Lead Analyst, Third Party Security

Circle•San Francisco, CA

13d•$140,000 - $185,000•Remote

About The Position

Circle is seeking a Lead, Third Party Security to join its Security team. This role is responsible for advancing the assessment and management of security risks across its global ecosystem of partners, vendors, and other third parties. The position involves leading complex security assessments, building automation, AI-enabled tooling, and intelligence-driven workflows to enhance the third-party security program's speed, intelligence, and scalability. The role requires collaboration with Security Engineering, Legal, Procurement, and business teams to integrate security into third-party decision-making and transition the program towards proactive, continuous risk management.

Requirements

7+ years of relevant experience in cybersecurity, technology risk, or compliance, including meaningful experience with third party or vendor security assessments.
Demonstrated ability to independently lead complex security assessments and evaluate control effectiveness beyond questionnaire or compliance-based reviews.
Technical depth across areas such as cloud security, API security, network architecture, identity and access management, and cryptography.
Hands-on experience using AI, GenAI, automation, or internally developed tooling to improve security, risk, or compliance workflows.
Experience modernizing security, risk, or compliance programs through automation, improved methodologies, or process redesign.
Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to translate complex security risks into clear recommendations for technical and non-technical audiences.

Nice To Haves

Experience in financial services, fintech, digital assets, or another highly regulated industry.
Familiarity with third party risk and security frameworks or standards such as DORA, SOC 2, ISO 27001, or relevant regulatory guidance.
Familiarity with blockchain and digital asset technologies, including crypto-native vendors, wallets, smart contracts, or decentralized infrastructure.

Responsibilities

Lead complex technical security assessments of partners, vendors, and third party integrations, translating findings into pragmatic, risk-based recommendations.
Evolve Circle’s third party security assessment program from document-centric reviews toward a dynamic, scalable, and continuously adaptive capability.
Design and build AI-enabled tooling and automation for evidence analysis, risk identification, monitoring, scoring, and assessment workflows.
Establish proactive monitoring approaches that identify and prioritize emerging security risks across Circle’s third party ecosystem.
Partner with Security Engineering, Legal, Procurement, and business teams to define and apply security requirements throughout third party onboarding and ongoing oversight.
Communicate material third party security risks, control gaps, and recommendations clearly to technical stakeholders, business partners, and senior leaders.
Identify opportunities to improve third party security methodologies, standards, tooling, and processes while increasing assessment quality and reducing manual effort.