Co-Founder(Cyber) — Berlin CyberSecurity Startup (Freshly Funded) - Chief Cyber Architect / Cyber Lead Engineer

Berlin • Cybersecurity & AI Startup • Recently Funded

A newly funded cybersecurity startup in Berlin is looking for a Security Architect / Security Engineer / Cyber Team Leader to join as a co-founder and design the core security, identity, and enforcement foundations of a next-generation security platform.

Following newly secured funding, we are looking for a technical co-founder who will architect and build the core product from day one.

We are looking for a hands on Founding Cyber Architect/ Security Engineer / CIO / CISO for a hybrid role based in Berlin. If you are passionate about Cyber Security and AI tech, thrive in fast-paced environments, and have experience building complex platforms, this is your opportunity to make a lasting impact.

Responsibilities

Design the identity and access architecture, including token lifecycle, permission models, and cross-SaaS access patterns.

Build the security foundations: authentication, authorization, token handling, secrets flow, permission boundaries.

Architect the enforcement engine with policy logic, actions, revocations, and real-time decisioning.

Create the risk model for human, machine, SaaS, and AI agent identities.

Lead security design for external integrations, connectors, and app-to-app access flows.

Build PoC prototypes and work hands-on with engineering teams for identity and enforcement components.

Develop early security automation, including detection, risk scoring, and remediation flows.

Support enterprise customers during security reviews, deep dives, and PoCs.

Collaborate closely with the CEO and CTO as security co-founder on architecture and security direction.

Ensure strong security posture and hardening across backend services and critical components.

Write production-grade code (4–6 hours/day early stage).

Make Europe and world more Cyber resilient!

Requirements and Skills

10+ years experience in security architecture, identity security, IAM, or security engineering.

Deep understanding of OAuth/OIDC, API tokens, scopes, SSO, SCIM, roles, service accounts.

Knowledge of RBAC/ABAC or fine-grained access models.

Experience designing permission models, identity graphs, or access control frameworks.

Solid knowledge of Zero Trust principles, least privilege, and continuous verification.

Ability to design secure distributed systems and define clear service boundaries.

Hands-on ability to build PoCs and technically validate implementation decisions.

Strong understanding of SaaS integrations and app-to-app permission flows.

Experience with secrets handling, token hygiene, and secure key management.

Familiarity with risk modeling and identity threat patterns.

High ownership mentality, startup mindset, and ability to move quickly.

Proven ability to design and ship complex distributed systems.

Experience with Security related to AI/LLM systems, agent logic, or willingness to learn fast.

Hands-on coding mentality; can build MVP and early security architecture yourself.

Experience integrating with multiple SaaS systems and APIs.

Strong security mindset and understanding of modern attack surfaces.

Ability to move fast, take ownership, and operate independently.

Hands-on experience with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform) and cloud deployments.

Prior startup experience.

Low ego, high commitment, and a true founder mentality.

Nice to Have

Experience with behavioral analytics, detection engineering, or ITDR.

Knowledge of policy engines (custom policy logic).

Experience with SaaS app marketplaces and OAuth permission models.

Exposure to graph-based modeling (identity graph, access graph, risk graph).

Familiarity with AI agent behavior, LLM security, or agent sandboxing.

Background in API security testing, secret scanning, or token analysis.

Experience with incident response or investigation workflows.

Cloud IAM experience (AWS/GCP/Azure), including roles and service principals.

Previous startup or founding engineer experience.

Awareness of compliance frameworks (NIS2, ISO, SOC2)

Experience with risk scoring, anomaly detection, or behavior-based systems.

Exposure to agent sandboxing, isolated execution, or container micro-VMs.

Previous experience in cybersecurity, identity startups.

Understanding of graph databases, unified identity graphs, or permission maps.

Previous Technical Product leadership and design experience.

Prior co-founder experience.

Experience managing small cyber teams in early-stage environments.

Benefits

Co-Founder Equity — meaningful ownership in a high-growth cybersecurity company.

Competitive Compensation — salary aligned with market, flexible early-stage arrangements possible.

Founding Team Status — shape the company from day one and own critical security technical decisions.

Fresh Funding Secured — immediate runway to build, hire, and execute fast.

Full Security Ownership — lead security architecture across identity, AI agents, and enforcement.

High Autonomy — freedom to design and build without corporate overhead.

Work with a Technical CEO and CTO — fast iteration, strong alignment, clear direction.

Cutting-Edge Domain — identity security, SaaS-to-SaaS access, AI agent governance.

Massive Learning Curve — quickly gain depth in cybersecurity, identity, and AI systems.

Enterprise Exposure — meet customers with the CEO, lead deep dives, and own PoCs.

Fast Career Path — evolve into CTO-level leadership as we scale the engineering team.

Berlin Location — top-tier tech environment with strong cybersecurity and AI ecosystems.

Direct Impact — your architecture and code become the foundation of the entire platform.