Staff AI Solutions Architect

Department: Engineering

Location: San Jose, CA, Sarasota, FL HQ, Kansas City Metro

Employment Type: FullTime

Company Overview

TENEX is an AI-native, automation-first, built-for-scale Managed Detection and Response (MDR) provider. We are a force multiplier for defenders, helping organizations enhance their cybersecurity posture through advanced threat detection, rapid response, and continuous protection. Our team is composed of industry experts with deep experience in cybersecurity, automation and AI-driven solutions. Backed by leading investors, we are rapidly growing and seeking top talent to join our mission of revolutionizing the AI-Native MDR landscape.
We’re a fast growing startup backed by industry experts and top tier investors led by Crosspoint Capital Partners and also backed by Shield Capital, DTCP (formerly Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners), Deepwork Capital, and the Florida Opportunity Fund. Seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). As an early employee, you’ll play a meaningful role in defining and building our culture. Get in on the ground floor. We’re a small but well-funded team that just raised a substantial round – joining now comes with limited risk and unlimited upside.

As a Staff AI Solutions Architect at TENEX, you will be a critical technical leader, responsible for the end-to-end design, implementation, and deployment of artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions that power our core MDR services. You will translate complex cybersecurity challenges, threat intelligence, and product vision into robust, scalable, and production-ready AI architectures. This role is a key bridge between our Data Science, Product, and Engineering teams, ensuring our AI models deliver maximum impact and operational efficiency for our security analysts and customers.

Culture is one of the most important things at TENEX.AI—check out our culture deck at culture.tenex.ai to experience how we champion it, valuing the unmatched collaboration and community of in-person work while offering flexibility for the best of the best.

Location: This role will require onsite 4 days a week in our San Jose, CA, Kansas City, MO or Sarasota, FL location.

Responsibilities:

Define AI Solution Architecture & Vision: Focusing on our entire security platform, setting the technical strategy, design patterns, and execution roadmap for all new and existing AI/ML features, including threat detection, risk scoring, and automation.

Lead Technical Design & Prototyping: Creating high-level and detailed architectural designs, technical specifications, and proof-of-concepts for complex AI systems, ensuring they meet strict requirements for performance, scalability, and security.

Drive MLOps and Deployment Excellence: Establishing best practices for model development lifecycle, CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, and automated retraining to ensure reliable, high-quality, and continuous operation of AI models in a production environment.

Collaborate with Data Science and Engineering: Select appropriate technologies, optimize model performance, and ensure seamless integration of AI services into the existing platform architecture and customer-facing interfaces.

Serve as a Technical Expert: Advisor to executive leadership, product managers, and customers, articulating the value, technical feasibility, and architectural trade-offs of proposed AI solutions.

Ensure Security and Compliance: Designing AI solutions with robust data governance, privacy controls, and adherence to security best practices relevant to a regulated MSSP environment.

Mentor and Elevate Technical Talent: Give guidance across the Engineering and Data Science teams, fostering a culture of architectural excellence, reproducible research, and deployment rigor.

Required Skills & Qualifications:

• 8+ years of progressive experience in software engineering, data science, or machine learning, with 3+ years in a dedicated Solutions Architect or equivalent senior technical role for an AI/ML product.

• Proven track record of designing, building, and deploying large-scale, enterprise-grade AI/ML systems in a production environment, preferably within a major cloud platform (AWS, Azure, or GCP).

• Deep expertise in MLOps principles, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), model serving frameworks, and cloud-native services for data and machine learning.

• Expertise in common programming languages for data science (e.g., Python) and familiarity with big data technologies (e.g., Spark, distributed databases).

Security & Domain Acumen

• Strong experience designing for the cybersecurity, enterprise SaaS, or B2B technology industry is required, with a focus on threat detection, security operations (SOC), and incident response workflows.

• Strong understanding of security data types (logs, network telemetry, endpoint data) and experience in how AI/ML can be applied to simplify and automate threat analysis and response.

• Knowledge of complex data architectures for high-volume, real-time data ingestion and processing.

Soft Skills

• Exceptional communication, whiteboarding, and technical presentation skills, with a proven ability to translate highly technical concepts into clear, concise rationale for both technical and non-technical stakeholders, including executive leadership.

• Strong strategic thinking and analytical skills to resolve complex architectural trade-offs and prioritize solutions based on business value and risk reduction.

• A strong passion for applying AI to solve critical, real-world security challenges.

Education & Certifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Data Science, or a related quantitative field.

• Relevant certifications in cloud architecture (e.g., AWS Certified Solutions Architect), MLOps, or cybersecurity are a strong plus.

Why Join Us?

• Opportunity to work with cutting-edge AI-driven cybersecurity technologies and Google SecOps solutions.

• Collaborate with a talented and innovative team focused on continuously improving security operations.

• Competitive salary and benefits package.

• A culture of growth and development, with opportunities to expand your knowledge in AI, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies.

If you're passionate about combining cybersecurity expertise with artificial intelligence and have experience with Google SecOps and Chronicle, we encourage you to apply!

We practice pay transparency and reward performance. Offers reflect role location, internal equity, experience, skills, education, and certifications. Base salary for this position in San Jose, CA: $250,000 - $350,000.