Senior Security Engineer

Role: Senior/Staff Security Engineer - LiteLLM (first dedicated Security Engineer hire)

Title: Senior / Staff Security Engineer (seniority flexible for the right candidate)

Reporting to: Ishaan

Business need for the hire:

LiteLLM (AI Gateway used by Adobe, Netflix, NASA) is hiring its first Security Engineer. Urgency is heightened by a supply chain attack affecting the security industry this year. LiteLLM wants to get ahead of application, infrastructure, and software-supply-chain risk before it becomes a bigger liability at scale.

Wider team and where this role sits: This is a foundational/greenfield hire; no existing security team. Candidate comes in as a senior individual contributor but is expected to build and own the security function from scratch, with headcount growing underneath them over time. Strong mentorship component as the team scales.

Essential skills required to interview a candidate:

1. Application security, CI/CD, and SDLC security (top priority)

2. Proven experience setting up a security program from scratch (0?1), not just operating in an existing one

3. Python and/or Rust proficiency

4. Comp sci / back-end engineering fundamentals

5. Genuine passion for security outside of work (CTFs, vuln research, bug bounties, open-source security projects)

6. Technical degree (CS or related field, or equivalent practical experience)

Questions to screen candidates:

Walk me through your background in security; how did you come up in the field?

Have you designed and built your own security program from the ground up, or only operated within an existing one? (Looking specifically for self-starters, not maintainers.)

What does your involvement in security look like outside of work (CTFs, research, bug bounties, OSS)?

Interview Process: Could you please shed some context on what this may look like?

Selling points of the role/company:

First security hire at a widely-used, fast-growing open-source AI Gateway (Adobe, Netflix, NASA as customers)

True greenfield ownership; build the security function and practices from scratch

Direct partnership with engineering, not a post-hoc security gatekeeper

Path to building and mentoring a team as headcount grows under this hire

Meaningful equity upside at seed stage (see below)

Remote-friendly with travel

Location: Remote acceptable; San Francisco preferred.

Salary: $220k-$260k base

Benefits: Health, dental, and vision.

Equity: 0.1%-0.3%, at ~$15M ARR, and seed stage

Visa Sponsorship/Relocation package etc.: Yes for exceptional candidates

Ideal Start Date: ASAP

CV Feedback & Interview Feedback agreed SLAs: 48 hours