Engineering Lead, Security Operations

Core Competencies:

• 8+ years of technical experience including full-time security engineering or software engineering, with 3+ years of leadership experience as a formal people manager
• You have experience leading distributed teams, working cross-functionally across varying time zones
• Deep understanding of security fundamentals including vulnerability management, incident response, security monitoring, and secure coding practices
• You've maintained a "player-coach" skillset with the ability to provide technical guidance while managing people and processes
• You genuinely enjoy learning new things and have a proven track record of diving below the surface when faced with uncertainty, understanding the "why" and the "how," not just the "what"

Technical Skills:

• Demonstrate extensive knowledge across multiple security domains (vulnerability management, incident response, security monitoring, application security) with deep expertise in at least one area
• Apply expertise and analytical skills to independently solve complex security problems, influencing solutions across your team and multiple functions
• Contribute to department strategies, security frameworks, systems, and processes, ensuring alignment with broader organizational priorities

Complexity and Impact of Work:

• Take ownership of complex security challenges, selecting the best methods and approaches with minimal oversight
• Lead and significantly contribute to large, cross-functional security projects, driving execution and impact across multiple teams
• Break down large-scale security initiatives into manageable tasks, proactively assessing trade-offs and priorities independently
• Independently navigate ambiguity, anticipating challenges and escalating only for critical blockers
• Deliver results that impact your department, with accountability for tactical security targets

Organizational Knowledge:

• Monitor security industry trends and internal objectives to inform team and department-level goal-setting and decision-making
• Understand and proactively communicate how security work drives Anchorage's long-term growth and competitive advantage
• Lead hiring efforts, ensuring the recruitment and retention of top security talent by submitting referrals, conducting interviews, mentoring interviewers, and actively participating in external recruiting events

Communication and Influence:

• Mentor mid to experienced teammates and help them align their efforts with department goals and company strategy
• Demonstrate strong leadership across multiple teams and departments, proactively improving collaboration and fostering a culture of shared learning
• Lead and communicate complex security ideas and solutions, ensuring alignment across your department and securing buy-in from key stakeholders
• Build trust and credibility by tailoring communication to influence senior stakeholders
• Proactively expand your professional network, developing key relationships inside and outside of Anchorage to drive long-term success

Team Leadership:

• Manage individual contributors and may manage leads or other managers
• Define team direction and priorities in collaboration with department leadership and clearly communicate department and team strategy to team members
• Effectively translate strategy into individual goals, priorities and expectations
• Create an inclusive, high-performance environment
• Take proactive steps to address underperformance
• Invest in team development through coaching, feedback, and mentoring, prioritizing 1:1s and growth conversations tailored to each team member's individual development goals
• Develop team members at multiple levels, both within and outside of your department
• Effectively manage team budget while finding creative ways to improve cost-efficiency
• Fully own team resource planning and end-to-end hiring process, accountable for achieving hiring goals

You may be a fit for this role if you have:

• You have demonstrated experience managing, mentoring, and growing a geographically distributed security engineering team
• You have real-world experience building and maintaining security infrastructure, monitoring systems, and automation tools
• Deep understanding of security fundamentals: vulnerability management, incident response, security monitoring, secure coding practices, cloud security, and network security
• Ability to write scripting-level code in languages such as Python, Go, or bash
• Experience with SIEM tools, security scanning, and monitoring platforms
• You genuinely care about code quality, test infrastructure, and security best practices
• You prioritize risk management, compliance requirements, and business value in decision-making
• You have developed "computer science fundamentals" including concurrency, algorithms, and data structures (Formal CS degree NOT required)
• You self-describe as some combination of the following: creative, humble, ambitious, detail-oriented, hardworking, trustworthy, eager to learn, methodical, action-oriented, and tenacious

Although not a requirement, bonus points if:

• You have experience with applied cryptography
• You have familiarity with common standards and frameworks such as OWASP, NIST, ISO27001, and SOC 2
• Experience working in a regulated financial services environment
• In your mind the word "crypto" stands for cryptography, not cryptocurrency
• You read blockchain protocol white papers for fun, and stay up to date with the proliferation of cryptoasset innovations
• You were emotionally moved by the soundtrack to Hamilton, which chronicles the founding of a new financial system. :)