Sr. Staff/Principal SW Security Engineer, AI Inference
Cerebras Systems builds the world's largest AI chip, 56 times larger than GPUs. Our novel wafer-scale architecture provides the AI compute power of dozens of GPUs on a single chip, with the programming simplicity of a single device. This approach allows Cerebras to deliver industry-leading training and inference speeds and empowers machine learning users to effortlessly run large-scale ML applications, without the hassle of managing hundreds of GPUs or TPUs.
Cerebras' current customers include top 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.
Thanks to the groundbreaking wafer-scale architecture, Cerebras Inference offers the fastest Generative AI inference solution in the world, 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.
About the Role
We’re looking for a Principal/Sr. Staff SW Security Software Engineer to secure large-scale AI inference infrastructure running complex, high-performance workloads. You’ll design and implement security controls across the entire inference stack — from APIs and control planes to distributed systems, accelerators, and runtime environments. This role blends systems engineering, platform security, and operational rigor in an environment where performance and reliability are mission critical. This is a hands-on engineering role with real ownership over production systems.
What You’ll Do
- Architecting, implementing, and scaling robust security solutions for AI inference platforms
- Lead and drive strategic security initiatives, fostering secure by default developer experiences, and mentoring high performing engineering teams.
- Secure model serving, APIs, and control planes against abuse and attacks
- Build authentication, authorization, and identity systems for internal and external services
- Implement network security (service isolation, mTLS, zero-trust patterns)
- Harden inference runtimes, containers, and host systems
- Develop protections against:
- Model extraction
- Prompt abuse
- Data exfiltration
- Supply-chain attacks
- Build secure key and secret management systems
- Partner with infra and ML teams to bake security into system design
- Perform threat modeling and security reviews for new features
- Lead incident response for security events related to inference systems
Core Engineering Qualifications
- 8+ years of strong software engineering background (not just policy or compliance)
- Proficiency in one or more of:
- Go, Rust, C++, Java, Python
- Deep understanding of:
- Distributed systems
- Networking fundamentals
- Linux internals
Security Experience
- Experience securing production infrastructure or platforms
- Strong understanding of:
- Authentication & authorization (OAuth, OIDC, RBAC, ABAC)
- TLS, mTLS, cert management
- Secure service-to-service communication
- Hands-on experience with:
- Secrets management
- Key rotation
- Secure boot / host hardening
- Familiarity with:
- Container security
- Runtime isolation
- Supply chain security (SBOMs, signing)
AI / Inference-Specific (Highly Valued)
- Securing model serving pipelines
- Protecting inference APIs from:
- Abuse
- Denial of service
- Model theft
- Understanding of:
- Multi-tenant inference environments
- Hardware accelerators (GPUs, custom silicon)
- Performance vs security tradeoffs
- Experience working with ML or AI platform teams
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.
Read our blog: Five Reasons to Join Cerebras in 2026.
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.
This website or its third-party tools process personal data. For more details, click here to review our CCPA disclosure notice.