Application Security Engineer, AI & Automation

Aquent is partnering with an established financial industry leader dedicated to securing its vast software ecosystem and pioneering the future of digital security. This organization is at the forefront of integrating cutting-edge AI and automation into its security operations, creating a dynamic environment where innovation drives impact. They are committed to redefining how security is managed, moving beyond traditional methods to embrace intelligent, automated solutions that protect critical assets and foster a secure development landscape.

This is an extraordinary opportunity to join a forward-thinking team as a Senior Application Security Engineer, where your expertise will directly shape the future of software defense. You will be instrumental in engineering the next generation of AI-driven security automation, transforming how vulnerabilities are identified, triaged, and remediated. Imagine moving beyond manual processes to build sophisticated, LLM-powered security workflows that significantly enhance the organization's resilience. Your work will sit at the thrilling intersection of traditional Application Security, Software Supply Chain Security, and Frontier AI, enabling you to evaluate, implement, and secure AI-assisted developer tooling. If you're passionate about building, automating, and making a tangible difference in a high-impact environment, this role is for you.

What You'll Do

• Test, implement, and optimize application security tooling that leverages frontier LLMs for vulnerability identification, code reasoning, triage acceleration, and automated remediation.
• Provide unified triage coverage across SCA, SAST, and DAST findings. Lead the rapid assessment and routing of threat intelligence escalations and critical patch events.
• Strengthen open-source dependency selection, package intake, and SBOM visibility. Build guardrails to detect malicious packages and enforce security policies across developer pipelines.
• Assess and secure developer environments, including IDEs, plugins/extensions, package managers, and AI coding assistants against malicious code and unsafe configurations.
• Help execute technical proofs-of-value, data handling reviews, and model output evaluations required to safely onboard new AI capabilities across the enterprise.

What You Bring

• 3+ years of hands-on experience in Application Security, with deep familiarity across the vulnerability lifecycle (SCA, SAST, DAST, and manual verification).
• Strong engineering fundamentals with scripting languages (e.g., Python, Go), APIs, CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions, GitLab CI), and developer tool integrations.
• Practical familiarity or hands-on experimentation with frontier models (LLMs), AI coding assistants (e.g., Copilot), prompt engineering, or AI orchestration frameworks.
• Experience securing software supply chains, package managers, and third-party dependencies against modern attack vectors.
• Ability to translate complex cryptographic or technical vulnerabilities into clear, actionable remediation guidance for software engineering teams.

Bonus Points

• Contributions to open-source security tools or AI/LLM security projects (e.g., OWASP Top 10 for LLMs).
• Experience building custom integrations or LLM agents to automate security analyst workflows.

Compensation

The target hiring compensation range for this role is $92 / hourly as W2.

Compensation is based on several factors including, but not limited to education, relevant work experience, relevant certifications, and location.

About Skill:

Skill connects the best professional, IT, engineering, financial and administrative talent with the world's biggest brands. Our eligible talent get access to benefits such as health benefit contributions, retirement plans with match and flexible spending accounts.

Skill is an equal-opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics. We're about creating an inclusive environment-one where different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are valued, and everyone can contribute, grow their careers, and thrive.