Director, Authentication Engineering

USAA•San Antonio, TX

18h•$164,780 - $314,960•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director, Authentication Engineering leads the engineering organization responsible for the platforms, infrastructure, and services that enable USAA’s Workforce Identity and Access Management capabilities. The role owns the strategy, architecture, engineering, modernization, resiliency, and lifecycle of enterprise authentication services—including Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, ForgeRock, and OIDC- and SAML-based capabilities—to provide secure, highly available, scalable, and seamless access while advancing USAA’s identity strategy. The Director establishes engineering strategy and multi-year roadmaps; ensures the security, reliability, resilience, availability, scalability, and recoverability of authentication services; and partners with Workforce IAM, Cybersecurity, Infrastructure, Cloud, and application engineering teams. The position also leads modernization toward contemporary identity services, phishing-resistant and passwordless authentication, stronger conditional access, automation, and cloud-integrated architectures. This leader has strategic ownership of information security domains, establishes and governs their vision, policies, standards, procedures, and metrics, and directs domain operations and risk management. The role works with the CISO and senior leaders on risk policies, represents USAA in discussions with external regulators, oversees cybersecurity monitoring and governance, and manages organizational budgets and staffing. The position builds and leads teams through recruiting, development, retention, coaching, performance management, and other managerial responsibilities. The work environment is flexible, with four days per week in the office. The position may be based in San Antonio, Texas, or Plano, Texas. Relocation assistance is available.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Information Security, Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Administration, Information Systems/Management, or a related field; or four years of relevant education and/or experience.
Eight years of related information security experience in one or more domains, such as cybersecurity, Identity and Access Management, Information Assurance and Governance, Operational Risk Management, or Information Technology, including significant accountability for projects, programs, processes, or policies.
Three years of direct team lead, supervisor, or management experience in an Information Security or Information Technology domain.
Four years of experience researching, designing, or implementing technology, information security, or cybersecurity solutions in a large financial institution or large enterprise information security program, with a track record of delivering results in compliance with applicable regulatory information security and risk management policies, standards, and guidelines.
Expert knowledge of relevant risk management and information security regulations and standards, such as FFIEC, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, the FFIEC Cybersecurity Assessment Tool, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, and PCI DSS.
Strong knowledge of security technologies, including cryptography, authentication, authorization, and controls.
Strong knowledge of IT risks and experience implementing security solutions.
Knowledge of threats, vulnerabilities, attack methods, and countermeasures for web-based applications, networks, and cybersecurity solutions.
Financial acumen in budgeting, forecasting, and executing budgets for an information security, cybersecurity, or technology support function.
Expert business acumen in business operations, risk management, industry practices, and emerging trends.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate technical analyses to non-technical audiences.

Nice To Haves

10 or more years of leadership experience in cybersecurity, Identity and Access Management, or authentication services.
Extensive experience with Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, and ForgeRock.
Deep understanding of authentication and federation technologies, including OIDC, OAuth 2.0, SAML, Kerberos, LDAP, and MFA.
Proven experience leading large-scale enterprise authentication or identity modernization programs.
Experience implementing Zero Trust security architectures.
Strong knowledge of identity governance, access certification, privileged access management, and directory services.
Demonstrated success managing highly available security platforms in enterprise-scale environments.
Familiarity with NIST, FFIEC, SOX, and CIS Controls.
Experience leading cross-functional engineering, operations, and security teams.
Strong executive communication, strategic planning, and vendor management skills.
Relevant certifications such as CISSP, CISM, SABSA, Microsoft Identity certifications, or equivalent.

Responsibilities

Lead the Authentication Engineering organization and establish the engineering strategy and multi-year technology roadmap for enterprise authentication platforms, infrastructure, protocols, integrations, and services.
Ensure security, reliability, resiliency, availability, scalability, and recoverability of authentication services through engineering standards, platform health metrics, lifecycle management, capacity planning, disaster recovery, and operational readiness.
Partner with Workforce IAM, Cybersecurity, Infrastructure, Cloud, and application engineering teams to translate authentication requirements into scalable engineering capabilities.
Lead enterprise authentication modernization, including transitions from legacy platforms and protocols toward modern identity services, phishing-resistant and passwordless authentication, stronger conditional access, automation, and cloud-integrated architectures.
Own critical security domains or capabilities, develop multi-year roadmaps, and lead managers or senior leaders as applicable.
Establish and ensure compliant execution of the information security domain’s strategic vision, goals, and metrics, and govern its policies, standards, and procedures.
Direct the operation of an enterprise information security domain, including capacity, resilience, and dependability capabilities.
Develop, review, and communicate information security risk management policies and procedures with the CISO and senior leaders, ensuring alignment with best practices and regulatory requirements.
Represent USAA in discussions with external regulators regarding the assigned information security domain.
Oversee continuous monitoring of cybersecurity activities and alert senior management to potential risks, compliance issues, and operational inefficiencies.
Develop, design, and deliver a sustainable governance and assurance model across multiple domains and the enterprise.
Identify, monitor, and evaluate operational solutions to reduce information security risk, meet compliance requirements, and improve workforce efficiency, business agility, and scalability.
Promote information security awareness across the enterprise and with the external security community.
Manage organizational budgets and manpower as a financial steward.
Build and oversee a team through recruiting, development, retention, coaching, support, performance management, and other managerial activities.
Ensure business risks are identified, measured, monitored, and controlled in accordance with risk and compliance policies and procedures.

Benefits

Comprehensive medical plans
Dental plans
Vision plans
401(k)
Pension
Life insurance
Parental benefits
Adoption assistance
Paid time off
Paid holidays
16 paid volunteer hours
Wellness programs
Career path planning
Continuing education
Relocation assistance
Employees may be eligible for pay incentives based on overall corporate and individual performance, at the discretion of the USAA Board of Directors.