Research Engineer / Scientist, Frontier Red Team (Cyber)

Anthropic
San Francisco, CA, USA2026-01-23

About the job

As a Research Scientist on FRT focusing on cyber, you'll build the tools and frameworks needed to defend the world against advanced AI-enabled cyber threats. Senior candidates will have the opportunity to shape and grow Anthropic's cyberdefense research program, working with Security, Safeguards, Policy, and other partner teams. This work sits at the intersection of AI capabilities research, cybersecurity, and policy—what we learn directly shapes how Anthropic and the world prepare for AI-enabled cyber threats.

Responsibilities

Develop systems, tools, and frameworks for AI-empowered cybersecurity, such as autonomous vulnerability discovery and remediation, malware detection and management, network hardening, and pentesting

Design and run experiments to elicit and evaluate autonomous AI cyber capabilities in realistic scenarios

Design and build infrastructure for evaluating and enabling AI systems to operate in security environments

Translate technical findings into compelling demonstrations and artifacts that inform policymakers and the public

Collaborate with external experts in cybersecurity, national security, and AI safety to scope and validate research directions

Senior candidates will also set research strategy, define what problems are worth solving, own the technical roadmap,

Qualifications

Minimum

Have deep expertise in cybersecurity or security research

Are driven to find solutions to complex, high-stakes problems

Have experience doing technical research with LLM-based agents or autonomous systems

Have strong software engineering skills, particularly in Python

Can own entire problems end-to-end, including both technical and non-technical components

Design and run experiments quickly, iterating fast toward useful results

Thrive in collaborative environments

Care deeply about AI safety and want your work to have real-world impact on how humanity navigates advanced AI

Are comfortable working on sensitive projects that require discretion and integrity

Have proven ability to lead cross-functional security initiatives and navigate complex organizational dynamics

Preferred

Experience with offensive security research, vulnerability research, or exploit development

Research or professional experience applying LLMs to security problems

Track record in competitive CTFs, bug bounties, or other security-related competitions

Experience building security tools or automation

Track record of building demos or prototypes that communicate complex technical ideas

Experience working with external stakeholders (policymakers, government, researchers)

Familiarity with AI safety research and threat modeling for advanced AI systems