About this role.
HackerOne seeks a Senior Security Engineer to rebuild and scale its Detection & Response function with an engineering-led, AI-first approach. The role owns the full detection lifecycle, including detection-as-code, cloud and endpoint telemetry, automated investigation workflows, incident response, and post-incident improvements. The engineer will write production-quality code and build AI/LLM tooling to improve triage, enrichment, containment, and remediation. Strong AWS, security logging, EDR, and software engineering experience are central to success, alongside collaboration with engineering and platform teams. This is a remote US role for candidates located near Austin, Seattle, Washington, DC, San Francisco, or Boston.
Role DNA
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Job Complexity
5/5Pace & Pressure
5/5Autonomy Level
5/5Communication Load
4/5Salary analysis
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Core skills
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Sample interview questions
I would define priority identity abuse scenarios, map required telemetry such as CloudTrail and identity-provider logs, and create version-controlled detection rules with peer review and automated testing. I would tune detections using alert-quality metrics, document response context, and maintain feedback loops from investigations to improve coverage and reduce false positives.
I would automate enrichment first: gather asset ownership, IAM history, geolocation, threat-intelligence context, related alerts, and recent activity into a single investigation record. Based on confidence thresholds and documented guardrails, the workflow could then open a case, notify owners, disable risky sessions, or isolate an endpoint while preserving an audit trail and allowing human approval for high-impact actions.
I would start with a bounded use case such as alert summarization or evidence correlation and measure time saved, analyst acceptance, factual accuracy, and impact on false-positive handling. I would protect sensitive data through access controls and redaction, require source-linked outputs, establish human-review requirements for consequential actions, and continuously test the tool against adversarial or misleading inputs.
I would establish scope and severity, preserve relevant evidence, and rapidly validate the alert using CloudTrail, identity, network, and workload telemetry. I would coordinate containment actions such as revoking sessions, rotating credentials, applying restrictive policies, and isolating affected workloads, while keeping stakeholders informed. After recovery, I would lead a retrospective that identifies root cause, detection gaps, and durable preventive controls.
I translate threat scenarios into concrete logging and telemetry requirements, explain the operational value, and work with teams to make instrumentation practical and low-friction. I prioritize high-value signals, provide implementation examples, validate data quality after deployment, and share detection outcomes so partners can see how their observability investments improve resilience.
HackerOne is a global leader in Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM). The HackerOne Platform unites agentic AI solutions with the ingenuity of the world’s largest community of security researchers to continuously discover, validate, prioritize, and remediate exposures across code, cloud, and AI systems. Through solutions like bug bounty, vulnerability disclosure, agentic pentesting, AI red teaming, and code security, HackerOne delivers measurable, continuous reduction of cyber risk for enterprises. Industry leaders, including Anthropic, Crypto.com, General Motors, Goldman Sachs, Lufthansa, Uber, UK Ministry of Defence, and the U.S. Department of Defense, trust HackerOne to safeguard their digital ecosystems. HackerOne was recognized in Gartner’s Emerging Tech Impact Radar: AI Cybersecurity Ecosystem report for its leadership in AI Security Testing and has been named a Most Loved Workplace for Young Professionals (2024).
HackerOne is at a pivotal inflection point in the security industry. Offensive security is no longer optional – it is the standard for forward-thinking companies that want to build trust and resilience in a world where AI-driven innovation and adversaries are moving faster than ever. With the industry shifting, HackerOne stands apart: we combine the ingenuity of the largest security research community with a best-in-class AI-powered platform, trusted by the world’s top organizations.
HackerOne Values
HackerOne is dedicated to fostering a strong and inclusive culture. HackerOne is Customer Obsessed and prioritizes customer outcomes in our decisions and actions. We Default to Disclosure by operating with transparency and integrity, ensuring trust and accountability. Employees, researchers, customers, and partners Win Together by fostering empowerment, inclusion, respect, and accountability.
Senior Security Engineer, Detection and Response
Remote Location: Austin TX, Seattle, WA, Washington, DC, San Francisco, CA, Boston, MA Position Summary
At HackerOne, we’re rebuilding our Detection & Response function with an AI-first approach—focused on engineering, not just triage. As a Senior Security Engineer, you will design and deliver detection and response capabilities that protect a modern, cloud-native environment by writing code, building AI-powered tooling, and automating workflows end-to-end.
This role operates across the full detection lifecycle—from identifying gaps in observability to shipping high-signal detections and leading incident response when it matters most. You’ll help scale what a small team can accomplish by embedding automation, intelligence, and AI into how we detect and respond to threats.
At HackerOne, we embrace a Flexible Work approach that gives us the freedom to do our best work while also fostering the connections and community that make us stronger. Reflecting this philosophy, this is a remote role targeted for candidates within ~50 miles of Austin TX, Seattle, WA, Washington, DC, San Francisco, CA, or Boston, MA . We believe this balance of proximity and flexibility gives Hackeronies the chance to occasionally come together – fostering collaboration, connection, and in-person moments that enrich our culture – while still preserving the benefits of remote work.
What You Will Do
Success in the Senior Security Engineer role will be accomplished by delivering on the responsibilities below in alignment with the Values and Principles that define how we work at HackerOne:
Design, build, and maintain detection-as-code capabilities across cloud infrastructure, SaaS applications, endpoints, and identity systems, improving coverage and signal quality through Data-Driven Decision Making
Build automated investigation and response workflows that replace manual runbooks, leveraging AI First principles to scale triage, enrichment, containment, and remediation
Develop and deploy AI/LLM-powered tooling to accelerate investigations, reduce alert fatigue, and extend team capacity beyond traditional headcount constraints, embedding AI First practices into daily workflows
Lead and participate in incident response, including detection, investigation, containment, and retrospectives, applying First Principles Problem Solving to identify root causes and improve long-term resilience
Partner cross-functionally with engineering and platform teams to expand logging, improve observability, and embed detection capabilities into the development lifecycle
Continuously improve detection quality by analyzing alert performance, tuning for signal, and building feedback loops between incidents and detections using Data-Driven Decision Making
Proactively identify gaps in visibility or coverage and translate ambiguous problem spaces into concrete detection and response solutions through First Principles Problem Solving
Adapt quickly to evolving threats, tools, and priorities, helping the team maintain momentum and effectiveness through Change Agility
Minimum Qualifications
5+ years of experience in detection and response, security engineering, or software engineering with a security focus
Strong software engineering fundamentals with proficiency in Python, Go, Ruby, or similar languages, and experience working in production codebases
Hands-on experience with cloud environments (AWS preferred), including services such as CloudTrail, GuardDuty, and VPC flow logs
Experience with log aggregation and analysis platforms (e.g., Datadog, Splunk, ELK) and endpoint detection tools (e.g., SentinelOne, CrowdStrike)
Preferred Qualifications
Experience building AI/LLM-powered security tooling or applying AI to detection, triage, or investigation workflows
Experience with detection-as-code frameworks or building custom detection pipelines
Familiarity with containerized environments (Docker, Kubernetes, ECS/EKS)
Experience with threat intelligence, threat hunting, forensics, or attacker tradecraft frameworks such as MITRE ATT&CK
Job Benefits:
Health (medical, vision, dental), life, and disability insurance*
Equity stock options
Retirement plans
Paid public holidays and unlimited PTO
Paid maternity and parental leave
Leaves of absence (including caregiver leave and leave under CO’s Healthy Families and Workplaces Act)
Employee Assistance Program
*Eligibility may differ by country
We’re committed to building a global team! For certain roles outside the United States, India, the U.K., and the Netherlands, we partner with Remote.com as our Employer of Record (EOR).
Visa/work permit sponsorship is not available.
Employment at HackerOne is contingent on a background check.
HackerOne is an Equal Opportunity Employer in the terms and conditions of employment for all employees and job applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or gender expression, national origin, pregnancy, disability or veteran status, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by international, federal, state, or local laws.
This policy applies to all HackerOne employment practices, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, training, and apprenticeship. HackerOne makes hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time.
For US based roles only: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, all qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for the position.
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