Team8 Cyber Stealth Startup- Cyber & AI Research Lead

Description:

Join a stealth-mode AI security startup backed by Team8 and lead one of our most critical and innovative teams. We're looking for a hands-on team lead to manage a group of top-tier engineers and data analysts focused on analyzing how AI and applications communicate over the network. Your work will shape product direction, influence core technology, and have a massive impact on the company. If you’re passionate about deep technical challenges, leadership, and building something truly new— let’s talk!

What You’ll Do:

• Lead and mentor a team of software engineers and analysts tackling traffic analysis, protocol inspection, and AI communication behavior.
• Drive research into how applications (especially AI-driven) interact with systems and networks.
• Collaborate closely with product, engineering, and security teams to translate insights into impactful product features.
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• Cultivate a strong, positive team culture built on curiosity, creativity, and technical

• Experienced Leader: 3+ years leading technical teams with a collaborative, hands-on approach.
• Deeply Technical: Strong understanding of networking, traffic layers (L2–L7), HTTP 2.0, web sockets, packet inspection, and protocol dissection.
• AI-Savvy: Comfortable with AI concepts and how tools communicate over networks and applications.
• Research-Driven: Skilled in inspecting and understanding binary/custom protocols across desktop and browser apps.
• Fun & Engaging: A great teammate who makes work enjoyable while driving serious impact.

Advantage:

• Experience with Wireshark, mitmproxy, Burp, or custom traffic tools.
• Experience with protocol fuzzing, decryption techniques, or dynamic analysis of AI model communication.
• Familiarity with AI tool behaviors, risks, and network-level visibility challenges.
• Background in security research, malware analysis, or OS-level instrumentation.

This team is central to our mission, with high visibility and huge influence. If you're ready to lead, innovate, and shape the future of AI security—we’d love to meet you.