[Hiring] Principal Product Security Researcher @Chainguard

Role Description

Imagine a world where we’re not just reacting to the latest security headline, but shaping the future threat landscape so our customers sleep better at night (and so do we). As a Principal Product Security Researcher at Chainguard, you’ll lead our product security research function end-to-end: mapping emerging threats, turning insight into strategy, and helping Chainguard stay several moves ahead of attackers across our entire product portfolio.

The role, in a nutshell:

• Own the product security research agenda for Chainguard, scanning the broader ecosystem, identifying emerging attack patterns, and translating them into clear risks and opportunities for Chainguard and our customers.
• Shape security direction across products and platforms, partnering closely with Product, Engineering, and Security leadership to embed your findings into roadmaps, architecture decisions, and long-term plans.
• Drive the agenda and discussion topics across the whole industry, helping everyone to understand what is important, where the risks are, and why they should pay attention.

If you enjoy turning ambiguous, fast-moving threat intel into concrete, multi-quarter plans that change how a company operates, this is your playground.

What you’ll do:

• Research emerging threats & trends in software supply chain and product security, and analyze their impact on Chainguard’s products and customers.
• Design creative mitigations across people, process, and technology into pragmatic defenses that actually get adopted.
• Partner with executive and senior engineering leadership to drive org-level security strategy, influence key roadmap decisions, and secure buy-in for big, complex changes.
• Identify systematic weaknesses (in systems, structures, and sometimes habits) and develop plans that fix root causes in ways that persist long after you’ve moved on to the next hard problem.
• Mentor and uplevel others across Product Security and Engineering by helping teams think more strategically about threats, risk, and long-term security posture.
• Take input and suggestions from across the organisation, balancing various stakeholders, and delivering value for different functions.
• Represent Chainguard externally through talks, conferences, and thought leadership, sharing what we’re learning and helping move the industry forward.

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Qualifications

• Bring deep experience in product or application security, with a track record of leading research or threat-focused work that drove clear, company-level outcomes.
• Have expert knowledge across multiple domains such as secure architecture, application/product security, software supply chain, and org-level risk management.
• Are comfortable owning ambiguous, cross-functional problems and turning them into structured, prioritized initiatives that ship and stick.
• Have a proven ability to present complex ideas to executive stakeholders, gaining alignment and driving decision-making at the highest levels.
• Stay at the cutting edge of industry trends, tooling, and research methods not just reading the latest papers, but putting them into practice in a pragmatic way.
• Work independently and with high ownership, while still being a generous collaborator who brings others along for the ride.
• Are comfortable in fast-evolving, uncertain contexts and can build structure.

Benefits

• Flexible & Remote-First Culture: Work remotely with team meetup opportunities, bi-annual destination summits, and a monthly stipend for coworking spaces, phone and internet costs.
• Our Approach to Equity: Receive stock options upon hire and promotion. Plus, you can participate in secondary offerings and have 10 years to exercise your options.
• 100% Covered Health Insurance: We cover 100% of your health, vision and dental insurance premiums for you and your dependents.
• ∞ Flexible Time Off: Take the time you need – to do our best work, we need to recharge and reset.
• 18 Weeks Paid Parental Leave: We offer 18 weeks for birthing parents and 12 weeks for non-birthing parents, with the option to use it all at once or throughout your child's first year.