Forward Deployed Agent Engineer
Summary
Build and deploy AI agents that detect threats and automate security workflows for Fortune 500 clients, integrating cutting-edge models into complex enterprise environments.
About Cogent Security
Cogent is an Applied AI Lab building the next generation of AI agents for cybersecurity. AI has fundamentally changed how attacks happen, allowing malicious actors to operate at unprecedented speed and scale. Our AI Taskforce assesses petabytes of enterprise data to remediate these issues before critical breaches occur.
To stay at the cutting edge, we blend frontier research with real-world execution. Alongside our core product work, Cogent Research serves as our applied AI lab - providing the research needed to make agentic security workflows a reality.
Since coming out of stealth, Cogent has experienced rapid growth. We partner with Fortune 500 companies to secure some of the most complex production environments in the world. We're backed by Greylock and our team includes people from:
Top universities like Stanford, Berkeley, Penn, Duke, Carnegie Mellon, and Waterloo
High-growth companies like Scale AI, Databricks, Stripe, Tesla, and Coinbase
Cybersecurity leaders from Wiz, Abnormal AI, and Zscaler
Research labs like DeepMind and SAIL
About the Role
We're hiring a Forward Deployed Agent Engineer to design, build, and deploy mission-critical AI agents that operate in complex customer environments and drive measurable security outcomes. This is a highly cross-functional, forward-deployed role - you'll work directly with customers to understand their needs, adapt our platform to their environment, and continuously iterate on solutions that scale to millions of real-world events.
You'll own projects end-to-end: from initial implementation and data onboarding, to deploying in production, to integrating feedback into our core agent platform. Your work will directly shape how our agents detect threats, triage incidents, and automate security workflows for Fortune 500 organizations.
This role is built for engineers who thrive in high-impact environments, love solving hard technical problems, and want to see the tangible results of their work in the field.
What You'll Do
Design & Deploy AI Agents - build security-focused AI agents that reason over large datasets, interact with security systems, and handle complex real-world workflows
Own Implementations End-to-End - lead technical delivery for new and existing customers, from data ingestion and transformation pipelines to configuration, workflow design, and feature extension
Integrate the Latest Models at Scale - experiment with, evaluate, and integrate the latest text, voice, and multi-modal models into production environments
Adapt to Diverse Environments - work directly with customer security teams to integrate our agents with their tools, processes, and data sources
Drive Platform Evolution - identify cross-customer trends and translate field insights into platform improvements and new capabilities
Solve Complex Technical Problems - debug deep in the stack, investigate edge cases, and ensure our agents meet enterprise-grade reliability and performance standards
What We're Looking For
2+ years of professional software engineering experience, ideally in high-velocity or customer-facing environments
Proficiency in Python and TypeScript, with strong skills in asynchronous programming and building robust data integrations
Strong debugging and systems thinking abilities; comfortable tracing issues across multiple layers of a stack
Clear communication skills, with the ability to translate between technical and non-technical contexts
Thrive in ambiguity, take ownership end-to-end, and prioritize customer outcomes over output
Nice to Have
Experience with multi-modal AI models, enterprise SaaS, security operations, or behavioral analytics
Familiarity with large-scale data ingestion, transformation pipelines, and real-time processing
For California Based Applicants
The standard base salary range for this position is $100,000 - $250,000 annually. Compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, job level, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Certain roles may be eligible for variable compensation, equity, and benefits.
We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse company. We do not discriminate based on gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, civil or family status, age, disability, or race.
Skills
As published by ashby · 9 questions · 3 written answers
Basics
Legal Name, Email, Resume, Where are you based from today?
Short answers (4)
- Preferred Name (if applicable) optional
- Phone Number
- Linkedin Profile (write N/A if you don't have one)
- While Cogent doesn't have set working hours, as a Series A startup in an increasingly competitive field, nights and weekend hours are not uncommon. Are you ready for or excited to work in this type of environment?
Pick from a list (2)
- Engineering primarily works in office (4 days/week) from our San Francisco, CA & New York, NY offices. Are you excited to work in person?
- Do you currently, or will you in the future, need visa sponsorship to work in the United States (e.g. H-1B)?
Written answers (3)
- Why Cogent?
- Tell us about a project that you're especially proud of. optional
- Anything else you want to share? optional