Sr. Security Engineer - GRC Frameworks & AI Governance

Sr. Security Engineer - GRC Frameworks & AI Governance

Palo Alto, CA; New York, NY; Washington, DC

SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today, SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of making life multiplanetary and expanding consciousness to the stars. SpaceXSI is building Super Intelligence to help humanity understand the universe. Our teams are building the full Super Intelligence stack: from our Colossus supercomputers, to Grok models, to our suite of applications, including Grok Bot, Grok Build, Grok Imagine, Grok Voice, and X. We're creating a powerful flywheel where more compute trains better models, better models power more useful products, and what we learn from people using those products shapes what we build next.

ABOUT THE ROLE:

We are seeking an experienced Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) Engineer to own and scale our security and AI governance compliance posture as SpaceXSI grows. You will set the standards the organization builds to, design and implement controls, and automate the unglamorous parts of compliance so a fast-moving team can ship safely. The ideal candidate combines deep fluency across modern security and AI frameworks with GRC engineering skills: you translate control requirements into technical implementations, partner with engineers to bake compliance into architecture and CI/CD, and replace point-in-time checklist work with continuous, engineered assurance. You will collaborate across engineering, legal, product, and leadership to keep our AI systems audit-ready across enterprise, commercial, and public-sector environments.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Own and execute security compliance implementation and audits across core frameworks including SOC 2, NIST CSF, NIST SP 800-53, ISO 27001, ISO 42001, and the EU AI Act, including control design, mapping, gap assessment, evidence collection, and remediation tracking.
• Build and maintain Compliance-as-Code and continuous compliance capabilities — policy-as-code, automated control validation, continuous evidence pipelines, and monitoring integrated into development and deployment workflows — so the company can move fast without cutting corners.
• Operate and extend GRC platforms (e.g., Vanta) as the system of record for controls, evidence, and audit readiness; integrate them with cloud, identity, and engineering tooling to reduce manual toil.
• Partner with engineering and architecture to embed compliance requirements early in design reviews; translate framework obligations into clear technical control narratives that satisfy auditors without slowing delivery.
• Develop, maintain, and continuously improve corporate policies, standards, and procedures that support the company's governance and AI management system posture.
• Identify, assess, and prioritize risks related to AI/ML operations, cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, data privacy, intellectual property, and cloud deployments; distinguish meaningful business risk from compliance theater.
• Lead risk assessments and compliance reviews for new products, model deployments, features, and architectural changes, with particular attention to AI system risks (data handling, model governance, agentic and conversational surfaces).
• Own and cultivate relationships with external auditors, assessors (e.g., QSAs where applicable), and regulators; serve as the bridge between auditors and internal teams so requests are reasonable, clear, and relevant to our stack.
• Champion a culture of security and compliance across the company — educating teams on why controls exist, not only enforcing them.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Security, Cybersecurity, or in an engineering/STEM field.
• 8+ years of experience in GRC, security compliance, or technology audit roles with hands-on GRC engineering responsibilities.
• Demonstrated experience implementing and maintaining security compliance frameworks in cloud environments (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• Expert-level working knowledge of several of the following: SOC 2, NIST CSF, NIST SP 800-53, ISO 27001, and ISO 42001 — including building and running controls, not only reading the frameworks.
• Experience with Compliance-as-Code practices and GRC automation tooling (e.g., Vanta, Drata, or similar), with a bias toward continuous monitoring.
• Ability to evaluate control objectives against real IT and cloud configurations and to work alongside engineers on remediation.

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• 10+ years of security compliance, GRC engineering, or technology audit-related experience.
• Hands-on experience implementing technical controls (e.g., IAM, logging and monitoring, encryption, infrastructure hardening) and integrating compliance checks into CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience in the tech or AI/ML industry, particularly with startups or high-growth product organizations.
• Working knowledge of HIPAA privacy and security rules (bonus), ideally mapped into a SOC 2 or ISO-certified control environment.
• Experience supporting SOX / ITGC design, documentation, testing, or auditor coordination, especially in a publicly traded or IPO-bound company.
• Strong understanding of AI ethics and AI governance frameworks (e.g., NIST AI RMF, ISO 42001, EU AI Act) and associated operational risks.
• Working knowledge in data privacy frameworks (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) in a technology or cloud environment.
• Exceptional analytical, problem-solving, organizational, and project management skills, with the ability to take compliance programs from conception to audit-ready launch.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills — able to explain risk and tradeoffs to engineers, legal, sales, and executives in plain language.
• Certifications such as CISSP, CISA, CISM, CRISC, CGEIT, ISO 27001 Lead Implementer/Auditor, or similar preferred.
• Experience with public sector or federal compliance programs (e.g., FedRAMP, NIST 800-171, CMMC) is a plus.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:

$152,000 - $258,000 USD

Base salary is just one part of our total rewards package at SpaceXSI, which also includes equity, comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, short & long-term disability insurance, life insurance, and various other discounts and perks.

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here .