Principal Security Engineer

Alkira

1d•$132,232 - $242,425

About The Position

As Alkira continues to scale its cloud-native networking platform, security remains a foundational component of our success. We are seeking a Principal Security Engineer to serve as a senior technical leader responsible for shaping and driving security strategy across cloud, infrastructure, platform, application, and operational security domains. This role sits in Platform Engineering and reports to the Director of Platform Engineering. Platform Engineering builds the foundational layer every other engineering team depends on. This role is ideal for a highly experienced security professional who combines deep technical expertise with strong architectural leadership. You will partner closely with engineering, platform, infrastructure, and executive stakeholders to influence security direction, guide the design of secure systems, and establish scalable security practices across the organization. The ideal candidate brings extensive experience securing Kubernetes-based environments, distributed systems, and modern cloud-native platforms while demonstrating the ability to lead complex initiatives and drive security outcomes at organizational scale.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
10+ years of experience in cybersecurity, security engineering, infrastructure security, or cloud security roles.
Deep expertise securing large-scale cloud-native environments, distributed systems, and modern application platforms.
Advanced expertise with Kubernetes security, including workload protection, container security, platform hardening, and runtime security.
Expert-level Linux administration, hardening, automation, troubleshooting, and system-level security experience.
Ability to write production-quality automation and tooling in Go, Python, or a comparable language. This is an engineering role as much as an advisory one.
Proven experience across multiple security disciplines, including cloud security, application security, infrastructure security, identity and access management, and security operations.
Extensive experience performing threat modeling, risk assessments, vulnerability management, and security architecture reviews.
Demonstrated ability to lead technical strategy, influence executive stakeholders, and drive security outcomes across large engineering organizations.

Nice To Haves

Experience securing large-scale SaaS, cloud infrastructure, networking, or platform engineering environments.
Strong understanding of DevSecOps, software supply chain security, Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) security, and CI/CD security controls.
Experience designing cloud security architectures across AWS, GCP, and Azure environments.
Experience building advanced security automation, detection engineering, monitoring, and incident response capabilities.
Knowledge of security frameworks and regulatory standards including SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIST, CIS, and related frameworks.
Experience leading cross-functional security programs and large-scale security transformation initiatives.
Relevant industry certifications such as CISSP, CCSP, GIAC, CKS, CKS, or cloud security certifications.
Master's degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Security, or a related technical discipline.

Responsibilities

Define and drive the long-term security architecture and strategy across cloud, infrastructure, application, platform, and operational security domains.
Own the bug bounty program for Alkira on HackerOne: triage, severity assessment, coordination of remediation with owning teams, and researcher communication.
Serve as a technical authority for Kubernetes, container, Linux, and cloud security, influencing security decisions across engineering organizations.
Lead security architecture reviews and establish standards for secure design, implementation, and deployment of cloud-native systems.
Drive enterprise-wide risk reduction initiatives through threat modeling, vulnerability management, and proactive security assessments.
Build detection engineering and security monitoring on our observability stack (Coralogix), and lead security investigations, incident response, and post-incident improvements across complex distributed environments.
Design and implement scalable security controls, automation, and engineering frameworks that improve security posture and operational efficiency.
Lead security investigations, incident response efforts, and post-incident improvements across complex distributed environments.
Partner with senior engineering and business leaders to align security initiatives with company objectives and platform growth strategies.
Mentor security and engineering teams while establishing security best practices, governance models, and technical standards.
Participate in the on-call rotation that handles security alerts and incoming threats.