Feeny
Physical Intelligence

Lead Security Engineer at Physical Intelligence (San Francisco, CA)

Physical Intelligence· San Francisco, CA·

Role details

Work type
Onsite
Employment
Full-Time
Level
Lead

Job description

Who We Are

Physical Intelligence is bringing general-purpose AI into the physical world. We are a group of engineers, scientists, roboticists, and company builders developing foundation models and learning algorithms to power the robots of today and the physically-actuated devices of the future. The Team You will work alongside the researchers and engineers bringing general-purpose AI into the physical world. We value pragmatism, initiative, and people who enjoy solving problems together. You will have the autonomy to identify what matters most and see improvements through.

About the Role

You will secure the models, data, infrastructure, and compute that power Physical Intelligence. This is a hands-on role for someone who likes digging into systems and building reliable tools that help researchers and engineers work securely at speed. You will prioritize the biggest risks and build practical protections that keep pace with how we work. In This Role You Will

  • Build and operate systems that protect our models, data, and compute.
  • Partner with researchers and engineers on architecture and development workflows.
  • Automate access management, infrastructure safeguards, and software delivery checks.
  • Write production-quality tools and contribute fixes directly to engineering repositories.
  • Find and exploit vulnerabilities, assess their impact, and validate fixes with system owners.
  • Set security priorities and bring in outside expertise where needed.

What We Hope You’ll Bring

  • Strong programming skills in Python, Go, or similar languages, including reviewing unfamiliar code and shipping maintainable software.
  • A track record of partnering with engineering teams to solve problems from discovery through rollout.
  • Experience operating and securing cloud infrastructure, including Linux, IAM, networking, containers, or CI/CD.
  • Connections in the security community and curiosity about emerging threats and techniques.
  • Hands-on offensive security experience and sound judgment about real-world risk.

Bonus Points

  • Experience securing AI/ML infrastructure or agent execution environments.
  • Experience building detection systems or helping establish a security function.
  • Excitement about robotics and a desire to learn.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Why work at Physical Intelligence

  • Culture: Described as a “pure company” – internally driven by research needs, not external market demands. Highly collaborative, with a mix of engineers, scientists, and roboticists working together.
  • Work Environment: Hybrid/in-office – most roles require on-site presence in San Francisco (396 Treat Ave), though some remote flexibility exists. In-office setting with a “no reception” vibe, open lab space with robot stations.
  • Growth: Team has scaled from ~80 (Jan 2026) to 163 (mid-2026) and is still hiring across research, ML infra, hardware, and engineering roles. Plans to grow “as slowly as possible” to maintain quality.
  • Perks & Engineering Highlights: Access to cutting-edge robotics hardware and compute resources; opportunity to publish research and open-source code; exposure to a wide variety of real-world automation challenges (e.g., robots learning to fold pants, peel vegetables, make espresso). Employees come from top institutions like Berkeley, Stanford, Google, NVIDIA, and Anduril.

Application questions