Founding Engineer (Research Forward Deployed): Stealth AI Security Lab
At Cherry, we back founders from pre-seed through Series B, and we spend a lot of time with our teams while the company is still being built. This is one of those teams. They're an applied AI lab, still in stealth, building defensive cybersecurity for enterprises and governments. They're backed by Cherry, Sequoia and Evantic alongside angels who run some of the world's best technology companies.
The product is moving fast, enterprise traction is real, and the team is growing. They're now hiring Founding Engineers to build the first version of the product and the organisation, then scale both as the company works towards becoming a generational security company.
A true founding role
This isn't a "founding" title on a late hire. You'll be among the very first engineers, and the work is wide open: core product, infrastructure, research bets and customer deployments. You'll work directly with the founders, see the investors and enterprise and government customers up close, and help make the decisions that shape the company.
The role
This role sits between research engineering and forward-deployed engineering. You'll take frontier models and turn them into systems that hold up inside real enterprise security environments, and you'll work closely with the customers who depend on them.
What you'll do
- Join the first cohort of technical hires and ship the early product at pace
- Lead early infrastructure and architecture decisions, trading off speed against what has to scale
- Work directly with design partners and early customers, often on-site, turning what they need into product
- Move between research and deployment: test new model capabilities, then get them working in production
- Help set how the company builds, hires and works, as one of its founding culture carriers
What we're looking for
- A track record of performing at an elite level in a competitive technical environment
- Exceptional academics in a quantitative discipline from a top university
- Time in venture-backed startups, or your own entrepreneurial experience
- Hunger and humility in equal measure, plus the drive to learn fast and build something special
- Deep expertise in applied ML. Strength in infrastructure or security is a plus but not required
Why now
Still in stealth, so you're joining before the world knows the name. Well enough funded, by investors who've done this before, that you can build properly from day one. There's more work than people to do it, and you'll get exposure most engineers only reach years into their careers. If you want founder-level ownership without starting from zero, this is it.
The company name is shared after an intro conversation with the Cherry team.
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Founding Engineer in London employer: Cherry Ventures
Cherry Ventures is an exceptional employer that champions innovation and diversity within its portfolio of startups. With a commitment to fostering a collaborative work culture, employees are encouraged to grow and thrive in their careers while contributing to groundbreaking projects. The dynamic environment and focus on equal opportunity make it an ideal place for those seeking meaningful and rewarding C-suite roles.
