Research Engineering - MLE & Backend

Virtue AI • San Francisco, CA

4d

About The Position

Virtue AI sets the standard for advanced AI security platforms. Built on decades of foundational and award-winning research in AI security, its AI-native architecture unifies automated red-teaming, real-time multimodal guardrails, and systematic governance for enterprise apps and agents. Deploy in minutes—across any environment—to keep your AI protected and compliant. We are a well-funded, early-stage startup founded by industry veterans, and we're looking for passionate builders to join our core team. As a research engineer, you will play a pivotal role in developing and operating our flagship products on agent and LLM securities. Your work will directly contribute to advancing our products and services and driving innovation within the industry. You’ll thrive in this role if you’re excited by new technology, love solving customer problems, and can comfortably bridge the business and technical worlds.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or higher degree in CS or related field
• Deep expertise and rich experience with backend development, API designs, databases, and authentication
• Hands-on experience with front-end (FastAPI, Node.js, Next.js, TypeScript, CSS)
• Deep expertise in Docker for containerization and deployment
• Hands-on experience in implementing and deploying AI/ML models and AI agents, proficiency with Python
• Strong problem-solving skills and effective communication abilities

Nice To Haves

• Experience developing novel red-teaming and guardrail algorithms for LLMs and agents
• Experience in model evaluation with efficient inference packages (e.g., vLLM and sglang)
• Experience in building agents with popular ADKs, such as LangGraph, Google SDKs, and ChatGPT applications
• Strong enthusiasm for operating in a fast-paced startup environment, with the ability to adapt quickly and take ownership

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain our secure agent and model platform, adding new tools and functionality
• Optimize the platform and infrastructure to make it scalable and robust
• Collaborate with researchers to improve red-teaming algorithms and guardrail model capabilities through shared tools and evals
• Contribute end-to-end across the stack, from front-end interfaces to back-end systems.
• Conduct product packing, delivery, and troubleshooting

Benefits

• Competitive base salary compensation + equity commensurate with skills and experience.
• Impact at scale – Help define the category of AI security and partner with Fortune 500 enterprises on their most strategic AI initiatives.
• Work on the frontier – Engage with bleeding-edge AI/ML and deploy AI security solutions for use cases that don't yet exist anywhere else yet.
• Collaborative culture – Join a team of builders, problem-solvers, and innovators who are mission-driven and collaborative.
• Opportunity for growth – Shape not only our customer engagements, but also the processes and culture of an early lean team with plans for scale.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level