Senior Director of Product Security

About Apptronik

Apptronik is building Apollo, a general-purpose humanoid robot designed to work alongside people in

real-world environments. We sit at the intersection of advanced hardware, embedded systems, and AI while

scaling from development into deployment. As Apollo moves into the field, product security is a foundational

requirement across everything we ship. Vulnerabilities here are not abstract: they have real-world

consequences.

The Role

We are looking for a Senior Director of Product Security to own and drive Apptronik's end-to-end product

security function. Reporting directly to the COO, you will have cross-functional authority across hardware

engineering, software, systems engineering, and external partnerships. You will build the program from the

ground up — establishing monitoring infrastructure, defining escalation protocols, and embedding security

requirements into how Apollo is designed, built, and deployed.

This is not a traditional IT or enterprise security role. You will be operating in a physical-AI product context

with a distinct mandate from the CIO, who owns enterprise and corporate security.

What You Will Do

Program Leadership

• Own Apptronik's product security strategy and roadmap, aligned to product and operational milestones

• Build and lead a product security team — hiring, mentoring, and defining org structure as the function

grows

• Serve as the primary security voice to the COO and executive team, communicating risk posture,

program status, and resource needs clearly

• Develop a product security charter that defines boundaries and working relationships with T&V, Systems

Engineering, and the CIO

Monitoring & Threat Detection

• Design and deploy monitoring frameworks for Apollo in both development and production/field

environments — covering firmware, runtime behaviors, communications, and physical interfaces

• Define telemetry and alerting requirements that enable early detection of anomalous behavior,

unauthorized access attempts, or integrity violations

• Establish continuous security testing pipelines integrated into hardware and software development

cycles, in coordination with T&V

Escalation & Incident Response

• Build and own the product security escalation framework: from initial detection through triage,

containment, customer notification, and remediation

• Define severity classifications, response SLAs, and communication protocols for security events

affecting deployed units or customer environments

• Lead tabletop exercises and red team efforts to stress-test escalation paths before incidents occur

Hardware & Software Security Requirements

• Translate security principles into concrete, actionable requirements for hardware and software —

covering secure boot chains, SoC and enclave security, physical attack surfaces, OS hardening, AI

model integrity, OTA update security, and inter-process communication

• Partner with HW, SW, and AI/ML engineering leads to review architectures early and drive

security-by-design practices

• Own the security review and sign-off process for new product features, third-party integrations, and

software releases

• Work with Systems Engineering to ensure security requirements are properly integrated into the

requirements flow-down process

Supply Chain & Vendor Security

• Assess security posture of hardware component suppliers, contract manufacturers, and third-party

software vendors

• Define contractual and technical security requirements for suppliers and AI stack partners — including

foundation model providers, cloud platforms, and data pipeline vendors

• Evaluate data ownership implications of robotics foundation model partnerships

OTA Update Security

• Own the security architecture for Apollo's over-the-air update mechanism — one of the

highest-consequence attack surfaces on a deployed physical robot

• Define requirements for update integrity verification, rollback protection, and secure delivery

infrastructure

Physical Security & Anti-Tamper

• Define tamper resistance requirements and anti-cloning protections for deployed units

• Protect Apptronik IP embedded in hardware and firmware from extraction or reverse engineering in the

field

Regulatory & Export Control Awareness

• Anticipate and track evolving regulatory requirements relevant to humanoid robotics — including ITAR,

EAR, and emerging AI/robotics regulations

• Advise on security implications of government, defense-adjacent, and international customer

engagements

Data Governance & Privacy

• Own the security posture around Apollo's operational and environmental data pipeline — from the robot

through to cloud storage and analytics

• Partner with the CIO on data governance frameworks where product and enterprise data intersect

Customer Security Enablement

• Help enterprise customers integrate Apollo into their security environments — including SOC integration,

access controls, and audit log requirements

• Serve as the primary security point of contact for customer security reviews and due diligence processes

• Establish a structured vulnerability disclosure and bug bounty program as Apollo scales

What We're Looking For

• 12+ years in security engineering or product security, with 5+ years leading security organizations —

including experience managing managers, owning budget, and defining team structure

• Demonstrated experience defining and building a security discipline in an emerging hardware or

physical-AI domain — where the threat model, requirements, and processes did not exist before you

arrived

• Deep experience securing embedded systems, robotics, autonomous vehicles, or other physical-AI

products — you understand that software vulnerabilities here can have kinetic consequences

• Hands-on expertise across the stack: secure boot, firmware security, cryptographic key management,

network and communication security, and application-layer threats

• Strong background building security monitoring and incident response programs in production hardware

environments

• Track record of translating security risk into product and engineering requirements that teams actually

ship — and the organizational credibility to enforce them

• Experience with supply chain security assessments and third-party vendor risk management

• Familiarity with OTA update security architecture and the risks unique to field-deployed hardware

• Working knowledge of relevant regulatory frameworks: ITAR, EAR, IEC 62443, NIST, OWASP, CWE

• Excellent communication skills — you can present to the C-suite, debate trade-offs with a systems

architect, and write crisp requirements for an embedded engineer

Why This Role

You will define how Apptronik thinks about security as we scale — setting the bar for an industry that is still

determining what secure humanoid robotics means. You will have direct COO support, real cross-functional

authority, and the opportunity to build a program from scratch at a company shipping real hardware into the

real world.

Apptronik · Austin, TX · apptronik.com