Backend Engineer, AI Security

About the role

This role involves designing and implementing security frameworks directly integrated with Stripe's AI infrastructure. A key responsibility is to build defenses against new AI-specific threats such as prompt injection and jailbreaks. The work includes creating a security tooling layer for the inference path, providing detection and protection, and supporting other engineering teams in integrating these security primitives.

The AI Security team is foundational, with this position being the first engineer on the team. Engineers will advise and partner with teams building AI infrastructure and products, in addition to developing security infrastructure. The environment is fast-paced, requiring comfort with ambiguity and shifting priorities as the AI space evolves rapidly.

Success in this role means establishing enterprise-grade security for Stripe's AI tools, which are not available off-the-shelf. This involves upholding high engineering standards, improving codebase and processes, and designing systems that advance the state of AI security. The goal is to enable Stripe to adopt AI safely and quickly.

The annual salary for this role is between $190,400 and $285,600 USD.

Skills that matter here

• Backend: This role will involve developing and maintaining backend systems for AI security.
• AI Security: The core focus is to build security frameworks and defenses specifically for AI infrastructure and threats.
• Infrastructure Systems: The position requires experience developing, deploying, and maintaining reliable infrastructure systems, particularly for AI.
• Software Development: Candidates need at least five years of software development experience and the ability to write high-quality code.

Who this role suits

• You have a background in security engineering and infrastructure systems.
• You are comfortable driving clear next steps in an ambiguous and rapidly changing environment.
• You can think creatively and reason clearly within complex problem domains.
• You have experience independently designing and developing medium to large projects.

From the employer

• Build security frameworks integrated with our core AI infrastructure
• Design and implement defenses against AI specific threats like prompt injection and jailbreaks
• Collaborate with other engineering teams to ensure Stripe's AI infrastructure and products are built securely
• Support other engineering teams in integrating security primitives
• Uphold our high engineering standards and improve our codebase and processes
• Design and build systems that help define the state of the art for AI security.

• 5+ years of software development experience
• Experience independently designing and developing medium to large projects
• Experience working collaboratively across multiple engineering teams
• Experience writing high quality code in a major programming language
• Ability to drive clear next steps when working in an ambiguous environment
• Ability to think creatively and reason clearly in a complex problem domain
• Experience developing, deploying, and maintaining reliable infrastructure systems
• Experience in security engineering
• Experience building AI agents or LLM-based systems