Principal Security Research Engineer, GenAI Security

Elastic

Confirmed live yesterday High trust

Quick summary

Work type: On-site
Location: —
Salary: $159,800–$252,800 / yr
Posted: 44 days ago
Freshness: Confirmed live yesterday

Market check

Salary context

Above market

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $188k

This role $206k

$119k most similar roles pay here $267k

This role pays more than 67% of similar roles. Most pay $159,000–$216,262 — the shaded band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $206k versus about $188k for comparable roles.

Based on 240 similar postings.

Employer

About Elastic

Elastic is the company behind Elasticsearch and the Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch, Kibana, Beats, and Logstash). It sells search, observability, and security products built on that search engine, primarily through its Elastic Cloud managed service.

Elastic currently has 240 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $133,100–$210,600 across 91 roles with salary data.

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At a glance

TL;DR · Principal Security Research Engineer, GenAI Security

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As a GenAI Security - Principal Security Research Engineer on the Threat Research and Detection Engineering team, you will shape detection capabilities for Elastic Security by focusing on AI security. You will design and execute security tests for GenAI applications, agentic systems, and LLM-backed products to defend against risks like prompt injection, retrieval poisoning, and sensitive data extraction. Your daily work involves investigating multi-domain threat vectors, translating findings into detection rules, and utilizing AI-assisted workflows to accelerate research. You will leverage tools such as Garak, PyRIT, PromptBench, or Inspect AI, while working with LLM concepts like RAG and agentic chaining. The role requires expertise in endpoint data, query languages like EQL, KQL, or ESQL, and familiarity with OWASP LLM Top 10 or MITRE ATLAS to secure products against emerging threats in the search and AI space.

Skills

GenAI LLM RAG EQL KQL ESQL OWASP Top 10 MITRE ATLAS Garak PyRIT PromptBench Inspect AI Detection Engineering

What you'll do

Design and execute security tests for GenAI applications, agentic systems, and LLM-backed products.
Identify and mitigate specific AI threats such as prompt injection, retrieval poisoning, and sensitive data extraction.
Investigate multi-domain threat vectors to develop new security protections and detection rules.
Develop and implement AI-assisted workflows to accelerate threat research and detection engineering processes.
Create and present technical findings to improve team knowledge and community awareness.
Validate detection content using query languages like EQL, KQL, or ESQL within the Elastic Security platform.
Conduct penetration tests and vulnerability assessments on web applications and APIs.
Triage security findings and communicate risks clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.

What we're looking for

Experience working with endpoint data and understanding detection engineering.
Hands-on experience using LLM tools for security testing, research, or daily tasks.
Understanding of how LLMs work, including context windows, tool use, RAG, and agentic chaining.
Proficiency in using AI-assisted development tools and modern AI/ML frameworks.
Experience running penetration tests or vulnerability assessments on web applications or APIs.
Knowledge of the OWASP Top 10, OWASP LLM Top 10, or MITRE ATLAS.
Ability to communicate complex risks clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Experience with Elastic Security Solution and proficiency in writing/validating detections using EQL, KQL, or ESQL is a bonus.

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