Lead Offensive Secuirty Engineer

webAI; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Health, dental, and vision benefits

401(k) match

Equity options

Health stipend

Education support

Wellness subscription

Free parking

Flexible time off

Parental leave

Life insurance

Job summary

webAI is building decentralized, on-edge AI infrastructure with private, sovereign AI. We seek a highly technical Offensive Security Engineer who works directly with product and platform engineers, contributing production code and shaping security-first architecture.

Rust coding or peer-to-peer systems experience is required. This founding role involves threat modeling, secure design, and vulnerability remediation across the IDN platform, as part of a hands-on engineering team.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in software engineering, security, or secure systems engineering.
• Experience with Rust and production systems.
• Hands-on security-focused code reviews and vulnerability analysis.
• Experience embedding with engineering teams and contributing to software design.
• Strong knowledge of distributed systems and secure communications.

Responsibilities

• Design and build secure features throughout the software development lifecycle.
• Participate in architecture reviews, identifying security risks early.
• Contribute production-quality Rust code for security-critical features.
• Design secure communication patterns, authentication, and cryptographic services.
• Evaluate features for security implications and suggest improvements.
• Lead remediation of vulnerabilities from testing and assessments.
• Prioritize security improvements with performance and product needs.
• Collaborate with architects to address security risks in design phases.

Skills

Rust

Security reviews

Peer-to-Peer

Threat modeling

Distributed systems

Security-focused coding

Job description

About Us:

webAI is pioneering the future of artificial intelligence by establishing the first distributed AI infrastructure dedicated to personalized AI. We recognize the evolving demands of a data-driven society for scalability and flexibility, and we firmly believe that the future of AI lies in distributed processing at the edge, bringing computation closer to the source of data generation. Our mission is to build a future where a company's valuable data and intellectual property remain entirely private, enabling the deployment of large-scale AI models directly on standard consumer hardware without compromising the information embedded within those models. We are developing an end-to-end platform that is secure, scalable, and fully under the control of our users, empowering enterprises with AI that understands their unique business. We are a team driven by truth, ownership, tenacity, and humility, and we seek individuals who resonate with these core values and are passionate about shaping the next generation of AI.

About the Role:

We're building the next generation of decentralized, on-edge AI infrastructure—software that runs securely where data is created, not where it's collected. Our platform enables private, sovereign AI through peer-to-peer networking, edge computing, and modern distributed systems.

We're looking for a highly technical Offensive Security Engineer who thrives at the intersection of software engineering and cybersecurity. Rather than operating as a centralized security reviewer, you'll work directly alongside product and platform engineers, influencing architecture, contributing production code, and helping teams build security into the product from day one. Rust coding or Peer-to-Peer systems experience is required for this role.

This founding role is ideal for someone who thinks like an attacker, engineers like a builder, and enjoys solving difficult security problems alongside developers. You'll serve as a hands-on engineering resource responsible for architecture reviews, threat modeling, security-focused development, and vulnerability remediation across the IDN platform. the embedded security expert for one or more engineering teams while remaining a hands-on contributor throughout the software development lifecycle.

Responsibilities:

• Live within the engineering team; design and build secure features throughout the software development lifecycle.
• Participate in architecture and design reviews, identifying security risks early and collaborating with engineers on practical, scalable solutions.
• Contribute production-quality code in Rust and other languages as needed to implement security-critical functionality.
• Design and implement secure communication patterns, authentication mechanisms, and cryptographic services for decentralized systems.
• Evaluate new product features for security implications and recommend design improvements before implementation begins.
• Perform security-focused code reviews with an emphasis on exploitability, resiliency, and secure implementation patterns.
• Lead implementation efforts to remediate vulnerabilities discovered through internal testing, penetration testing, or external assessments.
• Work with engineering teams to prioritize security improvements while balancing performance, usability, and product requirements.
• Design, implement, and improve security controls for peer-to-peer networking, distributed protocols, edge AI workloads, and device-to-device communications.
• Serve as the dedicated security engineering partner for the IDN team, influencing architecture, implementation, and vulnerability remediation activities across the platform.
• Conduct threat modeling exercises for new platform capabilities, distributed protocols, network services, and architectural changes
• Assess security implications of peer discovery, node identity, trust establishment, relay services, NAT traversal, encrypted communications, and distributed trust models.
• Evaluate platform resilience against malicious nodes, protocol abuse, unauthorized access, data manipulation, and other adversarial behaviors common to decentralized systems.
• Partner with architects and engineering leadership to identify and address security risks during architecture and design phases before implementation begins.

Qualifications:

• 8+ years of experience in software engineering, application security, product security, or secure systems engineering.
• Software engineering experience with Rust, including developing production systems.
• Hands-on experience performing security-focused code reviews and vulnerability analysis.
• Experience embedding with engineering teams and contributing directly to software design and implementation.
• Deep understanding of secure software development practices and secure-by-design principles.
• Experience performing architecture reviews and translating security requirements into engineering solutions.
• Strong knowledge of distributed systems architecture, peer-to-peer networking concepts, trust models, identity systems, secure communications, and modern application architectures.
• Experience implementing or integrating authentication / authorization systems, cryptographic libraries & protocols, secure communications, key management, identity & trust services
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with software engineers to deliver secure, maintainable solutions.

Benefits:

We strive to provide competitive benefits to all employees. The benefits listed in this posting generally apply to U.S.-based employees. For employees hired outside the United States, benefits may vary based on local law, country-specific requirements, and the employment platform or entity through which the employee is hired.

• Competitive salary
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision benefits package
• 401(k) match
• Equity options
• $200/month Health & Wellness stipend
• Continuing Education support
• $500/year Function Health subscription
• Free parking for in-office employees
• Flexible Time Off (FTO)
• Parental leave for eligible employees
• Supplemental life insurance

We at webAI are committed to living out the core values we have put in place as the foundation on which we operate as a team. We seek individuals who exemplify the following:

• Truth - Emphasizing transparency and honesty in every interaction and decision.
• Ownership - Taking full responsibility for one's actions and decisions, demonstrating commitment to the success of our clients.
• Tenacity - Persisting in the face of challenges and setbacks, continually striving for excellence and improvement.
• Humility - Maintaining a respectful and learning-oriented mindset, acknowledging the strengths and contributions of others.

webAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. We adhere to these principles in all aspects of employment, including recruitment, hiring, training, compensation, promotion, benefits, social and recreational programs, and discipline. In addition, it is the policy of webAI to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified employees who have protected disabilities to the extent required by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances where a particular employee works.