Director of Security Engineering

Director of Security Engineering

Abnormal AI is seeking a Director of Security Engineering to lead the Security Engineering organization. This role reports directly to the CISO and involves building and scaling high-performing security teams, owning major security programs end to end, and representing security to executive leadership, customers, and auditors.

Responsibilities

• Serve as deputy to the CISO: 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.

Requirements

• 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.

Salary $214,200 - $308,000 USD annually

How to Apply