Principal Engineer - Cyber Defense Engineer

Wells Fargo & Company•Iselin, NJ

20h•$191,000 - $305,000

About The Position

Wells Fargo is seeking a Principal Engineer in Technology as part of Cybersecurity. Learn more about the career areas and lines of business at wellsfargojobs.com. The Principal Cyber Defense Engineer is responsible for the technical execution, engineering oversight, and operational integration of enterprise cyber defense capabilities. This role translates executive cyber risk priorities into scalable, resilient, and automated technical solutions across detection, response, data pipelines, and security platforms. The position operates with significant autonomy, providing technical direction, architectural guidance, and hands-on engineering leadership across Cyber Defense Management (CDM), Fusion Center operations, and adjacent security engineering domains. In this position you will: Act as a technical authority for enterprise cyber defense initiatives, translating executive-level security objectives into actionable engineering designs and implementations Lead the engineering execution of cyber defense capabilities across detection engineering, incident response tooling, threat intelligence platforms, and telemetry pipelines Partner with Cyber Defense leadership to design, integrate, and operate end-to-end security systems supporting Fusion Center operations Provide architectural guidance and technical oversight to engineering teams delivering cyber defense platforms and automation Evaluate, design, and implement secure, highly available, and scalable systems that meet regulatory, audit, and risk management requirements Drive automation and process optimization using engineering-first principles, including detection-as-code, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure-as-code Serve as a technical liaison to senior leadership, audit, and regulatory partners by clearly articulating system architectures, control effectiveness, and operational readiness Assess emerging technologies and influence cyber defense platform strategy, modernization efforts, and long-term technical roadmaps Establish engineering-aligned operational rhythms, metrics, and system health monitoring to ensure reliable cyber defense operations Collaborate across Information Security, Technology, Enterprise Architecture, Data Engineering, and Risk teams to deliver integrated solutions Act as an advisor to leadership to develop or influence applications, network, information security, database, operating systems, or web technologies for highly complex business and technical needs across multiple groups Lead the strategy and resolution of highly complex and unique challenges requiring in-depth evaluation across multiple areas or the enterprise, delivering solutions that are long-term, large-scale and require vision, creativity, innovation, advanced analytical and inductive thinking Translate advanced technology experience, an in-depth knowledge of the organizations tactical and strategic business objectives, the enterprise technological environment, the organization structure, and strategic technological opportunities and requirements into technical engineering solutions Provide vision, direction and expertise to leadership on implementing innovative and significant business solutions Maintain knowledge of industry best practices and new technologies and recommends innovations that enhance operations or provide a competitive advantage to the organization Strategically engage with all levels of professionals and managers across the enterprise and serve as an expert advisor to leadership

Requirements

7+ years of Engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated through one or a combination of the following: work experience, training, military experience, education.
7+ years of Engineering experience within one or more of the following: Cyber defense engineering, Security engineering or platform engineering, Incident response or threat detection engineering, Data engineering supporting security use cases
Strong experience designing and operating distributed systems in large-scale enterprise environments

Nice To Haves

Strong experience designing and operating distributed systems in large-scale enterprise environments
Demonstrated ability to translate ambiguous risk or security requirements into clear technical designs and implementations
Experience operating in regulated and audit-intensive environments
Proven ability to provide technical leadership and influence without direct people management
Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to present complex technical concepts to senior audiences
Ability to work effectively in a matrixed, fast-paced environment with competing priorities
Willingness to provide technical leadership during high-impact cyber events
Ability to operate independently while aligning with enterprise security and technology standards
Strong commitment to Wells Fargo’s risk management framework and culture of compliance
Demonstrated ability to translate ambiguous risk or security requirements into clear technical designs and implementations
Experience operating in regulated and audit-intensive environments
Proven ability to provide technical leadership and influence without direct people management
Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to present complex technical concepts to senior audiences
Ability to work effectively in a matrixed, fast-paced environment with competing priorities
Willingness to provide technical leadership during high-impact cyber events
Ability to operate independently while aligning with enterprise security and technology standards
Strong commitment to Wells Fargo’s risk management framework and culture of compliance
Advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field
Experience with detection-as-code, SOAR platforms, and security automation frameworks
Hands-on experience with cloud-native security architectures and large-scale telemetry ingestion
Familiarity with AI/ML applications in cyber defense, analytics, or automation
Experience supporting Fusion Center or Security Operations Center (SOC) environments
Strong background in systems reliability, resiliency engineering, and automation
Experience influencing enterprise security architecture and platform strategy

Responsibilities

Act as a technical authority for enterprise cyber defense initiatives, translating executive-level security objectives into actionable engineering designs and implementations
Lead the engineering execution of cyber defense capabilities across detection engineering, incident response tooling, threat intelligence platforms, and telemetry pipelines
Partner with Cyber Defense leadership to design, integrate, and operate end-to-end security systems supporting Fusion Center operations
Provide architectural guidance and technical oversight to engineering teams delivering cyber defense platforms and automation
Evaluate, design, and implement secure, highly available, and scalable systems that meet regulatory, audit, and risk management requirements
Drive automation and process optimization using engineering-first principles, including detection-as-code, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure-as-code
Serve as a technical liaison to senior leadership, audit, and regulatory partners by clearly articulating system architectures, control effectiveness, and operational readiness
Assess emerging technologies and influence cyber defense platform strategy, modernization efforts, and long-term technical roadmaps
Establish engineering-aligned operational rhythms, metrics, and system health monitoring to ensure reliable cyber defense operations
Collaborate across Information Security, Technology, Enterprise Architecture, Data Engineering, and Risk teams to deliver integrated solutions
Act as an advisor to leadership to develop or influence applications, network, information security, database, operating systems, or web technologies for highly complex business and technical needs across multiple groups
Lead the strategy and resolution of highly complex and unique challenges requiring in-depth evaluation across multiple areas or the enterprise, delivering solutions that are long-term, large-scale and require vision, creativity, innovation, advanced analytical and inductive thinking
Translate advanced technology experience, an in-depth knowledge of the organizations tactical and strategic business objectives, the enterprise technological environment, the organization structure, and strategic technological opportunities and requirements into technical engineering solutions
Provide vision, direction and expertise to leadership on implementing innovative and significant business solutions
Maintain knowledge of industry best practices and new technologies and recommends innovations that enhance operations or provide a competitive advantage to the organization
Strategically engage with all levels of professionals and managers across the enterprise and serve as an expert advisor to leadership