DevSecOps Engineer (Volunteer)

Role ID: TAIRC-ROLE-023.1 Department: Applied AI Engineering Engagement Type: Volunteer (unpaid) Work Arrangement: Remote. Working hours are aligned to US Eastern Time (EST/EDT); the exact schedule is agreed with your supervisor at onboarding. Duration and Time: Initial 6-month volunteer term, which may be extended by mutual agreement. Weekly time commitment is agreed at onboarding and should be realistic for you. Compensation: Unpaid volunteer opportunity. TAIRC is currently in a pre-funding stage and is building its funding base. No salary, stipend, or other compensation is offered at this stage. Supervision: Review and guidance from the Director of Engineering (TAIRC-ROLE-003) or a designated engineering lead, confirmed at onboarding. About TAIRC The AI Research Center, Inc. (TAIRC) is a nonprofit research organization advancing transparent evaluation, responsible governance, and public-interest AI infrastructure. Our work focuses on helping institutions and communities better understand AI systems, evaluate their limitations, and translate research into responsible practice. TAIRC connects technical research with public communication, accessibility, governance, and human accountability. We aim to make AI research more transparent, understandable, and useful for the public good. This position is with TAIRC, not Metasys. Metasys supports the recruitment and administrative process on behalf of TAIRC. Position Overview TAIRC is seeking a DevSecOps Engineer volunteer to help build security into TAIRC's development and deployment workflows, from code commit to release. TAIRC's published research agenda does not mean that every program is funded, staffed, or complete. Specific assignments are confirmed at onboarding, and volunteer work is not presented as approved TAIRC research or institutional findings until it has been reviewed.

Responsibilities

• Security Automation: Help integrate SAST, DAST, and dependency scanning into CI/CD pipelines.
• Infrastructure Security: Review infrastructure-as-code and cloud configurations for misconfigurations.
• Container Security: Help define container hardening and runtime logging practices.
• Secrets Management: Support secure handling and rotation of secrets (for example with Vault).
• Remediation: Work with developers on vulnerability triage and fixes.
• Monitoring: Help feed security logs into observability tools for alerting.
• AI Services: Support isolation and access controls for AI evaluation and agent workloads.

Qualifications

• Understanding of CI/CD and secure development practices.
• Scripting skills (Bash, Python, or Node.js).
• Familiarity with Linux and containers.
• Ability to communicate findings clearly.
• Ability to work remotely during US Eastern Time (EST/EDT) hours and to collaborate asynchronously with a distributed team.
• Understanding and acceptance that this is an unpaid volunteer opportunity at this stage.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with SAST/DAST tools or vulnerability scanners.
• Experience with Terraform or Vault.
• Familiarity with observability tools.
• Interest in AI system security.

Learning and Contribution Opportunities

Through this opportunity, volunteers may gain experience in:

• Practicing security-as-code for public-interest research systems.
• Working across development and operations.
• Documenting and prioritizing security findings.
• Collaborating remotely.

Engagement and Compensation Disclosure TAIRC is currently building its funding base. This is a volunteer opportunity, and no salary, stipend, or other compensation is offered at this stage. Any future paid appointment would depend on available funding, organizational approval, applicable legal compliance, and a separate written agreement. Participation does not guarantee future employment or compensation. This is a volunteer contribution, not an employment relationship or a formal educational internship. Volunteers contribute by choice, may step back at any time with reasonable notice, and are asked to keep time commitments realistic. Applicants who need academic credit may inquire, but credit is not guaranteed and would require a separate arrangement with their institution. Equal Opportunity and Accessibility TAIRC evaluates candidates based on role-related skills, relevant experience, and documented review criteria. Decisions must not be based on protected personal characteristics. Applicants who need an accommodation or an alternative application format may contact hr@tairc.com. How to Express Interest Candidates interested in contributing to TAIRC's DevSecOps and secure delivery work may contact hr@tairc.com with questions about the opportunity.