Head of Security, Security Engineering

Asana•San Francisco, CA

1d•$306,000 - $414,000•Hybrid

About The Position

At Asana, security is foundational to our mission of helping teams work together effortlessly. Our Security organization protects Asana’s employees, users, and customers by proactively addressing threats, enabling secure product development, and embedding security into the fabric of how we operate. We partner closely with Engineering, Product, IT, Legal, and Compliance to build and maintain trust at scale. We are seeking a Director of Security Engineering to lead and scale our Security Engineering organization as Asana continues to grow globally. This role will oversee multiple teams spanning Security Development, Security Architecture, and Corporate Security Engineering, and will be responsible for translating security strategy into durable, scalable engineering outcomes. This is a senior leadership role reporting to the Head of Security, with accountability for people leadership, technical direction, and execution across a complex, high-growth SaaS environment.

Requirements

8+ years in security or software engineering, including 5+ years leading managers and engineers in a SaaS or cloud-native environment.
Background in software engineering with the ability to engage deeply in system design, security architecture, and technical trade-offs.
Deep understanding of application and platform risks (e.g., OWASP Top 10), identity and access controls (OAuth, OIDC, SAML), and modern attack patterns.
Significant experience securing AWS environments at scale.
You excel at evaluating security trade-offs, making pragmatic, risk-informed decisions, and communicating those decisions clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Demonstrates curiosity about AI tools and emerging technologies, with a willingness to learn and leverage them to enhance productivity, collaboration, or decision-making

Responsibilities

Lead and scale a multi-disciplinary Security Engineering organization through Engineering Managers and ICs, fostering strong leadership, accountability, and technical excellence.
Define and deliver the Security Engineering strategy and multi-year roadmap aligned with Asana’s product, platform, and business priorities.
Drive the shift toward preventive, engineering-led security systems that reduce systemic risk and enable teams to build securely by default.
Set the technical bar across security architecture, product and platform security, identity, and corporate security engineering through consistent design and risk reviews.
Execute security initiatives with clear prioritization, measurable outcomes, and scalable processes.
Own the recruiting strategy for Security Engineering, partnering with Recruiting to attract, assess, and hire top-tier managers and engineers while building durable career paths and a strong talent pipeline.
Partner with Product, Engineering, GRC, Legal, and executive stakeholders to ensure security is a trusted enabler of business velocity and customer trust.