Head of Workforce Authentication Services, MD

State Street•Boston, MA

About The Position

Global Cybersecurity (GCS) protects State Street and its clients from the impact of cyber-attacks against systems by understanding the risks these attacks present and mitigating them through a robust, continuously evolving cybersecurity program and control environment. Reporting to the Head of Identity & Access Management, the Head of Workforce Authentication Services, MD will lead the strategic direction, engineering, operations and compliance posture of all workforce authentication platforms at State Street. This role consolidates capabilities currently distributed across two towers into a single, accountable engineering and operations leadership role. The successful candidate will also serve as the engineering leader for the Workforce Passwordless program, owning the end-to-end technical execution and the elimination of password-dependent authentication protocols across the enterprise.

Requirements

15+ years in technology / engineering / security roles
At least 8 years leading large-scale authentication engineering and operations functions, ideally in a regulated financial services environment.
Deep, hands-on technical depth across Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, Kerberos, LDAP, SAML, OIDC, FIDO2/WebAuthn, MFA, and federation platforms.
Proven track record of regulator-facing and audit-facing accountability.
Experience operating Tier-0 critical services with strict availability, DR and resilience SLAs.

Nice To Haves

Experience consolidating previously siloed identity/authentication towers into a single accountable function.
Experience leading globally distributed teams across US, EMEA and India.
Bachelors Degree in Cyber Security or related technical discipline

Responsibilities

Own engineering, operations, resilience and compliance for the workforce authentication platform stack, including Directory & Identity Plane (Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, etc.), Federation & SSO, Strong Authentication & MFA, Passwordless Program, and Resilience & Operations.
Develop and execute a single, unified Workforce Authentication strategy.
Define the multi-year target architecture for authentication.
Partner with other IAM leaders to ensure a coherent, end-to-end IAM operating model.
Serve as the engineering owner of the Workforce Passwordless program, accountable for delivery against EC-committed milestones and the financial plan.
Lead the technical design and rollout of supporting technologies for passwordless authentication.
Drive vendor and product assessments and lead comparative POCs.
Own the Authentication compliance with IAM Standard and ensure alignment to various regulatory standards (NIST, DORA, etc.).
Support assurance compliance with the Second Line of Defence, Third Line, and External Auditors.
Provide support and data for compliance management across the workforce authentication environment.
Own end-to-end remediation of all audit, regulatory and penetration-test findings affecting workforce authentication.
Accountable for the availability, performance and resilience of Tier-0 authentication services.
Own the operational interface for Authentication Services with key partners.
Lead a globally distributed team and evolve the operating model.
Drive talent strategy, succession, and a culture of engineering excellence, multi-disciplinary delivery and accountable ownership.

Benefits

retirement savings plan (401K) with company match
insurance coverage including basic life, medical, dental, vision, long-term disability, and other optional additional coverages
paid-time off including vacation, sick leave, short term disability, and family care responsibilities
access to our Employee Assistance Program
incentive compensation including eligibility for annual performance-based awards
eligibility for certain tax advantaged savings plans
inclusive development opportunities
flexible work-life support
paid volunteer days
vibrant employee networks