AI Lead

<h2><strong>AI Lead (Small Language Models + Cybersecurity)</strong></h2><div><strong>Location:</strong> San Francisco Bay Area (preferred) / Remote</div><div><strong>Company:</strong> Protocol Nine</div><div><br></div><h3><strong>About the Role</strong></h3><div>We are looking for an AI Lead to build the core intelligence layer of an AI-native security platform. This role sits at the intersection of <strong>small language model (SLM) development, agentic systems, and cybersecurity</strong>, and will define how models reason about intent, risk, and behavior in real-world environments.</div><div><br></div><div>You will lead the design, training, and deployment of specialized models that operate in constrained, high-performance environments (e.g., edge, real-time inference), and apply them to security problems such as threat detection, policy enforcement, and autonomous decision-making.</div><div><br></div><h3><strong>What You’ll Do</strong></h3><div><strong>Design & Train Small Language Models (SLMs)</strong></div><ul><li><ul><li class="">Build domain-specific models optimized for <strong>latency, cost, and controllability</strong></li><li class="">Fine-tune models on security datasets (logs, network traffic, code, policies)</li><li class="">Develop techniques for <strong>distillation, quantization, and efficient inference</strong></li></ul></li></ul><div><strong>Build AI-Native Security Systems</strong></div><ul><li><ul><li class="">Architect models that reason about <strong>intent </strong> in security contexts</li></ul></li></ul><div>Develop detection systems for threats across:</div><ul><li><ul><li><ul><li class="">Network traffic</li><li class="">Application behavior</li></ul></li><li class="">Integrate models into real-time decision pipelines (e.g., firewall, policy engine)</li></ul></li></ul><div><strong>Agentic AI & Decision Systems</strong></div><ul><li><ul><li class="">Design multi-agent systems for <strong>continuous monitoring, analysis, and response</strong></li><li class="">Implement feedback loops between detection, reasoning, and enforcement layers</li><li class="">Ensure reliability, explainability, and controllability of autonomous systems</li></ul></li></ul><div><strong>Model Infrastructure & Deployment</strong></div><ul><li><ul><li class="">Optimize models for <strong>edge + distributed environments</strong></li><li class="">Build evaluation frameworks for adversarial robustness and false positives</li><li class="">Work closely with engineering to productionize models (APIs, pipelines, scaling)</li></ul></li></ul><div><strong>Security Research & Innovation</strong></div><ul><li><ul><li class="">Stay ahead of emerging threats (e.g., AI-generated attacks, supply chain risks)</li><li class="">Experiment with novel approaches (e.g., semantic code analysis, intent verification)</li><li class="">Contribute to technical strategy and product direction</li></ul></li></ul><div><br></div><h3><strong>What We’re Looking For</strong></h3><h4><strong>Core Requirements</strong></h4><div>5+ years in machine learning / AI engineering (or equivalent depth)</div><div>Hands-on experience training or fine-tuning <strong>small or specialized language models</strong></div><div>Strong understanding of:</div><ul><li><ul><li class="">Transformer architectures</li><li class="">Model optimization (quantization, pruning, distillation)</li><li class="">Evaluation and benchmarking</li></ul></li></ul><h4><strong>Cybersecurity Experience</strong></h4><div>Experience in at least one area:</div><ul><li><ul><li class="">Network security / firewalls</li><li class="">Endpoint or cloud security</li><li class="">Application security or code analysis</li></ul></li></ul><div>Familiarity with:</div><ul><li><ul><li class="">Threat detection systems</li><li class="">Logs, telemetry, and security data pipelines</li><li class="">Adversarial attack vectors</li></ul></li></ul><h4><strong>Systems & Engineering</strong></h4><ul><li class="">Strong programming skills (Python + ML frameworks like PyTorch/JAX)</li><li class="">Experience deploying models in production environments</li><li class="">Understanding of distributed systems and real-time inference constraints</li></ul><h3><strong>Nice to Have</strong></h3><div>Experience with <strong>edge AI or low-latency systems</strong></div><ul><li class="">Familiarity with <strong>agent frameworks / multi-agent systems</strong></li><li class="">Contributions to open-source ML or security projects</li></ul><h3><strong>Compensation</strong></h3><ul><li class="">Competitive salary + equity</li><li class="">Early-stage ownership and high impact</li><li class="">Opportunity to define a new category in security</li></ul><div><br></div>