Principal Cryptographic Security Engineer

Citizens•Johnston, RI

About The Position

The Principal Cryptographic Security Engineer is a hands-on technical leader responsible for designing, operating, and evolving the organization’s cryptographic platforms with a strong emphasis on operational resilience, automation, and risk reduction. This role sits at the intersection of Cryptography, PKI, Certificate Lifecycle Management, cloud KMS, automation, and incident prevention. The Cryptographic Engineering team must manage run-the-platform responsibility with build-the-future engineering, ensuring the enterprise’s cryptographic controls are stable today and adaptable to emerging threats such as post-quantum cryptography (PQC).

Requirements

8+ years of experience in cryptographic systems, PKI, or security engineering
Experience designing, implementing or supporting a large enterprise certificate management program.
Deep practical knowledge of: TLS, X.509 certificates, trust chains, and lifecycle management
Cryptographic key management and HSM platforms
At least one major cloud provider’s encryption ecosystem (AWS and/or Azure)
Tools & Platforms (hands-on experience): Venafi (TLS Protect / Trust Protection Platform or equivalent)
Thales CipherTrust / HSM platforms (or comparable)
ServiceNow CMDB, workflow, or task routing for security operations
Scripting or automation using Python, PowerShell, or similar languages
API-based integration and automation
A bachelor’s or master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Cryptography, Mathematics, or a related field.

Nice To Haves

Experience with post-quantum cryptography planning or trials
Exposure to CBOM / cryptographic inventory efforts
Financial services or other highly regulated environments
Prior experience balancing platform operations and engineering roles

Responsibilities

Design and evolve enterprise cryptographic architectures across: Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), TLS / certificate lifecycle management, Cloud key management (AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault), Hardware Security Modules (HSM’s, Thales)
Serve as a subject-matter expert for: Cryptographic algorithms, protocols, and key management practices, Certificate chains, trust models, and lifecycle controls
Provide senior technical oversight for cryptographic operations, including: Certificate issuance, renewal, validation, and incident response, Key rotation events (including CMKs managed via external HSM/KMS platforms), Emergency response to cryptographic outages or trust failures, Act as an escalation point for complex cryptographic incidents where failure would cause production impact.
Design and implement automation that reduces manual cryptographic work, including: Certificate discovery, ownership inference, and lifecycle automation, Integration with ServiceNow for workflow, ownership routing, and change enablement, API-driven automation with platforms such as Venafi, CyberArk, Wiz, ServiceNow, AWS, Openshift Cert-Manager.
Lead the organization’s PQC strategy and preparedness, including: Inventorying quantum-vulnerable cryptography, Defining crypto-agility requirements, Evaluating hybrid TLS and PQC migration paths
Translate evolving standards (NIST PQC, CNSA 2.0, industry guidance) into practical, staged engineering plans that do not destabilize production systems.
Collaborate closely with cryptographic assurance and QA functions to: Validate correctness of cryptographic deployments, Review high-risk changes, Assess and document exceptions and compensating controls
Support audits and regulatory reviews by: Explaining cryptographic controls and operating models, Demonstrating risk-based decision-making

Benefits

competitive pay
comprehensive medical coverage
dental coverage
vision coverage
retirement benefits
maternity/paternity leave
flexible work arrangements
education reimbursement
wellness programs
paid time off policy exceeds the mandatory, paid sick or paid time-away policy of every local and state jurisdiction in the United States