AI Vulnerability Research Engineer

We’re looking for someone who sits at the intersection of offensive security, AI, and relentless experimentation. You’ll build production-quality tooling and push the boundaries of how LLMs can accelerate offensive security workflows - from vulnerability discovery and analysis through to exploit reproduction, validation, and automation. Your work feeds directly into the watchTowr Platform, powering the systems that identify, reproduce, and mitigate vulnerabilities across our client base before attackers weaponise them.

You understand offensive security and vulnerability research, but you don't need to be a career vulnerability researcher. What matters is that you're fascinated by how AI can fundamentally change the way security work gets done - and you constantly ask: what if this process could be faster, smarter, or entirely different? This role is for someone obsessed with exploration. Someone who enjoys chasing ideas, building quick prototypes, testing assumptions, and uncovering unexpected paths. You're excited by the possibility of discovering zero-days, but equally excited by creating entirely new ways to find them. UK preferred, but we’re open to candidates in other markets where time zone alignment and collaboration needs can be met.

Sounds great – what will I do?

• Build production-quality tooling that accelerates offensive security workflows, integrated directly into the watchTowr Platform and our autonomous pipelines.
• Design, experiment with, and iterate on LLM-powered systems, agents, and automations for vulnerability discovery, exploit reproduction, and analysis.
• Develop and refine the orchestration layers that turn AI capability into reliable, repeatable offensive security outcomes.
• Rapidly prototype and validate ideas - turning promising experiments into practical tooling that ships.
• Investigate high-impact security problems and explore pathways toward identifying meaningful vulnerabilities, including novel/zero-day findings.
• Evaluate emerging models, tools, and AI techniques for where they create real offensive security value versus hype.
• Collaborate closely with watchTowr Labs researchers, feeding autonomously reproduced vulnerabilities into our Rapid Reaction and Active Defense capabilities.
• Work with a high degree of autonomy and help define what this capability becomes.

Sounds perfect to me, what specifics are you looking for?

Ideal Experience

• Background in cybersecurity, offensive security, security engineering, vulnerability research, or related areas.
• Strong interest in vulnerability discovery and offensive security concepts, with familiarity with the tooling ecosystem and common workflows.
• A genuine obsession with AI and excitement about what emerging models can enable in security contexts.
• Hands-on experience experimenting with LLMs and AI tooling in practical, applied ways - not just prompting, but building systems around models.
• A bias toward building, testing, and learning quickly over planning endlessly.
• Comfort operating without rigid structure or predefined playbooks.
• High-energy, curious mindset with a willingness to try things, fail fast, and iterate.
• Strong ownership and ability to operate autonomously.

Bonus points:

• Experience building internal tooling.
• Exposure to vulnerability research, reverse engineering, exploit development, or offensive tooling.
• Experience designing agentic systems, orchestration frameworks, or multi-step AI pipelines.
• Startup or fast-moving environment experience.
• Public projects, experiments, or side projects involving AI, security, or both.

What’s in it for me?

• Competitive compensation - we believe that hard work, skills and ambition should be fairly compensated.
• Meaningful role in a company - You will be a key and early contributor to a fast-growing cybersecurity business that helps protect some of the world’s largest enterprises.
• The best tools and powerful kit - we enable you with the tools to effectively fulfil your role.
• Endless opportunities – we are in a high-growth phase of our journey, and plan to promote from within as we scale.
• Work with cyber security experts – we are solving cutting-edge industry-wide cyber security challenges with some of the world’s most advanced organisations.

watchTowr is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. At watchTowr, we’re dedicated to fostering an inclusive, respectful, and diverse environment where every individual is recognised for their talent and potential. Our hiring decisions are guided by your capabilities, experience, and what you bring to the role - not by unrelated personal attributes. We have a zero-tolerance approach to any form of discrimination or harassment. This includes - but isn’t limited to - discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, colour, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, pregnancy or parental status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We actively encourage people from all backgrounds to apply. Even if you don’t tick every box in the job description, we’d still love to hear from you.