Vulnerability Research Software Engineer
Socket · Remote · San Francisco +1 · 10d ago
About Us
Socket helps devs and security teams ship faster by cutting out security busywork. Thousands of orgs use Socket to safely find, audit, and manage open source code. Our customers - from Anthropic to xAI, and Figma to Vercel - love Socket (just check out their tweets to see for yourself!)
Founded by Feross Aboukhadijeh, a long-time open source maintainer with software downloaded over a billion times a month, Socket has raised $125M in funding from top angels, operators, and security leaders.
About the Role
Join Socket to build and scale our patching infrastructure that delivers secure, vetted packages to developers worldwide. You’ll be at the forefront of supply chain security, creating patches for critical vulnerabilities and building the systems that help the entire open source ecosystem stay secure.
This role emphasizes deep software engineering expertise, especially in Rust and Unix environments. You'll tackle challenging CLI work—scoping, troubleshooting, and addressing edge cases across multiple package managers. This role combines engineering work with meaningful community impact that benefits the entire ecosystem. As an early member of the Socket team, you’ll help shape how we scale this technology.
What You'll Do
Master Socket workflows, tools, and patching processes
Build and maintain CLI tooling used in customer environments.
Implement package-manager integrations and handle ecosystem-specific edge cases.
Translate dependency and vulnerability workflows into reliable developer-facing interfaces.
Debug implementation issues across Unix-based environments.
Work closely with the patch team to scope work, troubleshoot problems, and ship practical improvements.
Contribute to frontend experiences using JavaScript, React, and TypeScript.
Scale patch production to dozens or hundreds of patches per week
Build and improve automated patching infrastructure and tooling
Build APIs and integrations to deliver certified packages
Create tooling for patch quality assurance and testing
Work with security researchers to understand and patch critical vulnerabilities
Give developers quick, safe remediation options for widely-used packages
Help secure the software supply chain for millions of developers
What You'll Bring
Required:
3+ years of software engineering experience with production systems
Strong proficiency in Rust and Unix/Linux environments
Proficiency in Node.js, JavaScript, and TypeScript
Experience with package managers (npm, yarn, pnpm) and the JavaScript ecosystem
Understanding of software security concepts and vulnerability management
Experience building and scaling APIs and data processing pipelines
Familiarity with automated testing, CI/CD, and deployment systems
Preferred:
Experience with security tooling, vulnerability scanning, or patch management
Knowledge of software supply chain security challenges
Experience with other package ecosystems (Python, Go, etc.)
Open source contributions or package maintenance experience
Background in DevSecOps or security engineering
Experience with high-throughput data processing systems
Our Interview Process
Informational with a member from our Talent Team
Hiring Manager Interview
Peer Interview
Take-home problem
Internal review of take-home
Live review of take-home
Debrief
Final Interview with our founder
References
Decision/Offer
Hiring is a big decision on both sides. Read more about our Hiring Philosophy and how we approach the process at Socket.
Benefits: Our benefits are crafted to support you and your family, so you can take care of what matters most and thrive in and outside of work. We offer:
Market competitive salary bands
Meaningful equity program
Comprehensive health benefits for you and your family (99% coverage)
Flexible time-off, holidays, and winter shutdown to rest & recharge
Paid parental leave
Remote-first, with quarterly team off-sites
At Socket, we
Pursue Excellence: We set ourselves apart by consistently delivering work of exceptional quality and distinction.
Move with urgency and focus: We prioritize swift, decisive action.
Think rigorously: We care about being right and it often takes reasoning from first principles to get there. We value alternative perspectives and have constructive discussions.
Trust and amplify: We overtrust, always assume good intent, and give specific feedback to help each other improve.
Feel a strong sense of ownership: We wear many hats and feel a strong sense of overall ownership of the company and we're non-territorial regarding our nominal domains.
Are customer obsessed: We relentlessly prioritize the needs of our customers, striving to exceed their expectations and delight them at every interaction.