Director of Security Engineering

Overview

Lead the Security Engineering organization as deputy to the CISO, building and scaling high-performing security teams and owning major security programs end to end.

What you'll do

• Act with full authority in the CISO's absence and represent the security organization to executives, customers, and regulators.
• Lead, coach, and grow managers and senior engineers across Security Engineering and Security Operations.
• Own the security engineering roadmap: cloud security architecture (AWS-first), detection and response, identity, vulnerability management, and secure-by-default platform investments.
• Drive cross-functional programs with Engineering, IT, and Product, from AI security governance to data perimeter controls to federal compliance initiatives.
• Set and defend engineering standards for the security organization: everything as code, automated where possible, measured against outcomes rather than activity.
• Build hiring pipelines and raise the bar on every hire; own performance management, promotion cases, and succession planning within your teams.
• Translate technical risk into business terms for the executive team and board, and translate business priorities into a coherent security strategy.

What you'll need

• 10+ years in security or software engineering, including 4+ years managing security teams, ideally including managers of managers or equivalent scope.
• A genuine software engineering background: you have shipped production software, and you evaluate security solutions the way an engineer would.
• A proven record of building and scaling high-performing security teams, with alumni who would work for you again.
• Deep technical fluency in cloud-native environments: AWS organizations and multi-account governance, Kubernetes, identity and access, detection engineering, and modern SDLC security.
• Demonstrated cross-functional leadership: you have earned the trust of engineering leaders and shipped security outcomes through their teams, not around them.
• Strong written communication: you produce decision-ready documents and can drive alignment asynchronously.
• Executive presence: comfortable presenting to C-level leadership, customers, and auditors without preparation from the CISO.

Nice to have

• Currently a security engineering manager or senior manager at a fintech, high-growth startup, or forward-leaning enterprise, and ready for broader scope.
• Built paved-path or secure-by-default platforms that measurably reduced both risk and developer friction.
• Experience with compliance-driven environments (FedRAMP, SOC 2, ISO 27001) without letting compliance define the security program.
• Experience securing AI/ML systems or governing AI adoption at scale.
• Operated in environments where security headcount was scarce and automation was the only way to scale.

Details

• Remote, USA.
• Base salary range: $214,200 to $308,000 USD, plus potential bonus or incentive compensation, equity, and benefits.
• Reports to the CISO.