Staff Security Engineer, WRITER
Application Security
$204-240k
Offers Equity
Enterprise AI platform for agentic work
Be an early applicant
Enterprise AI platform for agentic work
501-1000 employees
Be an early applicant
$204-240k
Offers Equity
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To bring generative AI to the enterprise.
Role
Who you are
- Minimum 4 years of hands-on experience in application security engineering, with a proven track record of securing large-scale production systems—bonus points if you've worked in fast-growing startups or high-growth environments
- Understanding of developer experience and developer workflows for shipping features and products. You care deeply about reducing risk while considering velocity of engineers
- Technical expertise in at least two programming languages (Python, Java, Go, JavaScript/TypeScript) and the ability to read and review code across multiple languages, understanding both business logic and security implications
- Knowledge of security tools and methodologies including SAST/DAST solutions, vulnerability management platforms, security testing frameworks, and DevSecOps practices—you know which tools to use and when automation beats manual review
- Excellent communication skills that allow you to translate complex security concepts into clear recommendations for both technical and non-technical audiences—you can explain why something matters and motivate teams to action
- A builder's mindset that looks for opportunities to automate, scale, and empower rather than create bottlenecks—you understand that security enables the business, not blocks it
- Alignment with WRITER's values of Connect (building strong relationships across teams), Challenge (pushing the boundaries of what's possible in AI security), and Own (taking end-to-end responsibility for the security of our platform)
- *This role is open to Mid, Sr. and Staff level candidates
What the job involves
- This is where security meets innovation at enterprise scale
- As a staff security engineer, applications at WRITER, you'll be building the security foundations that protect the AI systems powering some of the world's most recognizable brands
- You'll work at the intersection of application security, AI infrastructure, and developer enablement—partnering with engineering teams to embed security into every line of code while ensuring our platform remains both powerful and trustworthy
- The opportunity is massive: you'll help define how enterprise AI applications are secured, from threat modeling our LLM architectures to building automated security controls that scale across our growing platform
- This isn't about saying "no"—it's about finding creative ways to say "yes, and here's how we do it securely"
- You'll tackle challenges that most security engineers never encounter: securing AI agents, protecting training data pipelines, and designing controls for systems that didn't exist a few years ago
- This role is hybrid from our New York City, San Francisco, or Seattle offices, reporting to the head of security engineering
- Build security into the DNA of our AI platform by conducting threat modeling sessions with product teams, designing secure architectures for new features, and ensuring security considerations shape product decisions from day one—not after the fact
- Own and evolve our application security program including establish and maintain SAST/DAST scanning in CI/CD pipelines, conducting security code reviews for critical changes, and building automation that catches vulnerabilities before they reach production
- Partner with engineering teams to establish and champion secure coding standards, creating reusable security patterns and libraries that make it easier for developers to build securely by default
- Design and recommend security features and products that help secure customer environments. You are the advocate and the vision for how we protect and secure customers.
- Integrate and leverage AI agents to help increase velocity for the security team and the overarching engineering org to ensure that we are proactive in minimizing risk while we build products
- Lead security assessments and penetration testing of WRITER's applications, AI services, and APIs, identifying vulnerabilities across our tech stack and working collaboratively with teams to remediate issues at scale
- Design and implement security controls for protecting data pipelines, model training environments, and customer-facing AI agents
- Stay ahead of emerging threats in the AI/ML security landscape, researching attack vectors specific to LLMs and generative AI, and proactively building defenses against novel risks
Our take
AI-assisted writing tools have taken off over recent years. With the likes of high-exposure company Grammarly accelerating adoption of such tools, a flurry of startups have appeared to offer their own takes. WRITER’s angle is to leverage AI as a means of standardizing and scaling both content and communications for business teams. The tool offers auto filling and inline suggestions that keep content aligned with pre-determined company language and style guides.
This branded fine-tuning function distinguishes it from full copy-generation competitors, as well as from Grammarly itself, which is a more generalist copyediting tool. It subsequently caters to major enterprise clients looking to maintain standards across multiple and sprawling teams, and the company has managed to net major clients like Deloitte, Twitter, UiPath, and Accenture.
While AI-related buzz remains solidly around generative AI's like ChatGPT and Bard, WRITER's narrow target market - in which it has already found success - supplies plenty of scope to grow, as AI copyediting tools look set to rapidly become content industry standard. With continued new launches and updates to its offerings, as well as an impressive $200 million Series C awarded in 2024, the company is well-placed for further success.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
229% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 4 rounds)
Nov 2024
$200m
SERIES C
Sep 2023
$100m
SERIES B
Total funding: $326m
Company benefits
- Health: Selection of employer-covered medical plans, plus dental, vision, life insurance, and FSA.
- Family-friendly: Competitive parental leave policy, working parents can truly own their schedules.
- Hybrid culture: We’re built around a mix of in office collaboration and remote work when needed.
- Finance: Company stock options, plus a 401k plan with employer contributions.
- Growth: Learning and development stipend and generous PTO.
- SF/NY/London office space: Three beautiful sunny offices in three incredibly exciting cities.
Company HQ
Union Square, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
May Habib
(Co-Founder & CEO)Harvard economics graduate, who was previously VP of sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Development Company, and a global shaper at the World Economic Forum. Also co-founded Qordoba.
Waseem Alshikh
(Co-Founder & CTO)Previously co-founded CloudAppers, then served as CTO at iMENA. Subsequently co-founded AI content editor Qordoba.
Salary benchmarks
We don't have enough data yet to provide salary benchmarks for this role.
Submit your salary to help other candidates with crowdsourced salary estimates.
Share this job
View 28 more jobs at WRITER