Compiler / Software Engineer
Variant Security · Bochum
What this role requires
5 requirements, read out of the advert rather than guessed from the job title:
Also mentioned, not required: CMake, CI/CD, Ghidra, IDA, Binary Ninja, ASLR, CFI, stack canaries, DEP, AFL, libFuzzer. Worth having, but their absence is not what gets a CV filtered out.
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Job description
About Variant Security
Variant Security is securing the world's critical fleets for the AI era. Today nearly every device runs identical software, so a single exploit can cascade across an entire fleet of satellites, drones, vehicles, and defense systems, and AI has made finding that one exploit cheaper than ever. Variant breaks that pattern, so compromising one device gives an attacker nothing against the rest and no single failure can bring down the fleet. AI made exploits cheap, and we make them useless, already protecting systems across aerospace, defense, and active conflict zones.
Role Summary
As a Compiler Engineer, you'll build and own the compiler technology at the core of Variant's product, turning cutting-edge diversification into something that ships. You'll work across two areas, the compiler itself and the systems and tooling that run it at fleet scale, with real ownership rather than narrow ticket work. You'll have a direct line to the founding team, immediate impact on what customers run, and room to grow from a strong early-career engineer into the owner of a core domain. Variant Security is securing the world's critical fleets for the AI era. Today nearly every device runs identical software, so a single exploit can cascade across an entire fleet of satellites, drones, vehicles, and defense systems, and AI has made finding that one exploit cheaper than ever. Variant breaks that pattern, so compromising one device gives an attacker nothing against the rest and no single failure can bring down the fleet. AI made exploits cheap, and we make them useless, already protecting systems across aerospace, defense, and active conflict zones.
Tasks
Develop and extend compiler passes that harden builds against exploitation
Read the full description (24 more sections)Show less
Reverse engineer and analyze the generated binaries to validate transformations
Measure security and performance impact across x86, AArch64, and RISC-V targets
Build tooling in modern C++ and Python, and integrate the compiler into CMake and customer CI/CD
Requirements
Must-haves:
Master's degree, or equivalent hands-on experience, in cybersecurity or computer science
Hands-on experience with binaries, whether reverse engineering, exploitation, or vulnerability research
Familiarity with Python and modern C++
Comfortable reading assembly and debugging low-level code on at least one of x86, AArch64, or RISC-V
Self-organized and self-driven, with strong personal initiative
Nice-to-haves:
Prior work on compilers like Clang/LLVM or IR-level transformations
Familiarity with binary analysis tooling such as Ghidra, IDA, or Binary Ninja
Knowledge of exploit mitigations (ASLR, CFI, stack canaries, DEP)
CTF, pwn, or fuzzing experience (AFL, libFuzzer)
Low-level systems background, spanning embedded, firmware, OS internals, or ELF/PE formats, linkers, and loaders
Benefits
Work on rare, hard problems where compilers meet binary security, the kind most engineers never get to touch
Early-stage equity and competitive compensation on the ground floor
Learn directly from a founding team with deep security, compiler, and space-systems pedigree (top-tier security research, DARPA, SpaceX)
See your work protect real fleets across aerospace, defense, and active conflict zones
Based in the Bochum office, with regular collaboration across Germany and the U.S. and the chance to work from or visit the US team
We're looking for builders, hackers, and systems thinkers. If this sounds like you, reach out to us.
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