Senior Manager, Application Security
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLPAbout the role
JOB SUMMARY
The Senior Manager, Application Security is responsible for defining, leading, and operationalizing the firm’s application security program across internally developed applications, SaaS platforms, APIs, databases, generative AI platforms, and emerging application architectures. This role partners closely with application engineering, cloud, and platform teams to embed security into the software development lifecycle while enabling teams to deliver securely at scale.
The ideal candidate is a highly skilled, hands-on technical leader who can translate security requirements into practical developer workflows while enabling rapid and reliable software delivery.
JOB DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
Develop, execute, and continuously mature the enterprise application security strategy in alignment with industry best practices, regulatory requirements, and client contractual obligations.
Define and maintain secure application development standards for internally developed software, third-party applications, APIs, SaaS platforms and containerized workloads.
Establish minimum security requirements for application authentication, authorization, encryption, secrets handling, and data protection.
Define, maintain, and enforce secure SDLC and DevSecOps standards across all development teams.
Integrate application security controls into CI/CD pipelines, developer platforms, and engineering workflows with a focus on automation and scalability.
Partner with Application Engineering and DevOps teams to embed automated security testing and preventive controls while maintaining security ownership of policy and enforcement.
Evaluate, select, implement, and manage the full lifecycle of application security tooling including:
SAST, DAST, SCA, and API security testing platforms
Container image scanning and registry security tooling
Kubernetes security and runtime protection solutions
Software supply chain security tooling
Design and implement integrations between application security tooling and developer workflows to minimize friction and maximize adoption.
Design and build automation to support application security processes including:
Orchestrated automated security testing.
Vulnerability triage and prioritization workflows
Developer feedback loops and ticketing system integrations
Exception handling, risk acceptance, and policy waiver workflows
Security metrics and pipeline telemetry
Identify and assess application security risks including vulnerable dependencies, insecure authentication patterns, data exposure risks, and insecure configuration.
Perform and support threat modeling, architecture reviews, and secure design assessments for high-risk, or business critical applications.
Support the security review, onboarding, and ongoing risk management of third-party and SaaS applications.
Develop and maintain metrics, dashboards, and reporting to measure application security posture, testing coverage, and vulnerability remediation effectiveness.
Provide application security subject matter expertise during security incidents, investigations, and post-incident remediation efforts.
Lead, mentor, and develop a team of application security engineers, fostering strong technical depth and career growth.
Partner with engineering leadership to drive secure-by-design development practices and shared accountability for risk reduction.
Communicate application security risks, tradeoffs, and recommendations clearly to both technical and executive stakeholders.
Promote a developer-friendly security culture focused on automation, guardrails, measurable risk reduction, and engineering velocity.
Stay current on emerging application threats, attack techniques, and defensive technologies, and apply this knowledge to continuously improve program effectiveness.
EDUCATION
Required
Bachelor’s degree in information security, IT, risk management, related discipline, or equivalent experience
Preferred
Professional certifications such as CISSP, CISM, or similar
SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
10+ years of progressive experience in application security, product security, or software security engineering roles
Hands-on experience securing modern application ecosystems, including web applications, APIs, microservices, cloud-native workloads, container, and Kubernetes platforms
Demonstrated success building, scaling, and operating enterprise-grade A
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