Tech Lead, Detection & Response

About the role

You will be the senior technical owner of how Hadrian detects, investigates, and responds to threats across our corporate, cloud, and factory environments. This is a hands-on senior IC role leading a small team where you will set the technical direction and build the next-generation AI-native detection stack. You will lead from the keyboard, combining deep detection and response expertise with hands-on engineering to drive outcomes. You will own detection & response end to end, from strategy and architecture through implementation and optimization. You will partner closely with IT, infrastructure, and compliance teams to meet ITAR and CMMC monitoring and response requirements. In this role, you will mentor engineers and raise the bar on detections, playbooks, and tooling while taking ownership of high-severity incident response.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Own detection & response end to end - strategy, architecture, and hands-on engineering - across corporate, cloud, and factory environments
• Design and build an AI-native D&R stack: detection-as-code, LLM-assisted triage and enrichment, and agentic response automation
• Lead incident response from triage through containment, remediation, and postmortem, including high-severity scenarios
• Set technical direction for a small detection & response team; mentor engineers and raise the bar on detections, playbooks, and tooling
• Partner with IT, infrastructure, and compliance teams to meet ITAR and CMMC detection, monitoring, and response requirements
• Drive threat detection coverage and resilience across hybrid environments, including cloud services, identity systems, and manufacturing platforms
• Define and operationalize end-to-end playbooks, integrating human judgment with automated actions for efficient response
• Evaluate, prototype, and integrate AI and LLM-based tooling into security workflows while clearly articulating risks and limitations
• Collaborate with product and operations teams to embed security into factory workflows and ensure resilient, observable infrastructures
• Continuously measure detection efficacy, mean time to detect, and mean time to respond, iterating based on real-world incidents

Requirements

• 8+ years of security engineering experience with deep, hands-on detection & response expertise (SIEM, EDR, cloud and identity telemetry, SOAR)
• Strong software engineering skills with detection-as-code and infrastructure-as-code fluency
• A track record of setting technical direction as a tech lead, team lead, or anchor senior IC
• Demonstrated application of AI/LLM tooling to security workflows - and sound judgment about its limits
• Experience leading incident response end to end in production environments
• Proven ability to work effectively in fast-paced, ambiguous, high-stakes environments
• Deep understanding of cloud security principles, architectures, and shared responsibility models
• Knowledge of relevant compliance frameworks and controls related to defense and manufacturing environments

Nice to have

• Red team, penetration testing, or adversary emulation experience at any point in your career
• Experience in ITAR, CMMC, or other regulated defense or government environments
• Exposure to OT/ICS or manufacturing environment security
• Production experience building agentic or LLM-based security automation
• 0→1 experience building a security capability at a fast-scaling startup

Practical notes

• Full-time based in Los Angeles, CA
• Equity and flexible vacation policy
• Relocation support may be provided for certain situations, based on business need

BENEFITS FOR FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans for employees
• 401k
• Flexible vacation policy
• Equity

ITAR REQUIREMENTS

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.government. Learn more about the ITAR here https://www.pmddtc.state.gov/?id=ddtc_kb_article_page&sys_id=24d528fddbfc930044f9ff621f961987.

USE OF AI IN HIRING

Hadrian uses AI-assisted tools in our recruiting and hiring processes to help our team work more efficiently. This may include tools that help organize and analyze recruiting data, as well as an AI-powered notetaker that can record and transcribe interviews and help coordinate feedback. These tools support our team and are not used to make hiring decisions. All candidate evaluations and hiring decisions are performed by humans. If an interview will be recorded, you will be notified in advance and may opt out at any time with no impact on your candidacy. Candidate data processed through these tools is subject to the same protections described in our Privacy Policy https://www.hadrian.co/privacy-policy.

HADRIAN IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

It is the Company's policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. The Company does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race inclusive of traits historically associated with race (including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, such as braids, locs, and twists), color, religion, creed, ancestry, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, genetic information, disability, military and veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law.