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Principal Applied AI Scientist

San Jose, CA

Kai is the AI company rebuilding cybersecurity for the machine-speed era. Founded by second time founders and trusted by Fortune 500 enterprises, Kai is building a future where security has no categories, no silos, and no human speed bottlenecks. The Kai Agentic AI Platform replaces fragmented, human-limited workflows with agentic AI systems that continuously contextualize, assess, reason, and execute security work at machine speed - making human defenders, superhuman.

Why Join Kai

  • Well-funded: With $125M raised, we have the capital, runway, and resolve to rebuild cybersecurity from first principles.
  • Proven: We've earned the trust of Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies, and we're just getting started. Their confidence in Kai reflects what we've built: an AI-powered cybersecurity platform that performs at the scale and speed the enterprise demands.
  • Experienced founders: Our founding team consists of second-time entrepreneurs, each with over 20 years of experience in the cybersecurity industry. Their proven expertise and vision drive our ambitious goals.
  • World-class leadership team: Our Heads of AI, Engineering, and Product bring extensive experience from some of the world’s most influential companies, ensuring top-tier mentorship, direction, and vision.
  • Frontier AI Applied Research Team: Our researchers operate at the leading edge of agentic AI systems, translating breakthrough capabilities into real-world cybersecurity applications.
  • Generous compensation: We offer highly competitive salaries, equity options, and a supportive work environment. Your contributions will be valued and rewarded as we grow together.

We are looking for a Principal Applied AI Scientist to lead the design and deployment of cutting-edge Generative AI and LLM-powered systems for real-world, high-impact applications. 

This is a senior, hands-on leadership role for someone who can operate across the full stack of modern AI — from research and modeling to production systems and productization — while leading teams and defining technical direction.    

You will work at the intersection of LLMs, agentic systems, retrieval architectures, and large-scale AI platforms, building systems that move beyond prototypes into robust, production-grade intelligence systems. 

What You’ll Do  

  • Lead the end-to-end design and development of large-scale AI/ML and Generative AI systems   
  • Architect and deploy LLM-powered applications, including RAG pipelines and multi-agent systems   
  • Drive the technical vision and roadmap for applied AI across the company   
  • Build and lead a high-performing team of scientists and engineers   
  • Design scalable retrieval and embedding systems powering intelligent applications   
  • Develop agentic AI systems with tool use, memory, and reasoning capabilities   
  • Own model lifecycle: data curation → training/fine-tuning → evaluation → deployment → monitoring   
  • Partner with product, engineering, and executive leadership to translate business problems into AI solutions   

Required Qualifications  

  • 7+ years of experience in Applied AI / Machine Learning / Generative AI
  • M.S. in Computer Science, AI, Machine Learning, or a related field. PhD preferred.   
  • Proven experience building and deploying production-grade AI systems at scale   
  • Demonstrated leadership managing large cross-functional teams   
  • Strong experience engaging with executives and product stakeholders  
  • Deep expertise in LLMs, RAG, and agentic AI systems at scale   
  • Strong system design skills across data, models, and infrastructure   
  • Ability to move from research ideas → production systems → business impact   
  • Strong ownership mindset with the ability to operate in fast-moving startup environments   
  • Experience with multi-agent orchestration frameworks and tool ecosystems   

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience applying AI in cybersecurity, enterprise SaaS, or data-intensive domains   
  • Background in search or large-scale retrieval systems   

Core Technical Expertise 

  • Large Language Models & GenAI  
  • RAG, Retrieval & Vector Systems  
  • Fine-Tuning & Model Adaptation  
  • Agentic AI Systems  
  • Prompt Engineering & Optimization  
  • Evaluation & Quality  
  • Inference & Serving  
  • Data Engineering & Synthetic Data  
  • Multimodal AI  
  • LLMOps & Observability  
  • Platforms & Infrastructure 

Kai is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. 

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that Kai will process your personal data in accordance with Kai's Privacy Policy.

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As set forth in Kai Cyber, Inc.’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

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