VP, Principal Security Engineer

Job Description:

Role Summary/Purpose:

We are seeking a highly experienced Principal Security Engineer to help lead highly technical projects to help improve our security engineering function. This individual will be instrumental in integrating and evolving on-premise security technologies into cloud environments, primarily AWS, while providing technical leadership across diverse teams. The ideal candidate will possess deep expertise in cybersecurity, DevOps, infrastructure, and development, combined with the ability to influence without authority and foster cross-functional collaboration. This role will play a critical part in advancing our security initiatives in the public cloud and will have significant remit to influence implementation of core security solutions.

Our Way of Working

We’re proud to offer you choice and flexibility. At Synchrony, our way of working allows you to have the option to work from home, near one of our Hubs or come into one of our offices. Occasionally you may be required to commute to our nearest office for in person engagement activities such as business or team meetings, training and culture events.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Lead efforts to ensure AWS cloud services and technologies are built and engineered with security best practices in mind.

• Design and implement scalable and automated security solutions that bridge on-prem security technologies with cloud environments.

• Collaborate with security and technology leadership, serving as a trusted advisor, and significantly influence the organization’s security strategy.

• Drive complex security initiatives across teams, proactively identifying and leading high-impact projects to success and with efficiency.

• Drives security technology innovation, challenge the status quo, and provide thought leadership.

• Contribute to the development of cutting-edge security practices and technologies.

• Provide strategic guidance and direction to security leadership that is adopted into the organization’s overall security strategy.

• Provide input into annual budget processes, identifying areas of needed investment.

• Provide mentorship, fostering a culture of continuous learning and collaboration across the organization.

• Serve as a technical leader and subject matter expert, working closely with security architects and engineers, while guiding the adoption of best practices across the organization.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to assess, prioritize, and mitigate security risks throughout the development lifecycle.

• Develop nuanced technical plans, document analyses, create visual diagrams, and communicate technical projects with associated trade-offs.

• Develop, maintain, and update security policies, standards, and procedures aligned with industry regulations and organizational goals.

• Help to evaluate and integrate new security technologies, tools, and processes to improve the organization’s security posture while documenting requirements.

• Advise and strengthen technical implementation of core services like data protection controls and network security segmentation, for example.

• Act as a liaison between security teams and engineering teams to ensure security is embedded within all stages of infrastructure and application development.

• Represent the security function in technical discussions, architecture reviews, and governance processes.

Qualifications/Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 5 years of experience in Information Security, Engineering, Application Development, or related field OR in lieu of a degree, a High School Diploma/GED and minimum 9 years equivalent work experience. 

• Minimum 5 years of experience in an information security engineering or architect role 

• Minimum 2 years of experience with regulatory compliance and information security management frameworks (e.g., PCI-DSS, NIST 800-53, etc.) 

• Proven excellence in devising holistic security direction and strategies that encompass a wide range of technical and organizational considerations.

• Outstanding interpersonal and collaboration skills, demonstrated consistent and successful collaboration across teams on cross-functional security initiatives.

• Demonstrated ability solving complex and intricate security problems that demand innovative solutions.

• Notable technical leader with demonstrated effective communication and influence at all levels across the organization.

• Highly regarded as a subject matter expert with de