Senior AI Engineer (Zürich)

📋 Description

• • Are you passionate about operating at the absolute cutting edge of Artificial Intelligence, eager to lead groundbreaking developments in AI safety and security with a tangible global impact? Lakera is seeking a highly motivated and experienced Senior AI Engineer to join our dynamic, fast-moving, and intensely collaborative team. In this pivotal role, you will be instrumental in building the foundational infrastructure that underpins the safety and security of AI systems, ensuring they behave as intended and align with human values. You will have the unique opportunity to take full ownership of significant projects, contribute across the entire technology stack, and directly influence both the evolution of our product and the strategic direction of the company.
• • At Lakera, our mission is to guarantee that AI systems perform precisely as we desire. We are actively shaping a future where AI agents will manage critical aspects of our businesses and personal lives. We are not merely envisioning this future; we are constructing the essential security framework that will enable it. Our work empowers security teams and developers, allowing businesses to confidently adopt advanced AI technologies and unlock the next era of intelligent computing. We collaborate with a diverse range of clients, from Fortune 500 corporations and innovative startups to leading foundation model providers, offering them robust protection for their businesses and end-users against adversarial misalignment and unintended behaviors.
• • Beyond our core enterprise solutions, we are also the creators of Gandalf, recognized globally as the most popular AI security game. This initiative not only showcases our commitment to AI safety education but also highlights our innovative approach to engaging the community. Lakera maintains offices in both San Francisco and Zurich, fostering a global perspective while maintaining agility. We operate with a high degree of speed and intensity, functioning as a unified team where each member is expected to assume substantial ownership and accountability for their contributions. Transparency is a core tenet of our culture, permeating every level of the organization, and we are unwavering in our commitment to consistently elevate our standards across all endeavors. We actively promote diversity of thought, firmly believing that a wide range of perspectives is crucial for achieving the best possible outcomes and driving innovation.
• • As a Senior AI Engineer, your responsibilities will be broad and impactful. You will be tasked with designing and building new features from conception to deployment, encompassing everything from intuitive front-end user interfaces to robust and scalable backend services. A significant part of your role will involve close collaboration with product managers, designers, and end-users to meticulously define, prototype, and launch entirely new products. You will be expected to rapidly iterate on prototypes and features, incorporating feedback and adapting to evolving product needs with agility. You will own critical technical decisions, playing a key role in shaping the architectural design of new systems and ensuring their long-term viability and scalability.
• • Furthermore, you will be a champion for continuous improvement, actively working to enhance our existing codebase, refine our tooling, and optimize our development processes to maximize team velocity and efficiency. Maintaining exceptionally high engineering standards will be paramount, requiring a delicate balance between the need for speed and the practicalities of scrappy, agile development. You will be responsible for debugging, optimizing, and scaling applications to reliably support demanding real-world AI use cases. Crucially, you will play an active and influential role in shaping Lakera's overarching technical vision and contributing significantly to our product roadmap, ensuring we remain at the forefront of AI safety and security.
• • This role demands a proactive individual who thrives in ambiguity, craves autonomy, and is driven by a desire to make a meaningful impact. If you are a self-starter with a passion for AI and a commitment to building a safer AI future, this is the ideal environment for you to excel and grow.