core platform design: Contribute to architecture decisions around memory systems, execution environments, and data models.

Our Tech Stack & Focus

• Languages: Python (primary), Go (performance/network components)
• Runtime: Containerized workloads on Kubernetes (EKS), supporting long and resource-intensive scans
• Scaling: Kubernetes Jobs & queue-driven autoscaling
• Web Automation: Playwright + headless Chromium
• Data: PostgreSQL, S3-compatible object storage, Redis (limited use)
• Messaging: Kafka
• Observability: OpenTelemetry, Grafana Cloud
• CI/CD & Infra: GitLab CI, Terraform

Perks & Benefits

• Significant equity (Stock Options/BSPCE) - become a core stakeholder in Escape's journey
• Top-tier health insurance with Alan
• Meal vouchers with Swile
• EGYM Wellpass sport subscription
• Continuous learning: budgets for books and online courses
• Premium equipment to support your work
• Dedicated time for open-source projects
• Present research at top international conferences (RSAC, BlackHat, DEFCON, BSides, APIDays)

About You

• 4+ years of experience in backend engineering, security research, or applied R&D in a product environment
• Strong software engineering fundamentals and ability to work across domains (systems, networking, web architectures)
• Proficient in at least one backend language (Python, Go, or similar)
• Experience designing and shipping production systems with measurable impact
• Ability to translate complex ideas or research into reliable, scalable implementations
• Strong analytical mindset, with a focus on pragmatism and impact
• Comfortable collaborating across engineering and security to deliver end-to-end solutions

Nice to have:

• Experience in application security (web security, pentesting, bug bounty, etc.)
• Exposure to AI/LLM-based systems
• Familiarity with browser automation or large-scale distributed systems