Senior Security Research Engineer

About the role

Elastic’s Security Endpoint Protections team builds the core visibility and prevention capabilities of Elastic Defend, its endpoint and SIEM solution. As a Senior Security Research Engineer you will lead the design and implementation of novel protections that defend customers against emerging threats.

Key responsibilities

• Research emerging attacker techniques and turn them into shipped protections across Windows, macOS, and Linux.
• Instrument new event sources, deepen telemetry, and close gaps attackers rely on.
• Write high‑performance, stable C/C++ code that runs on millions of endpoints.
• Reverse‑engineer malware, study evasion tactics, and feed findings back into protection design.
• Own efficacy end‑to‑end by reviewing fleet‑scale telemetry, investigating false positives and performance regressions.
• Extend protection parity across platforms and new hardware architectures.
• Collaborate with detection engineers, malware researchers, and data scientists in a distributed team.
• Help set technical direction, mentor junior engineers, and lead multi‑release initiatives.
• Publish research, present at conferences, and contribute to open‑source security projects.

Required profile

• 6+ years experience analyzing attacker tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and building detection methods.
• 6+ years development experience in C, C++ and Python, with a focus on secure, maintainable code.
• Deep knowledge of operating‑system internals (kernel and user mode), especially Windows, with macOS or Linux expertise.
• Strong reverse‑engineering and malware‑analysis background.
• Adversarial mindset that anticipates evasion and designs resilient protections.
• Collaborative, self‑directed work style in a distributed environment.
• Proven use of AI/ML to accelerate development, debugging, or code optimization.
• Passion for protecting data and a commitment to continuous learning.

Required skills

• C
• C++
• Python
• Windows OS internals
• macOS
• Linux
• Reverse engineering
• Malware analysis
• AI/ML for security
• Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch, Kibana)

What we offer

• Competitive pay based on performance, not prior salary.
• Health coverage for employees and families in many locations.
• Flexible locations and schedules for a distributed workforce.
• Generous vacation days and up to $2,000 donation match.
• Up to 40 hours per year for volunteer projects.
• Minimum 16 weeks of parental leave.