Artificial Intelligence

Senior Staff Security Engineer, Distributed Systems

Sunnyvale, CAHybridFull TimePosted 1 month agoVisa sponsorship available

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Required skills

Distributed Systems Security Engineer
security controls
cloud clusters
hardening
cluster stack
bare metal
virtualized
k8s containerized
heterogenous compute environments
kubernetes hardening

Nice to have

AI chip
AI applications
AI-native startups
OpenAI partnership
hyperscale cloud inference services
agentic computation

Role summary

Cerebras Systems, a leader in AI chip technology, is seeking a Distributed Systems Security Engineer to enhance security controls for their on-prem and cloud clusters. This role involves hardening systems across bare metal, virtual, and Kubernetes environments. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in heterogeneous compute, Kubernetes hardening, networked system security, and HPCs, with strong hands-on abilities in both on-prem and cloud settings. Responsibilities include defining security requirements, developing threat models, collaborating with engineering teams on secure design, and documenting security strategy. Familiarity with AWS and Kubernetes is a plus. This is a hybrid role focused on building the next generation of security for AI infrastructure.

Cerebras Systems builds the world's largest AI chip, 56 times larger than GPUs. This architecture allows Cerebras to deliver industry-leading training and inference speeds; over 10 times faster than GPU-based hyperscale cloud inference services. This order of magnitude increase in speed is transforming the user experience of AI applications, unlocking real-time iteration and increasing intelligence via additional agentic computation.Cerebras works with the leading model labs, global enterprises, and cutting-edge AI-native startups. OpenAI recently announced a multi-year partnership with Cerebras, to deploy 750 megawatts of scale, transforming key workloads with ultra high-speed inference.

Cerebras is seeking a Senior Staff Security Engineer, Distributed Systems to help build out the next generation of security controls and services in our on-prem and cloud clusters.

In this role you will be responsible for driving hardening efforts across every layer of the cluster stack, covering a range of systems at the bare metal, virtualized, and k8s containerized levels.

The ideal candidate brings a combination of wide breadth of knowledge on a variety of systems and networking topics, a pragmatic and results-driven outlook on security, and the flexibility and attention to detail to work in a fast-paced development environment without compromising our security standards.

Responsibilities

Define core security requirements for distributed systems environments, covering everything from secure boot configurations to workload identity in k8s pods
Partner with platform, infrastructure, networking, and hardware teams to identify gaps and deliver end-to-end solutions improving the overall security maturity of the environment
Develop threat models for each part of the cluster stack, outlining trust boundaries and the interplay between first and third-party mechanisms
Work with engineering leads and architects to bake secure design in from the beginning
Balance engineering outcomes with security controls, enabling the company to deliver securely quickly
Document security posture and strategy for technical and nontechnical audiences from both 1p and 3p perspectives

Skills and Qualifications

8-10 years of experience with heterogenous compute environments, kubernetes hardening, and general networked system security
10+ years with HPCs (high performance clusters)
Strong hands-on engineering abilities in on-prem and cloud environments
Ability to work in fragmented ecosystems, hardening both modern k8s deployments as well as bare metal instances
Familiarity with AWS, Kubernetes, and distributed compute systems a plus
Strong written communication skills, with the ability to make security concepts approachable for non-specialists.

Why Join Cerebras

People who are serious about software make their own hardware. At Cerebras, we have built a breakthrough architecture that is unlocking new opportunities for the AI industry. With dozens of model releases and rapid growth, we’ve reached an inflection point in our business. Members of our team tell us there are five main reasons they joined Cerebras:

Build a breakthrough AI platform beyond the constraints of the GPU.
Publish and open source their cutting-edge AI research.
Work on one of the fastest AI supercomputers in the world.
Enjoy job stability with startup vitality.
Our simple, non-corporate work culture that respects individual beliefs.

Find out more about what it's like to work at Cerebras here!

Apply today and become part of the forefront of groundbreaking advancements in AI!

Cerebras Systems is committed to creating an equal and diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate different backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We believe inclusive teams build better products and companies. We try every day to build a work environment that empowers people to do their best work through continuous learning, growth and support of those around them.

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