Machine Learning Security Research Fellow, Trail of Bits
$100-120k
+ Performance-based bonuses
More information about location
Security engineering firm
Be an early applicant
Security engineering firm
21-100 employees
Be an early applicant
$100-120k
+ Performance-based bonuses
More information about location
21-100 employees
Company mission
To help secure the world's most targeted organizations and products.
Role
Who you are
- This fellowship offers the intellectual rigor of academic research combined with direct impact on production AI/ML systems at scale, making it ideal for PhD candidates exploring alternatives to academic careers or recent graduates seeking industry research experience
- No traditional security background required—we're looking for exceptional AI/ML researchers who can think adversarially about complex systems
- PhD-Level AI/ML Expertise: Currently pursuing or recently completed (within 2 years) a PhD in machine learning, computer science, statistics, or related field, with strong research credentials
- Research Excellence: Track record of high-quality research through publications, preprints, workshop papers, or significant open-source contributions that demonstrate deep AI/ML expertise
- AI/ML Systems Proficiency: Strong hands-on experience with modern AI/ML frameworks (PyTorch, JAX, TensorFlow), foundation models, and the full AI/ML research workflow including experimentation, training, and evaluation
- Security Mindset: Demonstrated ability to think adversarially about systems, identify edge cases, or explore failure modes—even without formal security training. Interest in adversarial AI/ML, robustness, or AI safety highly valued
- Strong Programming Skills: Proficient in Python and comfortable with systems programming. Experience implementing research prototypes and experimental frameworks
- Intellectual Independence: Self-directed researcher capable of defining research questions, designing experiments, and driving projects to completion with minimal supervision
- Communication Ability: Can explain complex technical concepts clearly to diverse audiences and synthesize research findings into actionable insights
What the job involves
- Trail of Bits is launching a Machine Learning Security Research Fellowship designed for researchers seeking high-impact industry experience. This one-year fellowship positions the researcher at the intersection of cutting-edge AI/ML research and real-world security, working with the world's most advanced AI/ML systems deployed by leading AI organizations
- The fellow will conduct original security research on frontier AI/ML systems while collaborating with our AI Assurance team on high-stakes client engagements
- Independent Research Agenda: Pursue your own AI/ML security research interests with support from Trail of Bits' research team, with opportunities to publish findings and present at leading conferences
- Frontier System Assessment: Gain hands-on experience evaluating the security of state-of-the-art AI/ML systems deployed by top AI organizations, working on problems that represent the cutting edge of AI/ML security
- Novel Attack & Defense Development: Design and implement new attack methodologies, defensive techniques, and evaluation frameworks for adversarial AI/ML scenarios including model poisoning, adversarial examples, jailbreaks, and data extraction
- Open-Source Impact: Build and release AI/ML security tools and frameworks that benefit the broader research community, with support for open-source contribution as a core fellowship objective
- Mentorship & Collaboration: Work alongside Trail of Bits' security research team, gaining exposure to security engineering practices while maintaining focus on research excellence
- Research Output: Produce publishable research, technical blog posts, and open-source tools that advance the state of AI/ML security understanding—with explicit support for academic publication
- Duration: One-year commitment with potential pathway to full-time position
- Research Time: Dedicated time allocated for independent research and publication
- Conference Support: Travel funding for conference presentations and research community engagement
- Mentorship: Regular collaboration with Trail of Bits researchers and exposure to client work
- Flexibility: Opportunity to shape the fellowship around your research interests within AI/ML security
- Reporting Manager: Dan Guido, CEO
Our take
As more and more commercial activities go online, companies are increasingly exposed to cybersecurity threats. This requires organizations to get serious about their digital security infrastructure. As a result, the business of cybersecurity auditing has boomed.
Trail of bits is one such auditing firm with a signature method: combining its top-quality research in the cybersecurity field with the approaches of a real-world hacker. Distinguishing itself even further, the company has engaged in a new strategy fit for a new market - blockchain. The cybersecurity firm is now one of the world’s most prominent blockchain code auditors.
It's an exploding niche for which Trail of Bits has also been able to create an entirely new business line. While also auditing on behalf of blockchain software businesses, it is also expanding a service of engaging the government & large financial institutions for work on evaluating the risks of blockchain software.
Trail of Bits is well positioned as a result. Even if, as some commentators predict, the bottom falls out of the blockchain industry, the firm has used the momentum to reinforce its position as a thought leader on cutting-edge technology, establishing important partnerships that will last regardless.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
18% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 5 rounds)
Aug 2023
$4m
SEED
Jan 2018
$0.2m
GRANT
Total funding: $5.4m
Company benefits
- Health Insurance with no-monthly-premiums
- Vision, Dental, Life & Disability Insurance
- Access to Kindbody for gynecology and fertility care
- Access to HealthAdvocate, Teledoc & OneMedical
- 401k with 5% company matching
- Competitive salaries
- Ongoing bonus opportunities
- ConnectYourCare Flex Spending Account (FSA)
- Commuter Benefits
- Fitness stipends
- Four weeks of PTO
- Fifteen company holidays
- 4 months paid parental leave
- End-of-year performance bonus
- Continuing education, public presentations and blog posts
- Recruiting & referrals
- Conferences & off-sites
- Company & team outings
- Virtual events
- Continuing education
- Training sessions & learning courses
- Internal research & development Projects
- Charitable donation matching
- Relocation assistance
- 1Password subscription
- Work from home stipend
- Remote work friendly
Company HQ
Gowanus, NY
Leadership
Dan Guido
(Co-Founder & CEO)Previously a Senior Security Consultant at iSEC Partners. Also worked as Threat Intelligence Lead for the U.S. Federal Reserve System. Former NSA Analyst.
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