AI Security Researcher (AI)

TL;DR

AI Security Researcher (Cybersecurity): Conducting original research to advance security, privacy, and trust in frontier intelligence systems with an accent on threat modeling and the development of novel defenses. Focus on translating rigorous theory into practical security features for AI-native products and hardening system architectures.

Location: San Francisco

Compensation: $220K – $405K

Company

Perplexity is an AI-powered search and intelligence company focused on advancing frontier AI research.

What you will do

• Develop threat models for emerging attack surfaces in AI-native products, including browsers, search, and autonomous agents.
• Identify and analyze security and privacy threats across AI systems, infrastructure, and user-facing products.
• Create novel defenses, mitigations, and detection mechanisms for security and privacy in AI-native products.
• Build security evaluation frameworks, benchmarks, and datasets to measure defense effectiveness.
• Partner with the Security Engineering team to translate research into shipped security features and hardened architectures.
• Publish findings at premier venues and contribute to the broader security research community.

Requirements

• PhD or equivalent research experience in Computer Science or Computer Engineering with a primary focus on security and/or privacy.
• Proven track record of publishing original, impactful research at top security conferences (IEEE S&P, USENIX Security, ACM CCS, NDSS).
• Deep expertise in agentic systems security, systems security, web/application security, program analysis, or software security.
• Proficiency in Python.
• Ability to operate with high independence and take ownership in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong communication skills to translate complex attack narratives into actionable insights.

Nice to have

• Proficiency in TypeScript, Go, and/or Rust.

Culture & Benefits

• Comprehensive U.S. benefits including health, dental, vision, and retirement accounts.
• Equity options for employees.
• Fitness, commuter, and dependent care accounts.
• Tailored benefits programs for employees based outside the U.S.