Aikido Security
0 open Forward Deployed Engineer roles at Aikido Security, plus 2 closed. Curated with comp bands.
On the board since Aug 2026 · latest role Oct 2026 · no roles open right now
Our take
Why Aikido Security
A Belgian unicorn's US field seat — deploying its autonomous AI-pentest product into the on-prem, regulated shops that can't just buy SaaS.
- FDE type
- True forward-deployed
- Travel
- Medium
- Comp
- Undisclosed
- Stage
- Growth-stage
A good fit if you're…
- Engineers who want a security-vertical FDE seat, still rare on the board
- People comfortable in on-prem and regulated enterprise environments, not just cloud rollouts
- Candidates who'd rather work on-site in Chicago than relocate to a coast
- Those who like field work that feeds product: turning deployment friction into fixes
A Ghent unicorn, not a Chicago startup
Aikido Security is headquartered in Ghent, Belgium. In January 2026 it raised a $60M Series B at a $1B valuation led by DST Global, becoming the fastest-ever European cybersecurity company to reach unicorn status. The Chicago Forward Deployed Engineer role is a US field beachhead, not headquarters — you'd be the company's on-the-ground presence in a market far from the mothership, which shapes both the autonomy and the isolation of the seat.
The product you'd be landing
Aikido unifies code, cloud, and runtime security into a single platform, replacing a stack of fragmented scanners so developers can detect, prioritize, and remediate automatically. The newer, FDE-relevant piece is Aikido Attack, an autonomous penetration-testing product that deploys hundreds of specialized agents on demand to hunt vulnerabilities like an attacker, validate exploitability, and return built-in remediation. More than 100,000 teams — Revolut, Niantic, the Premier League, SoundCloud among them — already use the platform.
What “forward deployed” means here
You own the arc from 'customer signed' to 'deployment running smoothly': implementation, debugging, and custom integrations, then feeding field problems back as product improvements. Deployments range from fully on-prem to hybrid cloud with strict security controls — closer to classic field engineering than a one-click SaaS rollout, because regulated security buyers rarely permit the easy path. The friction is the job.
Comp & leveling
Comp isn't posted on the board. Aikido's funding depth — a $60M Series B at a $1B valuation — says it can pay competitively, but the single-market, on-site constraint means you should pin down the band, equity terms, and leveling directly before investing in the loop. Ask specifically how a US field hire is leveled against the Belgium-based engineering org.
Why a security FDE seat is rare
Most FDE roles on the board are horizontal AI-platform jobs. A cybersecurity vertical seat — deploying security tooling inside customers whose entire objection is trust and control — exercises a different muscle, and it's one of the few on the board. Domain credibility in appsec, cloud security, or compliance is the real differentiator, not generic deployment experience.
Who thrives, who bounces
Thrives: engineers who enjoy customer-facing debugging, speak the language of security and compliance, and genuinely want to be on-site in the Midwest rather than on a coast. Bounces: anyone wanting fully-remote, coastal, pure-product work — this seat is on-prem, in-person, and single-market by design, and the distance from HQ is a feature only if you like operating independently.
Questions candidates ask
Is Aikido a US company?
No — it's headquartered in Ghent, Belgium. The Forward Deployed Engineer role is an on-site Chicago field seat, serving US enterprise customers close to where they operate.
What would I actually deploy?
Primarily Aikido's security platform (code to cloud to runtime) and its autonomous pentest product, Aikido Attack, into customer environments that are often on-prem or hybrid with strict security controls.
What's the comp?
Not disclosed on the board. The company is well-funded ($60M Series B, $1B valuation), so it can pay competitively, but confirm the band and equity directly given the on-site, single-market nature of the seat.
Is the Chicago role always open?
Postings for a single-market field seat come and go, so it may not be live at any given moment. Aikido's careers page is the place to check, and a security or appsec background is the strongest signal you can bring.
Analysis updated 2026-10-05
Open roles at Aikido Security
Forward Deployed Engineer
Aikido's second FDE seat, in its home market: deploying a new AI-pentest product into on-prem and hybrid enterprise environments. A European FDE role in a vertical (security) the board barely covers.
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