Security Lead

Cogent Security is on a mission to stop breaches and prevent cybercrime by innovating at the frontier of generative AI systems. We are building the world’s first AI cyber taskforce, composed of AI agents capable of human-caliber reasoning and execution of cybersecurity tasks, that autonomously protects organizations from emerging threats. The early adopters of our technology include some of the world’s most important institutions, spanning public companies, elite universities, and Fortune 500 corporations across industries.

Cogent was founded by a seasoned team of former engineering and product leaders, who bring decades of experience across cybersecurity and technology. The team is fully in-person in San Francisco and New York, and consists of the top software engineering and machine learning talent from leading companies such as Abnormal Security, Coinbase, Microsoft, Tesla, Stripe and more. To support our ambitious growth plans, we recently raised a large Seed round led by Greylock Partners and leading angels across AI, cybersecurity, and enterprise software (e.g. Reid Hoffman and founders of Abnormal, Datadog, and other top companies).

As we execute on our mission, we are constantly pushing ourselves to ACHIEVe:

• Ambition for Excellence

  • We work backwards from the way things should be and constantly measure our progress against it

• Customer Centricity

  • We obsess over the problems our customers face and relentlessly innovate to find the best solutions

• Intellectual Honesty

  • We embrace hard conversations and actively seek the truth

• Intentionality

  • We exhibit good judgment and are thoughtful about tradeoffs

• Extreme Ownership

  • We take pride in our work and never say the words “not my problem”

• Velocity / Bias for Action

  • We don’t leave for tomorrow what can be done today

About the Role

As Security Lead, you will be both a key architect of our product and a steward of Cogent’s own operational security.

What You’ll Do

• Shape the Cogent product at the frontier of AI and cybersecurity

  • Work hand-in-hand with machine learning engineers to build AI agents grounded in real-world security workflows

  • Contribute deep domain insight to shape product strategy, roadmap, and core capabilities

• Build the world’s first AI-native cybersecurity Org

  • Extend and evolve Cogent’s security posture, systems, and incident response capabilities to create the strongest cyber program in the industry

  • Implement processes and tools to protect Cogent and our customers end to end

• Educate the market and elevate the industry

  • Write thought-provoking content, partner with customers, and speak credibly about the role of AI in vulnerability management

  • Help define how the industry thinks about autonomous security

What You’ll Bring

You are a top 1% builder who thrives at the intersection of security and engineering. You bring:

• 10+ years of deep, hands-on experience in security engineering

• Expertise in vulnerability management across the attack surface

• Fluency in Python or a comparable language, with a passion for automation

• A track record of operating at scale in high-stakes, fast-paced environments

• A bias for clarity, velocity, and technical rigor

• (Bonus) Experience working closely with ML, AI, or data science teams

For California Based Applicants

The standard base salary range for this position is $100,000 - $300,000 annually. Compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, job level, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Certain roles may be eligible for variable compensation, equity, and benefits.

We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse company. We do not discriminate based on gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, civil or family status, age, disability, or race.