About Security Level 5
Security Level 5 is a Bay Area AI security nonprofit working with AI labs and US intelligence agencies to defend frontier models from priority nation-state-level threats. We move fast, and we're tripling headcount this year.
The Mission
We're hiring for what's plausibly the most difficult, urgent, and interesting challenge in AI security engineering this decade (for humans, at least): designing and building the first datacenter purpose-built to Security Level 5, the standard for defending frontier AI labs against attackers with the resources of a nation-state and billion-dollar budgets. We're working on the first SL5 components this year and aiming for an at-scale SL5 datacenter build in 2027.
We wrote the first version of the standard with input from CISOs and senior security staff at the frontier labs, and US security and intelligence officials. Now we're designing the SL5 architectures purpose-built for frontier AI workloads, and standing up the reference tech stack to guide labs' buildouts. This stack has to hold against nation-states, not destroy researchers' productivity, not cost more than labs can pay, and ship in 2-3 years.
What you’d work on
Owning our recruiting process, and refining and improving it where it falls short of excellence
Sourcing, screening, coordinating interviews, and driving offers to close.
Take fuzzy hiring needs and do what it takes to turn them into clear role definitions and scorecards
Be the first Security Level 5 touchpoint for candidates, explaining our mission and representing us well.
You’d be a fit if you
Have 2+ years of full-cycle recruiting, including technical or research hiring at a startup or fast-growing org.
Are comfortable owning an entire recruiting function, and have the requisite knowledge to rebuild an existing process from the ground up.
Have sufficient technical expertise to filter out candidates who are not a strong match early.
Are capable of operating autonomously while keeping the team synced
Care about the mission. You think AI could reshape the coming decade and want to help it go safely, with a realistic read on both the upside and the risks.
Logistics
Bay Area, in-person. This role's base salary range is $150,000 - $220,000 USD per year. We may be open to paying exceptional and/or highly experienced employees more than this. We also provide full benefits, including healthcare, dental, vision, 401k match, and more.
Skills Required
- 2+ years of full-cycle recruiting, including technical or research hiring at a startup or fast-growing organization.
- Ability to own the entire recruiting function and rebuild processes from the ground up.
- Sufficient technical expertise to screen and filter out candidates early.
- Capability to operate autonomously while keeping the team synchronized.
- Strong mission alignment and interest in AI safety and security.
- Ability to work in-person in the Bay Area.
What We Do
Security Level 5 is a Bay Area 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on protecting frontier AI models from priority nation-state threats. It develops the technical roadmap, security standard, architectures, and reference stack for “SL5”—defenses spanning machine, physical, network, personnel, and supply-chain security. The organization convenes AI labs, national-security leaders, engineers, data-center operators, chip providers, researchers, and government participants to make high-assurance AI infrastructure deployable.
