--- title: 'Staff Software Engineer at TENEX.AI' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/staff-software-engineer-tenex-ai-san-jose-n4xqsv462cd6' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-13' --- # Staff Software Engineer at TENEX.AI - **Company:** TENEX.AI - **Location:** San Jose, CA - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2025-09-09 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-13 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/tenex/7e64f1c2-46ad-483e-8565-a4e93a81fd0d ## Job description 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. We are seeking an experienced Staff Software Engineer to join our core engineering team. In this role, you will drive the technical vision and execution of our platform, ensuring that it is reliable, scalable, and secure as we grow. You’ll lead architecture design, guide complex technical decisions, and mentor engineers while remaining deeply hands-on. As one of the most senior engineers on the team, you’ll balance strategic impact with technical depth—setting the standard for engineering excellence while directly contributing to our codebase. We value proactive builders who thrive in ambiguity, enjoy tackling hard technical problems, and can influence both product and engineering direction. Location: This role will require Monday - Thursday onsite in any of our locations. WFH Friday. Culture is one of the most important things at [TENEX.AI](http://TENEX.AI)—explore our culture deck at [culture.tenex.ai](http://culture.tenex.ai) to witness how we embody it, prioritizing the irreplaceable collaboration and community of in-person work. Job Responsibilities: - Own and drive architectural decisions for core systems and services, balancing speed, scalability, and security. - Lead design and development of distributed backend systems, APIs, and integrations. - Provide technical leadership across the stack, from backend services to frontend applications. - Mentor, coach, and up-level engineers through code reviews, design discussions, and pairing. - Collaborate with product, design, and leadership to shape technical roadmaps. - Identify and address cross-cutting concerns such as observability, reliability, and performance. - Champion engineering best practices, ensuring code quality, testing, and maintainability. - Stay ahead of industry trends in AI, automation, and security, bringing innovative approaches into our platform. Qualifications: - 7+ years of professional software engineering experience, including leadership in designing and scaling complex systems. - Strong foundation in software engineering principles and distributed systems. - Expertise in at least one backend language such as Go, Python, or equivalent. - Experience with modern frontend frameworks (React, Next.js, TypeScript, or similar). - Proficiency with relational databases such as PostgreSQL or MySQL. - Experience with cloud platforms (GCP, AWS, or equivalent). - Demonstrated ability to lead technical direction and mentor other engineers. - Excellent communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. Desired (While experience in all is not required, any of the following would be a plus): - Experience with containerization technologies like Docker and orchestration tools like Kubernetes. - Experience with CI/CD pipelines. - Exposure to AI/ML concepts and technologies, such as: - Prompt Engineering - Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) - Supervised Fine-Tuning (SFT) - Vector Databases - Experience working in an early-stage startup environment. Education & Certifications - Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience). - GCP certifications such as Professional Cloud Developer or Professional Data Engineer are a 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! ## About TENEX.AI ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: TENEX.AI is the first AI-native, human-led Managed Detection and Response (MDR) provider, built from the ground up to deliver 10x faster threat detection and response. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series B, $277M total funding) - **Headquarters**: Sarasota, FL, United States - **Founded**: 2024 - **Founders**: Eric Foster (CEO), Venkata Koppaka (Co-Founder & CTO), Jan Grzymala-Busse (CISO & Head of Security Operations), Elias “Lou” Manousos (Chairman), Ryan Shreve (Co-Founder & CRO), Edwin Solis (Co-Founder & CFO/COO) ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Cybersecurity – Managed Detection and Response (MDR), threat intelligence, security automation, and incident response. - **Target customers**: Mid-market to global enterprises (B2B), also SMBs with flexible pricing. - **Mission**: “Deliver 10x better security outcomes, faster and more cost-effectively than legacy providers.” ## Products & Services - **AI-Native MDR (Managed Detection & Response)**: Core service that uses domain-specific AI to triage every alert in under a minute, then empowers human analysts to investigate and respond. Includes 24/7 U.S.-based analysts with 8+ years average experience. - **Essential AI-Native MDR**: A standardized, lower-cost tier for smaller organizations (pricing from $99,000/year). - **Bespoke MDR**: Customized service for complex, mission-critical environments with dedicated engineering team, flexible contract, and quarterly executive briefings. - **Google Cloud Security Operations**: Implementation, management, and optimization of Google Security Operations platform (TENEX is a leading Google Cloud partner). - **Platform Training & Education**: Customer training on the TENEX platform and security operations best practices. - **Dashboards & Reports**: Continuous visibility and reporting for security posture. ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed. - **Total Funding**: $277M across three rounds: - Seed (Jan 2025): Led by **Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)** - Series A (Oct 2025): $27M led by **Crosspoint Capital Partners** - Series B (Mar 2026): $250M led by **Crosspoint Capital Partners** (also a16z, Shield Capital participated) - **Key Metric**: 505.9% year-over-year headcount growth (74 employees as of early 2026); 108 active job postings. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Crosspoint Capital Partners, Shield Capital; Google Cloud (strategic partner). - **Growth Signals**: Scaling from 1 to 3 offices (Sarasota, Overland Park, San Jose); rapid hiring across engineering, sales, and threat detection; leadership team includes former Google Security executives and founders of RiskIQ and Cyderes. ## Competitive Advantages - **AI-native architecture**: Built from the ground up for AI, not retrofitted. Domain-specific models understand attacker behavior, not just patterns. - **Human-led, AI-powered**: AI handles 100% of alerts at machine speed; human experts focus on complex threats. 95% fewer false positives, <1-minute mean time to triage (MTTX). - **Elite founding team**: Veterans from Google Cloud Security (original Chronicle team), RiskIQ, Cyderes, Fishtech Group, and national security. - **Deep Google Cloud expertise**: TENEX is the go-to partner for Google Security Operations, managing over 75% of Google’s security business at peak. - **Flexible, scalable pricing**: From $99K/year Essential tier to fully bespoke enterprise solutions, making premium MDR accessible to a wide range of budgets. ## Strategic Focus - **Scale through AI, not headcount**: Use automation to multiply analyst efficiency rather than linearly adding people. - **In-person collaboration**: All three offices are on-site-first; the company believes “bold innovations emerge from in-person collaboration.” - **Continuous learning and adaptation**: The AI platform learns from every environment and analyst feedback, staying ahead of emerging threats. - **Expansion into mid-market**: The Essential tier targets smaller organizations that previously couldn’t afford premium MDR. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: “AI-native, human-led” – the company values elite human expertise alongside advanced AI. “We’re AI-native, born AI, built AI, think AI, and actively searching for the best human minds in cybersecurity.” - **Work model**: On-site-first in three locations: Sarasota, FL (HQ); Overland Park, KS; San Jose, CA. Aggressive relocation packages including moving expense reimbursement, temporary housing, family transition support. - **Benefits**: Comprehensive health (Medical, Dental, Vision); 100% 401k match up to 6%; long-term incentives; professional development opportunities; continuous learning culture. - **Growth trajectory**: Rapidly scaling (505% YoY headcount growth) with 108 open positions across engineering, product, sales, and security operations. Opportunity to shape the future of AI-driven security. - **Team**: 72% of employees in the US, with a strong technical base (39% in technical roles). Executives hail from Google, Microsoft, Cyderes, ReliaQuest, and other top security firms. ## Sources 1. [tenex.ai](https://tenex.ai/) 2. [tenex.ai/about-us](https://tenex.ai/about-us/) 3. [linkedin.com/company/tenex-ai](https://www.linkedin.com/company/tenex-ai) 4. [tenex.ai/careers](https://tenex.ai/careers/) 5. [tenex.ai/careers/open-positions](https://tenex.ai/careers/open-positions/) ## Other roles at TENEX.AI - [Director of Forward Deployed Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-forward-deployed-engineering-tenex-ai-kansas-city-metro-qymr6qpgxw07) — Kansas City Metro - [Regional Sales Director](https://feeny.ai/job/regional-sales-director-tenex-ai-united-states-t3p1x1myng7d) — United States - [HR Generalist](https://feeny.ai/job/hr-generalist-tenex-ai-kansas-city-3qhnkdsvmrkx) — Kansas City, MO - [Forward Deployed Security Automation Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-security-automation-engineer-tenex-ai-san-jose-xgzkabkgy5gj) — San Jose, CA - [Director, Customer Success EMEA](https://feeny.ai/job/director-customer-success-emea-tenex-ai-united-kingdom-k7e0cgffckxb) — United Kingdom - [Forward Deployed Implementation Engineer (Dubai)](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-implementation-engineer-dubai-tenex-ai-united-arab-emirates-k93ytb1d2anz) — United Arab Emirates - [Forward Deployed Implementation Engineer (London)](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-implementation-engineer-london-tenex-ai-united-kingdom-6k7fy5myps3a) — United Kingdom - [Cloud Security Go To Market Specialist--Wiz/Google Cloud-London](https://feeny.ai/job/cloud-security-go-to-market-specialist-wiz-google-cloud-london-tenex-ai-united-rs3qse5x03f1) — United Kingdom - [Infrastructure Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/infrastructure-manager-tenex-ai-kansas-city-ft6qceav8a0r) — Kansas City, MO - [Principal DevOps Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-devops-engineer-tenex-ai-san-jose-e84nhzbq37sk) — San Jose, CA