Director, Security Engineering

Associated Press • New York, NY

2d • $160,000 - $180,000

About The Position

The Associated Press is seeking a hands-on, strategic security engineering leader to direct security engineering across product security, infrastructure and cloud security, cloud governance, and network security. Reporting to the Senior Director of Cybersecurity, this senior leader will guide an established team, set technical direction, and translate security strategy into scalable platforms, controls, and practices. The role calls for active technical involvement, including reviewing architecture, challenging designs, and helping resolve complex problems.

The Director will work closely with teams across Technology and the wider organization to build security into products and operations and foster a culture in which secure choices are understood and adopted. The position is based in New York, NY.

Requirements

• At least 10 years of experience in security engineering, security architecture, or infrastructure engineering.
• At least 4 years of experience leading engineering teams.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience.
• Deep hands-on experience in at least two of product security, cloud and infrastructure security, cloud governance, or network security, and working knowledge of the other areas.
• Experience with major public cloud environments and hybrid infrastructure.
• Strong grounding in application security and DevSecOps practices in modern software environments.
• Experience designing and operating enterprise network security architectures.
• Experience with security automation, scripting or coding, and infrastructure-as-code.
• Ability to build relationships and influence without authority across engineering, business, and nontechnical teams.
• Experience leading security awareness, security champions programs, or other efforts to shift security culture.
• Sound risk judgment and ability to prioritize important issues and make pragmatic decisions with incomplete information.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including comfort presenting to senior leadership.

Nice To Haves

• Relevant certifications such as CISSP, CCSP, OSCP, or cloud security certifications.
• Experience in media, journalism, or other high-visibility environments.
• Experience supporting a global or distributed workforce.
• Experience securing AI/ML systems.
• Experience growing a small team into a larger function.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute a security engineering roadmap across products, infrastructure, cloud, and network security, aligned with AP's technology and business priorities.
• Own security architecture standards and reference designs for cloud, on-premises, and network environments.
• Advance security models such as zero trust, least-privilege access, and secure-by-default infrastructure.
• Evaluate emerging threats and technologies, including AI-related risks, and turn them into practical engineering priorities.
• Embed security into the software development lifecycle through threat modeling, secure design reviews, code and dependency scanning, and security testing.
• Partner with product and engineering teams to integrate security into CI/CD pipelines while supporting delivery speed.
• Establish secure development standards and guidance for engineering teams.
• Lead security architecture and hardening for AP's cloud and infrastructure environments.
• Establish and maintain cloud governance policies, guardrails, configuration standards, and posture management across cloud accounts and services.
• Drive security automation and infrastructure-as-code to improve consistency, reduce manual effort, and scale controls.
• Own the strategy and engineering of network security controls across offices, data centers, cloud, and the remote workforce.
• Modernize network security architecture, including segmentation, secure remote access, and perimeter controls.
• Lead, develop, and grow an established team of security engineers, fostering ownership, curiosity, and continuous learning.
• Build trusted relationships with Technology, product, newsroom, legal, commercial, and business stakeholders, and help grow security culture across AP.
• Serve as a senior technical leader during security incidents and turn lessons learned into lasting engineering improvements.
• Manage vendor relationships and the budget for security engineering tools and services.
• Communicate risk, tradeoffs, and progress to technical teams, senior leadership, and nontechnical audiences.

Benefits

• Opportunities for professional development.
• Access to tools, mentorship, and resources tailored to elevate proficiency and contributions.
• Competitive medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Retirement benefits.
• Company-paid life insurance.
• Paid vacation and sick days.
• Paid parental leave for any new parent.
• Mental well-being resources.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior