Principal Engineer, AI Security

The Company

Serving the People Who Serve the People

Granicus is driven by the excitement of building, implementing, and maintaining technology that is transforming the Govtech industry by bringing governments and its constituents together. We are on a mission to support our customers with meeting the needs of their communities and implementing our technology in ways that are equitable and inclusive. Granicus has consistently appeared on the GovTech 100 list over the past 5 years and has been recognized as the best companies to work on BuiltIn.

Over the last 25 years, we have served 5,500 federal, state, and local government agencies and more than 300 million citizen subscribers power an unmatched Subscriber Network that use our digital solutions to make the world a better place. With comprehensive cloud-based solutions for communications, government website design, meeting and agenda management software, records management, and digital services, Granicus empowers stronger relationships between government and residents across the U.S., U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. By simplifying interactions with residents, while disseminating critical information, Granicus brings governments closer to the people they serve—driving meaningful change for communities around the globe.

Want to know more? See more of what we do here.

Job Summary

Granicus is seeking a Principal Engineer, AI Security to help mature existing and define/build the next generation of AI security capabilities, guardrails, and control plane(s) across the enterprise.

This is a senior technical leadership role focused on maturing and implementing the AI security control plane that will shape how Granicus:

• securely adopts AI internally,
• securely builds AI-enabled products,
• and defends against AI-enabled adversaries.

You will work across technology teams (e.g., SW Eng, Cloud, IT) and with your security peers (e.g., Product Security, Cyber Defense, and GRC) to drive scalable controls, secure patterns, and modern approaches to AI-enabled security.

This role is ideal for a deeply technical, principal-level security engineer who:

• embraced AI early,
• actively builds with modern AI systems,
• and understands how AI fundamentally changes software development and enterprise security.

What Your Impact Will Look Like

Design and Build the AI Security Control Plane

• Design and implement scalable controls for AI-enabled development and operations
• Establish secure patterns for:
  • LLMs and agents
  • AI-assisted development
  • model and inference access
  • data protection and governance
  • AI telemetry and visibility
• Create guardrails that enable safe AI adoption without slowing engineering velocity

Modernize the SDLC

• Partner with Product Security and Engineering to evolve the SDLC for an AI-enabled world
• Embed security directly into developer workflows through:
  • pipeline enforcement,
  • AI-aware testing,
  • secure coding patterns,
  • and automated controls
• Help shift vulnerability management from reactive patching toward systemic risk reduction

Advance AI-Enabled Cyber Defense

• Partner with Cyber Defense teams to address how AI changes:
  • attacker behavior,
  • detection and response,
  • vulnerability exploitation,
  • and operational tempo
• Prototype and implement AI-enabled approaches for:
  • detection engineering,
  • prioritization,
  • and security operations automation

Drive Technical Leadership Across the Organization

• Translate emerging AI risks into actionable engineering strategy
• Identify high-risk gaps and drive practical solutions
• Establish scalable architectural and implementation patterns across teams
• Serve as a senior technical advisor across security and engineering organizations.

Stay Deeply Hands-On - this is a builder role, not a pure advisory position.

• Prototype systems, controls, and integrations directly
• Evaluate emerging AI tooling, technologies, and attack techniques
• Contribute code, architecture, and technical designs where needed

You Will Love This Job If You Have

Technical Leadership Experience

• 10+ years of experience in:
  • Security Engineering,
  • Product Security,
  • Application Security,
  • Platform Security,
  • or related technical disciplines
• Experience operating as a senior or principal-level technical leader across multiple engineering domains

An AI-Native Mindset

• Deep familiarity with:
  • LLMs,
  • copilots,
  • agents,
  • AI-assisted development,
  • and AI-enabled workflows
• Strong understanding of how AI changes:
  • SDLC practices,
  • attack surfaces,
  • vulnerability management,
  • identity and access models,
  • and security operations
• Actively builds and experiments with AI technologies

Practical AI-related Experience

• Experience securing AI-enabled applications or platforms in production
• Familiarity with:
  • adversarial AI,
  • prompt injection,
  • model abuse,
  • or AI red teaming
• Experience integrating security controls into large-scale engineering workflows
• SaaS, cloud-native, or regulated industry experience

Strong Engineering & Security Depth

• Strong background in:
  • cloud-native architectures,
  • APIs and distributed systems,
  • CI/CD and developer tooling,
  • security automation,
  • and secure software engineering
• Ability to design pragmatic, scalable security controls and patterns

The Right Operating Style

• Builder mentality with strong systems-thinking capability
• Pragmatic, execution-oriented, and comfortable operating in ambiguity
• Able to influence teams without relying on formal authority
• Focused on solving real problems—not implementing theoretical framework

Pay Range

About Us

Don’t have all the skills/experience mentioned above? At Granicus, we are trying to build diverse, inclusive teams. We do not have degree requirements for most of our roles. If you don’t meet every requirement above but are excited to learn more, we encourage you to apply. We might just be able to find another role that could be a perfect fit!

Security and Privacy Requirements

• Responsible for Granicus information security by appropriately preserving the Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (CIA) of Granicus information assets in accordance with the company's information security program.
• Responsible for ensuring the data privacy of our employees and customers, their data, as well as taking all required privacy training in a timely manner, in accordance with company policies.

The Team

• We are a remote-first company with a globally distributed workforce across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, India, Armenia, Australia, and New Zealand.

The Culture

• At Granicus, we are building a transparent, inclusive, and safe space for everyone who wants to bea part of our journey.
• A few culture highlights include – Employee Resource Groups to encourage diverse voices
• Coffee with Mark sessions – Our employees get to interact with our CEO on very important andsometimes difficult issues ranging from mental health to work-life balance and current affairs.
• Microsoft Teams communities focused on wellness, art, furbabies, family, parenting, and more.
• We bring in special guests from time to time to discuss issues that impact our employeepopulation

The Impact

• We are proud to serve dynamic organizations around the globe that use our digital solutions to make the world a better place — quite literally. We have so many powerful success stories that illustrate how our solutions are impacting the world. See more of our impact here.

The Benefits

Flexibility & Balance

• Flexible Time Off –Take the time you need to rest, recharge, and live your life.
• Company-Wide Wellbeing Days –Paid days off to unplug and focus on your mental health.
• Work From Home Reimbursement – Support a productive home office environment.

• Multiple Health Plan Options –Including a 100% employer-paid plan.
• Employer HSA Contributions –When enrolled in a High-Deductible Health Plan.
• Fitness Reimbursement Program –Stay active, your way.
• On-Demand Mental Health Support – Access to Headspace and other wellness tools.

• Paid Parental Leave –For both birthing and non-birthing parents.
• Traditional & Roth 401(k) –With a generous company match.
• Life & AD&D Insurance – 100% employer-paid coverage for peace of mind.

• Online Learning Platforms –Fuel your professional development.
• Competitive Salary & Bonuses – Your contributions are valued and rewarded.

Equal Opportunity Employer