Senior Application Security Engineer

Upstart

3d•$166,900 - $230,900•Remote

About The Position

Upstart's Application Security team enables product and engineering teams to build secure products without slowing innovation. We believe security should move at the speed of the business and that safety by design should be embedded throughout the software development lifecycle. Through engineering, automation, and close collaboration, we protect Upstart’s customer-facing products, internal applications, APIs, and AI-enabled systems while maintaining a positive developer experience. As a Senior Application Security Engineer at Upstart, you will lead application security projects that reduce risk across our products and engineering ecosystem. You will partner with product, platform, data, infrastructure, and engineering teams to identify security risks, review designs, build preventative controls, and drive complex issues through remediation. This role is well suited for an experienced application security engineer who can lead substantial technical initiatives, navigate ambiguity, and deliver durable improvements that raise the security bar across the team and its partners.

Requirements

5+ years of experience in security engineering, software engineering, or a related technical role, including 2+ years focused on application or product security.
Experience leading security projects involving multiple contributors or partner teams.
Experience conducting threat modeling and security architecture reviews for complex production applications.
Experience developing production software or security automation in Java, Python, Ruby, Go, or a similar programming language.
Experience designing or implementing application security controls across the software development lifecycle, including several of the following: API security, secure coding standards, SAST, DAST, SCA, CI/CD security, or secrets management.
Experience identifying, validating, prioritizing, and driving remediation of application vulnerabilities.
Experience securing cloud-native or distributed systems, including web applications, APIs, or microservices.
Experience investigating significant application security issues or incidents and translating findings into corrective engineering work.

Nice To Haves

Experience building reusable application security guardrails, platforms, or automation adopted by multiple engineering teams.
Experience securing modern frontend frameworks, REST or GraphQL APIs, microservices, and event-driven architectures.
Familiarity with security risks affecting AI/ML and GenAI-enabled systems, including prompt injection, insecure tool use, sensitive-data exposure, and model supply-chain risks.
Experience using risk metrics or program data to prioritize work and measure improvements in application security outcomes.
Experience mentoring security or software engineers and raising quality through design and code reviews.
Experience partnering with Legal, Risk, Compliance, or Audit teams in a regulated environment.
Security certifications such as CISSP, CSSLP, CCSP, AWS Security Specialty, or equivalent practical expertise.

Responsibilities

Lead application security projects from planning through implementation, coordinating contributors and dependencies to deliver high-quality outcomes.
Conduct threat modeling and security architecture reviews for complex customer-facing applications, APIs, distributed services, and AI/ML systems.
Design and implement secure-by-default controls across the software development lifecycle, including secure coding standards, API protections, automated testing, CI/CD safeguards, and secrets management.
Partner with engineering teams to identify systemic vulnerabilities, evaluate practical remediation options, and ensure high-risk issues are resolved effectively.
Build services and automation that improve vulnerability detection, prioritization, validation, and prevention while reducing friction for developers.
Assess the security of AI-enabled products and developer workflows, including GenAI integrations, agentic systems, model inputs and outputs, sensitive-data handling, and access boundaries.
Provide technical leadership during high-severity application security incidents, helping determine root causes and drive durable follow-up improvements.
Improve team effectiveness by contributing to design and code reviews, documenting reusable patterns, mentoring engineers, and helping strengthen application security practices across Upstart.

Benefits

Competitive compensation, including base pay, bonus opportunities, and annual equity grants that vest quarterly
Retirement benefits to help you plan for the future, including a 401(k) or Group Retirement Savings Plan with a company match of $2 for every $1 contributed, up to $15,000 annually (USD in the US, CAD in Canada)
Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) with discounted stock purchase options for eligible employees (US only)
Comprehensive health coverage designed to support you and your family, including medical, dental, vision, and wellness resources for US and supplemental health coverage for Canada.
Health Savings Account contributions from Upstart for eligible plans (US only)
Income protection benefits, including life insurance and disability coverage for added financial security
Paid time off, sick leave, and company holidays, in line with local requirements
Paid family and parental leave to support caregiving and major life moments (duration varies by country)
Family-centered benefits to support fertility, parenthood, and caregiving needs
Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offering mental health support and life-centered resources
Financial wellness resources, including access to financial planning tools and a financial concierge service (US Only)
Annual wellness allowance to support your physical and emotional well-being and personal development, based on what matters most to you
Annual productivity allowance to invest in relevant tools and resources you need to do your best work, no matter where you work from
Connection and community through team events, all-company updates, and employee resource groups (ERGs)
Onsite perks, including catered lunches and fully stocked micro-kitchens when working from one of our offices in the Bay Area, Austin, Columbus, and New York City (opening Summer 2026!)