Head of Information Security Engineering

Independence Pet Group•Illinois, IL

8d•Remote

About The Position

Independence Pet Holdings, established in 2021, is a corporate holding company managing a diverse portfolio of pet health brands and services, including insurance, pet education, and lost recovery services across North America. We aim to simplify the pet parenting journey and improve pet well-being through innovative solutions. Our multi-brand, omni-channel approach includes our own insurance carrier, insurance brands, and partner brands.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in security engineering, with at least 5 in a leadership capacity.
Preference for experience in financial or other regulated industries.
Bachelor's degree in Information Security, Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field.
Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional security engineering initiatives across complex or multi-entity organizations.
Proven experience designing and implementing secure architectures in cloud and hybrid environments, with expertise in Microsoft enterprise cloud environments, Kubernetes, and modern application architectures.
Deep knowledge of secure software development practices, application security, and DevSecOps principles, with a track record of improving secure development lifecycle adoption and reducing vulnerabilities.
Strong understanding of security technologies including IAM, encryption, container security, and API security.
Strong knowledge of secure coding frameworks and standards (e.g., OWASP Top 10, NIST).
Experience embedding operational resilience into engineering practices, including disaster recovery and business continuity planning.
Demonstrated ability to lead engineering teams and influence cross-functional stakeholders.
Excellent leadership, communication, and strategic planning skills.
Proven ability to present technical concepts to executive audiences and foster collaboration across business units.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree preferred.
Preferred Certifications: CISSP, CSSLP, CISM, or cloud security certifications (AWS, Azure, GCP).

Responsibilities

Define and execute the security engineering strategy aligned with organizational goals and regulatory requirements.
Architect and oversee the implementation of secure systems, applications, and infrastructure across cloud and legacy environments.
Lead secure software development practices, including code reviews, threat modeling, and vulnerability remediation.
Oversee identity and access management, encryption, and key management solutions.
Collaborate with product, IT, and DevOps teams to integrate security into CI/CD pipelines and development lifecycles.
Provide security engineering guidance and oversight across all OpCos to ensure consistent standards and practices.
Evaluate and implement security tools and technologies to strengthen engineering capabilities.
Embed operational resilience principles into system design and engineering processes to minimize downtime and ensure continuity.
Partner with risk & compliance teams to ensure compliance with relevant frameworks and standards (e.g., ISO 27001, NIST, OWASP, PCI-DSS).
Partner with Security Operations to support incident response and post-incident engineering improvements.
Develop and enforce security policies, standards, and secure coding guidelines across the development stack.
Build, mentor, and retain a high-performing security engineering team, including defining roles and career paths.
Promote a culture of security awareness and engineering excellence across the organization.
Contribute to the overall security strategy, risk management framework, and technology roadmap.
Develop metrics, dashboards, and reports for executive leadership on engineering security posture and progress.
Drive measurable improvements in application security, vulnerability closure rates, and secure development adoption.