Principal Research Engineer, R&D

When faced with a new and unfamiliar problem space, the natural reaction is to raise your hands and back away slowly. You, on the other hand, dive in head-first. You’ve realized over the years that some of the most exciting and impactful opportunities exist in that fuzzy, uncertain space where few brave souls dare venture. Your willingness to explore something new and ambiguous and return with a newfound clarity has left you with a unique ability to step back, squint, and see the non-linear path ahead.

You are passionate about exploration and experimentation, but impactful work excites you the most! There’s nothing quite like helping to deliver a new product or feature that actually solves a real-world problem. You're always searching for a way to help people solve unique problems, and are especially energized by rallying people around a shared vision. Although you enjoy getting technical, you also get great fulfillment and energy by teaching and helping others learn from your experiences.

Your time in security has taught you a dirty secret: security is hard! The thing is... it's not the APTs, CVEs, 0-days, or other buzzwords that make it hard. It's the organizational challenges that are difficult, sometimes as much as the technical. You've come to realize there is a constant tradeoff between business needs and implementing the right security controls. You empathize with those struggling to follow best practices and are always looking for new novel ways to help them.

Does this sound like you? We’re looking for someone who wants to have an impact on people and technology, thrives in a dynamic environment, and is energized by equally dynamic challenges.

What Expel Can Do For You

• Provide you the opportunity to explore and influence new product initiatives or features that ultimately help make the world a more secure place. We’ll point you at some of the most interesting and relevant problems in security and support you as you apply your expertise to explore innovative solutions
• Enable you to work alongside PM, engineering, operations, and other stakeholders to translate opportunities you see into planned roadmap and research initiatives
• Grant you a platform to share your expertise through speaking, publishing blogs, and other mediums like lunch-and-learns
• Ensure you get the management support, coaching, and feedback you need to be successful

What You Can Do For Expel

• Act as a catalyst for product innovation at Expel through exploration, experimentation and close collaboration with others
• Translate trends within the security ecosystem into potential actionable product roadmap or research initiatives working with product management, engineering, and service delivery
• Guide and mentor stakeholders (across PM, service delivery and engineering) working to solve relevant customer problems
• Scale your expertise through speaking, writing blogs, and creating deliverables tailored to a variety of audiences
• Engage with internal and external stakeholders (including customers) to stay close to relevant trends, pain points, and opportunities
• Help us not take things too seriously (we regularly poke fun at our leadership team in creative ways)

What You Should Bring With You

• A curiosity and drive to explore new, ambiguous problem spaces and provide clarity to stakeholders
• An understanding of the general security industry including trends, market segments, and opportunities
• A practical understanding of enterprise security including risk management, security operations, and security engineering (you don’t have to be an expert in everything, but should have familiarity with these functions)
• The ability to experiment and develop proof-of-concept tests to understand and communicate the value of new opportunities
• The ability and desire to change communication patterns based on the audience you are talking to

Additional notes

The base salary range for this role is between $164,100 USD to $237,900 USD + bonus eligibility and equity.

We believe in paying transparently and equitably. Your salary will ultimately be based on factors such as your experience, skills, team equity, and market data. You’ll also be eligible for unlimited PTO (which we model and encourage), work location flexibility, up to 24 weeks of parental leave, and really excellent health benefits.

We’re only hiring those authorized to work in the United States. We do not currently sponsor immigration visas.

We’re an Equal Opportunity Employer: You’ll receive consideration for employment without regard to race, sex, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or on the basis of disability.

We’ll ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please let us know if you need accommodation of any kind.

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