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Staff Software Engineer

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.

As a Staff Software Engineer, you’ll be a technical leader and hands-on contributor, driving critical initiatives from concept to production. You’ll architect, build, and mentor while partnering cross-functionally with Product, AI, and Security. This is a high-impact role where you’ll influence technical direction, mentor engineers, and ensure delivery of scalable, secure services that meet enterprise-grade expectations.

What You’ll Do

  • Own end-to-end delivery of major platform initiatives, from design through deployment and post-launch success.
  • Design, develop, and optimize distributed microservices in Golang for scale, reliability, and performance.
  • Collaborate across teams — Product, AI, and Customer Success — to align architecture with business objectives.
  • Drive engineering excellence through code quality standards, design reviews, automation, and CI/CD best practices.
  • Be a mentor and multiplier, guiding software engineers through architecture decisions, trade-offs, and delivery.
  • Partner with leadership to align engineering strategy with product objectives and technical roadmap.

What We’re Looking For

  • 8+ years in software engineering with cloud-native architecture experience.
  • Proven record of driving technical projects end-to-end, coordinating across teams and stakeholders.
  • Strong hands-on background in microservices architecture, distributed systems, and API-driven design.
  • Expertise in Kubernetes, Docker, and CI/CD pipelines in a cloud environment (Azure preferred).
  • Familiarity with modern databases, gRPC, message queues, and DevOps automation.
  • Strong problem-solving, communication, and leadership skills — comfortable leading discussions from code to business impact.
  • (Bonus) Understanding or interest in cybersecurity, AI-driven systems, or threat intelligence.

Our Culture

  • Ownership & Leadership: Engineers make decisions and own outcomes.
  • Mentorship & Growth: Learn from industry leaders and experiment with the frontier of AI and cybersecurity.
  • Collaboration & Inclusion: We value diverse perspectives that challenge the status quo and fuel innovation.
  • Impact Mindset: Every line of code contributes to shaping the future of enterprise security.

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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For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

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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