Senior Security Engineer

Kaizen Labs•New York, NY

6d•$180,000 - $220,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Kaizen's platform reaches 40 million residents across 50+ agencies in 17 states. We've already signed multiple federal customers with many more in the pipeline. We are hiring our first dedicated security engineer to sit on the platform team and own security end-to-end: architect the controls, write the SSPs, and partner with engineering to embed compliance into how we ship rather than bolt it on after. This role is crucial for making Kaizen federal-ready.

Requirements

5+ years of hands-on experience building and securing cloud-native platforms in AWS and Terraform — you can architect controls and also implement them yourself.
Direct experience with federal authorization work — FedRAMP, CMMC, DoD IL, or comparable regulated environments. You don't need to have shepherded a full authorization across the finish line, but you've done enough of the real work to know what it takes.
Deep familiarity with NIST 800-53 and the ability to translate controls into pragmatic engineering work rather than checkbox compliance.
Strong working knowledge of modern supply chain security: SBOMs, image signing, workload identity, secure CI/CD.
Track record operating effectively in early-stage or fast-moving environments where you set the bar rather than inherit it.

Nice To Haves

Supported federal SaaS, defense tech, or regulated infrastructure companies through accreditation.
Led a company through its first federal authorization rather than maintaining an existing one.
Hands-on experience with Chainguard, AI-powered security tooling, or similar leverage-multiplying platforms.
Worked with platforms like Second Front or similar federal compliance accelerators.

Responsibilities

Architect and operationalize security across infrastructure, platform, CI/CD, and application layers, with a focus on AWS (including GovCloud) and Terraform.
Lead readiness across federal compliance frameworks — FedRAMP, CMMC, and DoD Impact Levels — translating NIST 800-53 and related controls into real engineering implementations, and owning the SSPs, POA&Ms, and technical policy documentation.
Build continuous compliance and audit-readiness workflows that make accreditation a byproduct of how we ship, not a separate workstream.
Use automated AI-driven security scanning, modern hardened-image platforms like Chainguard, and other leverage points to multiply the impact of a small security team.
Establish secure software supply chain practices: SBOMs, image signing, workload identity, and hardened deployment pipelines.
Own the technical relationship with assessors, auditors, and federal security stakeholders.
Drive a secure-by-default engineering culture so residents and public servants can trust the systems we put in front of them.

Benefits

Comprehensive medical through Oxford/United - Gold and Platinum PPO plans, with 85% of premiums covered on the Platinum plan and a $0 employee premium option.
Dental through Guardian PPO and vision through Beam, with 99% of employee premiums covered and 50% for dependents.
$100,000 in fully paid life insurance.
FSA and Dependent Care FSA.
401(k) access through Guideline.
16 weeks of fully paid parental leave for birthing parents.
10 weeks fully paid for non-birthing parents.
Unlimited PTO & closed for all federal holidays.
Company-wide winter break the week of Christmas.
One-time home office or desk setup stipend up to $750.
$50/month commuter benefit.
$100/month for wellness or productivity.
$500/year for professional development.
$250/year for recreation.
Company-provided laptop.
Expensed lunch while in the office.