National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) · 12 hours ago
Research Engineer/Scientist, Agent Security
San Francisco, CA
Full-time
Onsite
Senior Level
5+ years expNational Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a center of AI expertise in the U.S. government. Its Agent Security team is hiring research engineers and scientists to conduct cutting-edge security research and develop agent security best practices and guidelines.
GovernmentLife ScienceNanotechnology
No H1B
U.S. Citizen Only
Responsibilities
Assess risks such as agent hijacking, data poisoning, jailbreaking, and specification gaming through benchmark development, hands-on red-teaming, and analysis
Conduct novel research that advances the frontier of AI security measurement science
Collaborate closely with team members, execute complex projects end-to-end, and help shape team priorities
Design and write performant, maintainable code for research and evaluations
Develop guidelines and best practices for secure development and deployment of AI
Advise agencies across government on secure AI deployment and AI security testing
Work in concert with industry researchers on testing exercises and research projects
Clearly communicate technical concepts in memos, briefings, and research papers
Qualification
Required
Experience must be IT related; the experience may be demonstrated by paid or unpaid experience and/or completion of specific, intensive training (for example, IT certification), as appropriate
Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail
Customer Service - Works with clients and customers to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services
Oral Communication - Expresses information to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information; makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately
Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations
ZP-2210-IV: In addition to the basic requirements, applicants must have one year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level (ZP-III at NIST). Specialized experience is defined as experience demonstrating at least one of (1) expertise in building software systems that evaluate, deploy, or train AI models or systems; or (2) expertise in adversarial machine learning research or deep learning research; or (3) expertise in assessing, studying, finding, or mitigating cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities, especially in AI systems
ZP-2210-V: In addition to the above requirements, applicants must have one year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-14 level (ZP-IV at NIST). Specialized experience is defined as experience demonstrating at least one of (1) expertise in building state-of-the-art software systems that evaluate, deploy, or train AI models or systems; or (2) advanced expertise in adversarial machine learning research or deep learning research; or (3) advanced expertise in assessing, studying, finding, or mitigating cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities, especially in AI systems
Benefits
Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment.
Company
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
We are the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a non-regulatory federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce.
1001-5000 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
unknownKey Investors
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
2023-01-17Grant
Leadership Team
George Jenkins, CPA, MBA, FAC-P/PM
Chief Financial Officer
Anita Vanek
Deputy Chief Operating Officer
Recent News
Help Net Security
2025-12-22
2025-12-18
NYT > Technology
2025-12-06
Company data provided by crunchbase