Principal Product Security Researcher

Overview

Chainguard is dedicated to providing open-source software that is hardened, secure, and production-ready. Our mission is to help organizations build faster, stay compliant, and eliminate risk. We serve customers including Fortune 500 enterprises and global industry leaders.

Responsibilities

• Own the product security research agenda, identifying emerging threats and translating them into clear risks and opportunities for Chainguard and our customers.
• Shape security direction across products and platforms, collaborating with Product, Engineering, and Security leadership to embed findings into roadmaps, architecture decisions, and long-term plans.
• Lead large-scale, multi-quarter initiatives that reduce risk or improve security maturity across multiple product lines and platforms.
• Partner with executive and senior engineering leadership to drive org-level security strategy, influence roadmap decisions, and secure buy-in for significant changes.
• Identify and address systematic weaknesses in systems, structures, and habits, developing plans that fix root causes and ensure long-term security.
• Mentor and uplevel others across Product Security and Engineering, helping teams think more strategically about threats, risk, and long-term security posture.
• Represent Chainguard externally through talks, conferences, and thought leadership, sharing insights and moving the industry forward.

Requirements

• Deep experience in product or application security, with a track record of leading research or threat-focused work that drives clear, company-level outcomes.
• Expert knowledge across multiple domains such as secure architecture, application/product security, software supply chain, and org-level risk management.
• Comfortable owning ambiguous, cross-functional problems and turning them into structured, prioritized initiatives that ship and stick.
• Proven ability to present complex ideas to executive stakeholders, gaining alignment and driving decision-making at the highest levels.
• Able to stay at the cutting edge of industry trends, tooling, and research methods, applying them pragmatically.
• Works independently and with high ownership, while being a generous collaborator who brings others along for the ride.
• Comfortable in fast-evolving, uncertain contexts and able to build structure.

Qualifications

• Expertise in software supply chain security and product security research.
• Experience in shaping security direction across products and platforms.
• Ability to identify and mitigate systemic weaknesses in systems and structures.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, especially with executive stakeholders.
• Ability to work independently and in a collaborative environment.

Skills

• Software supply chain security expertise.
• Product security research and threat analysis.
• Strategic planning and execution.
• Effective communication and stakeholder engagement.
• Systematic problem-solving and root cause identification.

Benefits

• Flexible & Remote-First Culture
• Equity Compensation
• 100% Covered Health Insurance
• ∞ Flexible Time Off
• 18 Weeks Paid Parental Leave

Pay

Base Salary Range: $201,000 - $226,000 USD

Schedule

Chainguard offers a flexible and remote-first culture, with team meetup opportunities, bi-annual destination summits, and a monthly stipend for coworking spaces, phone and internet costs.