Application Security Architect – API Security & Identity Access Management

Axiom Path • Charlotte, NC

21d • Remote

About The Position

Join a global financial services organization strengthening its cybersecurity capabilities and modernizing enterprise technology. The role is part of a global Engineering & Automation transformation initiative, working with security architects, engineers, technology operations, risk and compliance professionals, and regional security leaders. The team translates security strategies into practical engineering solutions, improves application protection, and establishes sustainable security controls across interconnected systems.

Design and strengthen application security architectures for enterprise applications, APIs, and interconnected platforms. Implement secure authentication and authorization patterns, improve API authorization and gateway controls, identify and mitigate application and API vulnerabilities, and help optimize WAF protections and behavioral anomaly detection. Turn security assessments and architectural recommendations into actionable engineering changes and measurable improvements. Collaborate with security operations, compliance, privacy, risk, and technology stakeholders, and support technical documentation, implementation evidence, and operational handoffs.

This is a 100% remote opportunity for candidates in the United States. Engagement is W2 only; C2C and 1099 are not accepted. The posting describes the role as a contract opportunity supporting a global enterprise security transformation program.

Requirements

• 5–7 years of relevant experience in application security, security engineering, API security, or security architecture.
• Strong hands-on experience implementing OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, JWT authentication, scopes, claims, and secure authorization controls.
• Demonstrated expertise securing REST APIs and managing API gateway security configurations.
• Experience configuring API security policies, rate limiting, request validation, and traffic protection mechanisms.
• Strong understanding of OWASP API Security Top 10 vulnerabilities and practical mitigation techniques.
• Experience identifying and addressing injection vulnerabilities, credential stuffing, broken authentication, and excessive authorization.
• Hands-on experience working with Web Application Firewalls and collaborating with engineering teams to optimize security protections.
• Familiarity with behavioral anomaly detection and runtime application security monitoring.
• Ability to assess existing security designs, recommend improvements, and support implementation through operational adoption.
• Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration skills, particularly when working with distributed engineering and security teams.
• Ability to balance technical security requirements with application functionality, performance, and business needs.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in financial services or other regulated enterprise environments is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Design and strengthen application security architectures supporting enterprise applications, APIs, and interconnected technology platforms.
• Implement secure authentication and authorization patterns using OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect (OIDC), JSON Web Tokens (JWT), scopes, and claims.
• Assess and improve API authorization controls to prevent excessive permissions, unauthorized access, and token misuse.
• Configure and optimize API gateway security controls, including rate limiting, request validation, authentication enforcement, and traffic management.
• Identify and mitigate application and API vulnerabilities, including OWASP API Security Top 10 risks, injection attacks, credential stuffing, and broken authorization.
• Partner with engineering teams to improve Web Application Firewall (WAF) configurations, security rules, and behavioral anomaly detection capabilities.
• Translate security assessments and architecture recommendations into actionable engineering changes, implementation decisions, and measurable improvements.
• Collaborate with security operations, compliance, privacy, risk, and technology stakeholders to align security controls with enterprise requirements.
• Support technical documentation, implementation evidence, and operational handoffs to ensure security improvements remain effective over time.

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed