Principal Engineer, Menlo Security
Cloud-based security platform
Be an early applicant
Cloud-based security platform
201-500 employees
Be an early applicant
201-500 employees
Company mission
To help businesses and organizations achieve full online productivity to achieve their goals by pre-emptively eliminating cyber attacks.
Role
Who you are
- 8+ years of hands-on backend development in Python, Node.js, or Go; 5+ years with cloud platforms (AWS or GCP), including managed Kubernetes (EKS/GKE)
- Proven experience architecting distributed systems with strong reliability, scalability, and low-latency requirements — ideally in a security, networking, or high-throughput data path context
- Hands-on experience developing, debugging, and troubleshooting backend services in Linux environments; working knowledge of networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, TLS, HTTP/2, DNS, proxying) relevant to policy enforcement work
- Experience with policy or rules engines, configuration distribution systems, or real-time traffic inspection is a strong plus
- Demonstrated experience designing and executing large-scale data or schema migrations in live production systems — ideally with multi-tenant, zero-downtime, and behavioral-equivalence requirements
- Proficiency with data storage and analytics technologies such as Redis, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and Apache Druid or similar OLAP systems
- Hands-on experience with AI-assisted development tools (GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code, Gemini, or similar) and familiarity with LLM APIs and responsible AI practices in production
- Strong knowledge of HTTP security; experience with web security — URL classification, content filtering, or threat intelligence — is highly desirable
- Experience with FedRAMP, SOC 2, or FIPS 140-2/140-3 compliance frameworks is a plus
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills; proactive, self-directed, and rigorous with documentation and detail
- B.S. in Computer Science or related field required; M.S. preferred
What the job involves
- Menlo Security is seeking a Principal Software Engineer I for the R&D Policy Team
- This team owns the full lifecycle of Menlo’s cybersecurity policy platform — the engine that defines how the product protects enterprise customers from web-based threats
- That spans policy storage and management (authoring, versioning, and serving the rules that govern customer security posture), policy distribution (propagating policy changes reliably and at scale to enforcement points globally), and real-time enforcement (applying policies at traffic inspection time to block, isolate, or allow web activity)
- You will architect critical services across this stack, lead cross-functional initiatives, and help shape how the team builds software in an era where AI is a first-class engineering tool
- Architect, design, and own services across the policy platform — from policy storage and versioning APIs, to the distribution pipeline that propagates rule changes to enforcement nodes, to the enforcement layer that applies policies at inspection time with low latency and high availability
- Evaluate the current state of policy management, distribution, and enforcement; design and lead a seamless modernization of the architecture that eliminates technical debt and scales for the future — without impacting customers or altering enforcement behavior
- Lead design reviews and gain consensus on architectural decisions within the Policy Team; keep module designs current and sign off on significant code and design changes
- Champion AI-assisted development practices (LLM-based coding assistants, automated test generation) and identify opportunities to embed ML/AI into policy features such as intelligent policy recommendations or anomaly-based threat detection
- Own complex projects end-to-end — requirements through deployment and monitoring — breaking work into well-scoped tasks for junior engineers and unblocking teammates to maintain velocity
- Partner with Product Management, Security, and Operations to align on requirements and schedules; produce accurate estimates and surface risks early
- Mentor engineers through code reviews and design discussions; contribute to documentation and knowledge transfer across teams
Our take
Menlo Security takes a “zero trust” approach to computer threats by isolating all of a business’s web browsing and putting it on a remote server. Instead of depending upon software to scan and search for threats, it prevents attacks from ever reaching the system. Browsing activity no longer takes place on the end user’s device, instead, it all happens on a remote cloud service which is operated by the company. This service is the largest secure web gateway in the world.
Menlo Security has focused on protecting businesses from web and email attacks, and its model means that it can be integrated with most popular browsers. A particularly appealing aspect of its service is that it doesn’t require businesses to install new software or change their approach, drastically reducing friction for users and making onboarding a far simpler experience.
Currently used by 8 out of 10 of the world's largest banks and capable of completely stopping up to 90% of threats, Menlo Security is in a strong position. It is still continuing to develop its services, however, most recently building out a range of AI-powered tools to detect and prevent phishing and ransomware attacks. Moves like this seem likely to help keep Menlo Security at the forefront of its sector.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
-3% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 5 rounds)
Nov 2020
$100m
SERIES E
Jul 2019
$75m
SERIES D
Total funding: $260.5m
Company HQ
Old Mountain View, Mountain View, CA
Leadership
Amir Ben-Efraim
(Co-Founder & CEO)Having studied at UCB, Stanford, and UCLA, they worked in Business Development at Check Point Software before founding Blue Wireless in 1999. They continued to work in Security Software, before co-founding Menlo Security in 2013.
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