Identity, Authentication, Authorization & Governance (IAM) Sr. Security Specialist (Leadership experience required)

Bank of America•Boston, MA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Identity, Authentication, Authorization & Governance Senior Security Specialist works within Bank of America’s Global Information Security organization and helps shape enterprise governance of human, machine, and service identities. The role influences strategic security priorities and partners with senior stakeholders across technology, risk, compliance, and audit to strengthen authentication and authorization controls as the organization grows its cloud and digital capabilities. The specialist defines enterprise IAM requirements, strategy, architecture, and standards; establishes governance for human and non-human identities; advances secure access patterns and automated controls; and embeds IAM requirements into application, platform, API, cloud, and AI solution lifecycles. The role also drives identity-risk remediation, supports audit readiness, reports on control health and progress, and influences modernization investments. It requires leadership experience and substantial experience in IAM, cybersecurity, cloud security, or access management in large, complex organizations. The role is based at one of the listed Washington, DC; Chicago, Illinois; or Boston, Massachusetts locations. Bank of America describes an in-office culture with role-specific flexibility based on responsibilities and business needs. It is a first-shift role with a 40-hour workweek. The stated annual salary range is $140,000–$200,000, with offers determined by experience, education, and skill set. The role is eligible for a discretionary annual incentive and benefits.

Requirements

10 or more years of experience in identity and access management, cybersecurity, cloud security, or access management within large, complex organizations.
Leadership experience.
Demonstrated success setting direction for or influencing enterprise-scale IAM transformation, modernization, governance, or control programs.
Deep knowledge of modern authentication, federation, and authorization standards and patterns, including OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SAML, service-to-service access, and token-based authentication.
Experience governing identity and access across cloud, SaaS, API, application, and hybrid environments.
Strong understanding of human and non-human identity risk, including workload, service, machine, and AI-agent identities, delegated authority, and lifecycle accountability.
Experience translating policy, regulatory, and audit requirements into practical identity controls in regulated environments.
Knowledge of relevant standards and frameworks, including NIST, ISO, FFIEC, SOX, SOC, or equivalent.
Ability to advise, brief, and influence senior leaders on complex technology, security, and risk matters.
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including experience translating complex concepts into executive-level presentations and recommendations.
Strong judgment and analytical decision-making skills, with the ability to work effectively in ambiguous and rapidly evolving environments.
Ability to prioritize competing demands, drive cross-functional alignment, and deliver measurable outcomes.

Nice To Haves

Experience in financial services, banking, or another highly regulated industry.
Knowledge of RBAC, ABAC, PBAC, segregation of duties, just-in-time access, runtime authorization, and cloud entitlement management.
Experience with identity platforms such as Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, Ping, or equivalent technologies.
Experience with identity analytics, automation, policy-as-code, AI-enabled security solutions, or workflow optimization.
Familiarity with scripting and analytics tools such as Python, R, SQL, Splunk, Tableau, Power BI, Microsoft Copilot Studio, Power Automate, or equivalent.
Experience with cloud security, infrastructure, microsegmentation, monitoring, infrastructure-as-code, or related technologies.
Industry certification such as CISSP, CCSP, CRISC, CISM, or equivalent.

Responsibilities

Establish IAM control requirements, governance measures, and escalation paths with risk and control organizations.
Translate internal policy, regulatory, and audit requirements into practical, sustainable controls across enterprise platforms and processes.
Drive remediation of identity risks and control gaps across business and technology organizations, escalating risk acceptance decisions when appropriate.
Provide executive-level reporting and recommendations on identity risk, control health, adoption, exceptions, and remediation progress.
Support audit readiness and sustainable issue closure through accountability, evidence, metrics, and ongoing control monitoring.
Build partnerships across Global Information Security, Core Technology, Application Development, Risk, Compliance, Audit, and Third-Party Management.
Advise and influence senior leaders on complex identity, technology, security, and risk matters, including strategic options and trade-offs.
Drive cross-functional alignment, ownership, and adoption across teams with differing speeds and maturity levels.
Translate complex technical and risk concepts into clear executive recommendations, decisions, and measurable outcomes.
Define enterprise business requirements, strategic direction, and standards for authentication, authorization, and identity governance.
Establish governance for human, non-human, workload, service, and AI-agent identities, including ownership, lifecycle management, delegated authority, credential rotation and revocation, and human accountability.
Set enterprise standards for API authentication and authorization, service-to-service access, token-based controls, and secure identity patterns.
Drive adoption of zero trust, least privilege, phishing-resistant and passwordless authentication, continuous access evaluation, and fine-grained, context-aware authorization.
Advance policy-as-code, automated control enforcement, and identity threat detection to improve consistency and reduce manual risk.
Embed IAM requirements into application, platform, API, cloud, and AI solution design and development lifecycles.
Influence investment priorities and modernization roadmaps to reduce standing privilege, unmanaged identities, inconsistent access patterns, and control gaps.
Define measures of adoption, control health, identity risk, and remediation progress, and use results to drive accountable outcomes.