Application Guide

How to Apply for Senior Software Engineer

at Irregular

🏢 About Irregular

Irregular operates at the intersection of AI evaluation and cybersecurity, focusing specifically on frontier AI models. The company's unique mission involves building systems to test whether advanced AI models can evade detection by security tools, positioning them in a specialized niche of AI safety and security. Working here means contributing directly to critical infrastructure that assesses the real-world security implications of cutting-edge AI systems.

About This Role

This Senior Software Engineer role involves architecting and scaling the production systems that power Irregular's evaluation and security platform for frontier AI models. You'll be responsible for building robust backend services, distributed pipelines, and agent frameworks that support large-scale automated evaluations and research experiments. The role is impactful because you'll be creating the infrastructure that determines whether AI models can operate undetected in real-world security environments.

💡 A Day in the Life

A typical day might involve designing architecture for new evaluation pipelines that test AI models' evasion capabilities, collaborating with research teams to understand their experimental needs, and implementing backend services that integrate with external security tools. You'd be making technical decisions about how to scale systems that process large volumes of evaluation data while ensuring reliability and performance for production deployments.

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Interview Prep

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🎯 Who Irregular Is Looking For

  • Has 5+ years of production experience building and scaling distributed systems, backend services, and APIs in Python/Go/Rust
  • Demonstrates experience with agent frameworks, cybersecurity tooling, or systems that integrate with external partners' infrastructure
  • Shows ability to work in multidisciplinary teams (engineering + research + cyber) and adapt to rapidly evolving technical challenges in AI/security domains
  • Has architectural experience designing systems that must run reliably while processing large-scale data and automated evaluations

📝 Tips for Applying to Irregular

1

Highlight specific experience with agent frameworks or cybersecurity systems in your resume, not just generic backend development

2

Prepare concrete examples of how you've scaled production systems that integrated with external partners or third-party tools

3

Demonstrate understanding of both engineering and research workflows by mentioning projects that supported research teams or experiments

4

Show familiarity with AI model evaluation pipelines or security testing infrastructure in your portfolio or project descriptions

5

Tailor your application to emphasize systems thinking for 'frontier AI models' specifically, not just general AI/ML experience

✉️ What to Emphasize in Your Cover Letter

["Your experience designing production systems that must run reliably while integrating with external partners' infrastructure", 'Specific examples of building agent frameworks or cybersecurity-related tooling in production environments', "How you've supported research teams or experiments at scale through engineering infrastructure", 'Your approach to architectural decisions for systems that process large-scale automated evaluations']

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🔍 Research Before Applying

To stand out, make sure you've researched:

  • → Irregular's specific focus on 'frontier AI models' and how they define this category
  • → The company's approach to AI security evaluation and their published research or technical blog posts
  • → Their technology stack and how they've built their evaluation platform (look for engineering team insights)
  • → Their partnerships or collaborations in the AI safety/security space

💬 Prepare for These Interview Topics

Based on this role, you may be asked about:

1 Designing distributed pipelines for evaluating frontier AI models' ability to evade security detection
2 Architecting systems that integrate with external partners' security tools and infrastructure
3 Building agent frameworks that operate reliably in production environments
4 Scaling backend services to handle large-scale data from automated model evaluations
5 Balancing engineering requirements with research needs in multidisciplinary teams
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⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Focusing only on generic backend development without addressing the cybersecurity or AI evaluation aspects
  • Presenting experience with only small-scale systems when the role requires large-scale, production-grade infrastructure
  • Failing to demonstrate experience working in multidisciplinary teams or adapting to rapidly evolving technical challenges

📅 Application Timeline

This position is open until filled. However, we recommend applying as soon as possible as roles at mission-driven organizations tend to fill quickly.

Typical hiring timeline:

1

Application Review

1-2 weeks

2

Initial Screening

Phone call or written assessment

3

Interviews

1-2 rounds, usually virtual

✓

Offer

Congratulations!

Ready to Apply?

Good luck with your application to Irregular!

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