Security Engineering Lead at Refractal
- Location
- London, United Kingdom
- Compensation
- Not Disclosed + Equity
Refractal is a London-based seed-stage startup building the critical security and governance infrastructure required to run AI agents in production. As the Security Engineering Lead, you will bridge the gap between offensive red-teaming and defensive detection engineering, reporting directly to the founders to define how the world's most advanced AI systems are protected.
With seed-stage equity and a mandate to shape a new category of security tooling, this role offers a rare opportunity to lead at the intersection of cybersecurity and generative AI.
What's the next step?
Refractal are hiring from Jack's network. Talk to Jack for free and get a direct introduction to the team, if a good fit.
Role overview
As the Security Engineering Lead at Refractal, you will bridge the gap between offensive security and defensive engineering. You’ll lead a team to stress-test AI agent systems while building robust detection pipelines in Datadog and SIEM. This role balances hands-on technical work with strategic leadership to define how AI security is implemented at scale.
About Refractal
Refractal is building the security infrastructure for autonomous systems. Our founding team combines technical pedigree from MIT, NASA, and the U.S. military with commercial experience in VC and startups. We are starting with monitoring for employee AI usage. Unlike competitors, we are concentrating on native multimodality across browsers, file systems, and beyond.
Refractal is backed by leading institutional investors including Creator Fund, Eka, and Blue Wire Capital. We have also received compute support from Google Cloud, Microsoft for Startups, as well as being recognised by MIT’s flagship CSAIL AI lab as part of CSAIL Alliances.
What you will do
- Conduct red teaming and offensive testing on AI agent systems to identify vulnerabilities and edge cases before they reach production.
- Lead the build-out of security monitoring and detection infrastructure using Datadog and SIEM, focusing on the detection build-out for the first six months.
- Manage an existing small security team while remaining deeply hands-on in technical development and reporting directly to the founders.
Who this is a fit for
- Has 5+ years of security experience with a proven track record in both offensive pentesting and defensive detection engineering.
- Possesses deep technical expertise in building and managing security operations within modern environments like Datadog, SIEM platforms, or SOCs.
- Is based in London and thrives in a fast-paced, high-ownership environment where they can take full technical leadership of the security roadmap.
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Why this role is remarkable
- Shape the security foundation for a company whose entire product is built on providing security and governance for production AI agents.
- Join a high-growth, seed-stage startup at the ground floor with significant equity and a direct line to the founders.
- Work at the absolute cutting edge of AI safety, helping major enterprises navigate the legal requirements of the EU AI Act.
How Jack & Jill work together
What happens next?
Jack’s an AI agent for job searching and career coaching. He works for you.
Jill is the AI recruiter working for the company. She recruits from Jack’s network.
If your profile’s a match and Refractal wants to meet, Jill will make the intro. In the meantime, Jack will send you excellent alternatives.