Position Summary

The Principal AI Security Engineer is a strategic individual contributor role responsible for advancing BetterUp’s product and application security posture across our AI-powered SaaS platform. This role operates at the intersection of secure engineering, AI governance, and regulatory alignment—guiding security by design in product development and scaling key security initiatives including ISO 42001 readiness, bug bounty programs, and customer-driven assurance.

Serving as a technical thought leader and security domain expert, this role partners closely with Engineering, Product, and AI/ML teams to embed secure development practices into the SDLC, proactively manage risk, and drive customer trust through continuous improvement of our product security capabilities.

Key Responsibilities

Product Security Leadership

• Translate emerging regulatory frameworks (e.g., ISO 42001, SOC2, OWASP ASVS) and customer assurance requirements into actionable engineering enhancements.

• Define and guide the secure design and implementation of features across web, mobile, and AI-powered services, ensuring security is embedded early in the product lifecycle.

• Scale and lead the bug bounty and vulnerability disclosure programs, partnering with researchers and triage teams to drive rapid remediation and learning loops.

AI and Application Security Enablement

• Partner with AI/ML teams to assess, mitigate, and monitor risks unique to GenAI and AI/ML model integration, including prompt injection, data leakage, and model manipulation.

• Provide deep expertise in secure coding practices, threat modeling, design reviews, and static/dynamic analysis to Engineering teams delivering core user-facing functionality.

• Serve as a security SME for AI-centric features, helping teams align with AI governance, privacy, and ethical use frameworks.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with internal teams (Product Managers, Engineering Leads, and Platform teams) as well as external partners to ensure alignment of security goals with product roadmaps.

• Serve as a bridge between security, compliance, and engineering—translating external regulatory and customer drivers into technical security requirements.

• Actively influence product development timelines and risk prioritization through strategic participation in design, architecture, and sprint planning forums.

Security Architecture & Technical Advisory

• Lead application-level security architecture reviews and define secure patterns for authentication, authorization, data protection, and API security.

• Evaluate new technologies and services for security risks and support secure vendor selection and integration.

• Contribute to and help evolve BetterUp’s secure development lifecycle and product security engineering standards.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in application and product security roles within cloud-native and SaaS environments, with a strong emphasis on securing AI/ML systems, models, and data pipelines.

• Proven success delivering security enhancements with SOC2, NIST, OWASP, CIS Benchmarks; with a huge plus with ISO 42001

• Hands-on experience with SAST/DAST tooling, threat modeling, secure code review, and vulnerability management pipelines.

• Experience collaborating with internal stakeholders (including the product, engineering and go-to-market teams) as well as external partners to ensure alignment of security goals with product roadmaps.

• Demonstrated ability to influence engineering teams and drive secure design decisions without formal authority.

• Strong understanding of secure development practices for distributed systems, microservices, APIs, and data pipelines.

• Bonus: experience supporting or operating bug bounty or coordinated vulnerability disclosure programs.

Skills & Competencies

• Strategic and pragmatic thinking with the ability to balance risk and product velocity.

• Technical depth in modern cloud-native architectures and software development lifecycles.

• Clear, concise communication skills for engaging engineers, executives, and customers.

• Comfort with ambiguity and evolving regulatory standards in AI security and governance.

• Passion for mentoring and sharing knowledge across cross-functional teams.

AI at BetterUp

Our team thrives at the intersection of human expertise and AI capability. As an AI-forward company, adaptation and continuous learning are part of our daily work. We're looking for teammates who are excited to evolve alongside technology – people who experiment boldly, share their discoveries openly, and help define best practices for AI-augmented work. These professionals thoughtfully integrate AI into their work to deliver exceptional results while maintaining the human judgment and creativity that drives real innovation. During our interview process, you’ll have opportunities to showcase how you harness AI to learn, iterate, and amplify your impact.

Benefits:

At BetterUp, we are committed to living out our mission every day and that starts with providing benefits that allow our employees to care for themselves, support their families, and give back to their community.

• Access to BetterUp coaching; one for you and one for a friend or family member

• A competitive compensation plan with opportunity for advancement

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance

• Flexible paid time off

• Per year:

  • All federal/statutory holidays observed

  • 4 BetterUp Inner Workdays (https://www.betterup.co/inner-work)

  • 5 Volunteer Days to give back

  • Learning and Development stipend

  • Company wide Summer & Winter breaks

• Year-round charitable contribution of your choice on behalf of BetterUp

• 401(k) self contribution

We are dedicated to building diverse teams that fuel an authentic workplace and sense of belonging for each and every employee. We know applying for a job can be intimidating, please don’t hesitate to reach out — we encourage everyone interested in joining us to apply.

BetterUp Inc. provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, genetics, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status. In addition to federal law requirements, BetterUp Inc. complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

At BetterUp, we compensate our employees fairly for their work. Base salary is determined by job-related experience, education/training, residence location, as well as market indicators. The range below is representative of base salary only and does not include equity, sales bonus plans (when applicable) and benefits. This range may be modified in the future.

The base salary range for this role is $232,000- 366,000.

Protecting your privacy and treating your personal information with care is very important to us, and central to the entire BetterUp family. By submitting your application, you acknowledge that your personal information will be processed in accordance with our Applicant Privacy Notice. If you have any questions about the privacy of your personal information or your rights with regards to your personal information, please reach out to [email protected]

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