Senior AI Security Engineer

Job Description Summary

The AI Security Engineer is a hands-on technical role responsible for securing the AI systems, models, and pipelines that power Vertex's products. This role partners with product engineering, platform, governance, and information security teams to identify, assess, and mitigate risks specific to large language models, retrieval-augmented generation, agentic workflows, and the AI supply chain. Operating at the intersection of offensive research, defensive engineering, and policy, this role translates the evolving AI threat landscape into concrete, measurable controls.

• Design, develop, and deploy security capabilities that protect AI and Agentic AI systems.

• Perform threat modeling, security reviews, and vulnerability analysis across LLM-enabled applications, RAG systems, inference pipelines, and agentic workflows.

• Conduct hands-on and automated red team testing focused on AI-specific risks, including prompt injection; document reproducible failure modes and drive durable mitigations with engineering teams.

• Build and extend AI security automation, evaluation harnesses, and secure-by-default patterns covering AI system design, development, deployment, and least-privilege agent configurations.

• Define agent coordination, delegation, and escalation patterns; guide developers on security and privacy best practices for agentic coding and MCP-enabled tooling.

• Monitor emerging AI threats and platform changes; translate relevant risks into prioritized controls and ensure full system traceability using identity, security, and logging frameworks.

• Serve as the AI security incident SME, providing rapid triage, root-cause analysis, and proactive collaboration with defensive security teams.

• Identify and resolve cross-team technical risks and dependencies to sustain AI security program delivery.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in security engineering, application security, AI/ML engineering, or security architecture, with hands-on experience securing AI/ML or LLM-based systems.

• Demonstrated ability to independently lead security reviews for complex AI systems and drive mitigation plans across engineering teams with limited oversight.

• Practical experience assessing AI-specific risks: prompt injection, insecure output handling, sensitive data exposure, excessive agency, model and data supply chain weaknesses, and unsafe retrieval or memory patterns.

• Advanced understanding of AI system behavior, including model vulnerabilities, evaluation results, and security-relevant failure modes.

• Proficiency in Python (or equivalent) for security automation, evaluation scripts, test harnesses, and evidence-collection workflows.

• Working knowledge of modern AI stacks — model APIs, orchestration frameworks, vector databases, retrieval pipelines, and agentic workflows — and at least one major cloud platform (AWS, GCP, or Azure).

• Familiarity with AI security and governance frameworks (OWASP LLM Top 10, MITRE ATLAS, NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001); strong written and verbal communication skills for both technical and non-technical audiences.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading AI red team engagements, test-and-evaluation activities, secure AI design reviews, or product security programs across multiple teams.

• Experience deploying, integrating, or securing AI/ML systems in production or customer-facing environments outside of a lab setting.

• Hands-on experience with AI security tooling, model scanning, or custom evaluation harnesses.

• Background in cloud security, IAM, application security, data protection, logging/monitoring, incident response, or security operations for production systems.

• Experience coordinating technical work across product, platform, and security stakeholders.

• External contributions, presentations, or publications in AI security, adversarial AI, AI assurance, or secure AI engineering.

• Equivalent combination of education, training, and relevant professional experience accepted in lieu of a formal degree.

COMMENTS:

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals in this position. Other functions may be assigned, and management retains the right to add or change the duties at any time.

Vertex Values: Together We Win

We're building a team of people who are passionate about making an impact for our customers and committed to how that impact is achieved. Our values define the behaviors, mindset, and culture that make Vertex a great place to grow and do meaningful work.

Play to Win or We Don't Play — If we choose to do something, we're choosing to do it because we plan to win. That mindset raises our bar on product quality, customer outcomes, and how we show up for one another.

Work As a Team, Putting the Customer At the Core — Our customers are our true north. Whatever your role, ask: how will this help a customer succeed today? We earn trust through outcomes, not promises.

Achieve Excellence With Integrity, Speed, and Agility — The market isn't slowing down. We'll move faster, adapt quickly, and never compromise on doing things the right way — for teammates, customers, and partners.

Innovate Boldly With a Growth Mindset — Progress demands smart risk. We'll try new approaches, learn fast, and keep pushing the boundaries — especially where AI can remove friction and unlock value.

Communicate with Care, Candor and Transparency — Honest, constructive conversations make us better. Let's speak plainly about what's working and what isn't and help each other improve.

US Base Salary Range: $120,700.00 - $156,900.00

Base pay offered to new hires may vary based upon factors including relevant industry and job-related skills and experience, geographic location, and business needs.* The range displayed does not encompass the full potential of the role, which allows for further growth and career progression.

In addition, as a part of our total compensation package, this role may be eligible for the Vertex Bonus Plan (VOB), a role-specific sales commission/bonus, and/or equity grants.

Learn more about Life at Vertex and connect with your recruiter for more details regarding Vertex's compensation and benefit programs.

*In no case will your pay fall below applicable local minimum wage requirements.