Director of Security Engineering

About the Role: Abnormal AI protects organizations from sophisticated email and collaboration attacks using behavioral AI. Security is core to the product and customer trust. The security organization operates a commercial cloud environment and a FedRAMP-authorized environment, pursuing rigorous federal authorizations. You will report to the CISO and lead the Security Engineering organization. Responsibilities include building and scaling high-performing security teams, owning major security programs end to end, and operating autonomously in the CISO's absence, representing security to executive leadership, customers, and auditors. This role requires a deeply technical leader with a software engineering background who has grown into people leadership. You will write and review code and architecture and believe in partnership over policy enforcement. Security Philosophy: - Security reduces toil and aims to make the company faster and safer. - Controls that add friction without reducing risk are defects. - Invest in guardrails, golden paths, and secure-by-default infrastructure. - Prefer preventing classes of problems over chasing individual findings. - Emphasize partnership with engineering, IT, and business teams. - Treat security problems as engineering problems: automated, measurable, code-reviewed, and continuously improved. What You Will Do: - Serve as deputy to the CISO with full authority in their absence. - Lead, coach, and grow managers and senior engineers across Security Engineering and Security Operations. - Own the security engineering roadmap including 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, including AI security governance, data perimeter controls, and federal compliance initiatives. - Set and defend engineering standards: everything as code, automated where possible, measured against outcomes. - Build hiring pipelines, manage performance, promotions, and succession planning. - Translate technical risk into business terms for executives and board, and align security strategy with business priorities. Must Haves: - 10+ years in security or software engineering, including 4+ years managing security teams with scope including managers of managers. - Genuine software engineering background with production software experience. - Proven record of building and scaling high-performing security teams. - Deep technical fluency in cloud-native environments: AWS organizations, multi-account governance, Kubernetes, identity and access, detection engineering, modern SDLC security. - Demonstrated cross-functional leadership and trust with engineering leaders. - Strong written communication producing decision-ready documents. - Executive presence comfortable presenting to C-level leadership, customers, and auditors. Strong Signals: - Current security engineering manager or senior manager at fintech, high-growth startup, or enterprise. - Experience building paved-path or secure-by-default platforms reducing risk and developer friction. - Experience with compliance-driven environments (FedRAMP, SOC 2, ISO 27001) without letting compliance define security. - Experience securing AI/ML systems or governing AI adoption at scale. - Experience operating with scarce security headcount and scaling via automation. Compensation: - Base salary range: $214,200 — $308,000 USD per year. - Eligible for bonus, incentive compensation, equity, and comprehensive benefits. Application: Apply at https://weworkremotely.com/remote-jobs/abnormal-director-of-security-engineering