Director, Ecosystem Product Security

About the role

Since 2014, the mission-driven team at the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has helped fuel the tremendous growth of the Stellar blockchain network, an open-source platform that operates at high-scale today. Developers and companies around the world build on it, and the SDF team is expanding to support the rapidly growing and changing Stellar ecosystem. We're hiring a Director, Ecosystem & Product Security to lead security strategy across the Stellar ecosystem and directly own security outcomes for Foundation-developed systems, Foundation-operated infrastructure, and treasury-related security responsibilities.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead the Foundation’s security strategy across both the Stellar ecosystem and Foundation-owned systems
• Raise the practical security baseline for key ecosystem participants, including wallets, infrastructure providers, custodians, issuers, and validators
• Publish actionable guidance, reference patterns, and security expectations that drive real adoption across the ecosystem
• Build coordination mechanisms for shared risks, incident response, and cross-ecosystem security improvement
• Own security outcomes for Foundation-developed software, Foundation-operated infrastructure, and treasury / custody-related responsibilities
• Partner with Engineering, Finance, Legal, IT, and Corporate Security to drive implementation of security controls and secure operating practices
• Lead secure development efforts across architecture, threat modeling, vulnerability management, bug bounty programs, and product incident response
• Build and lead a high-performing security team, while translating strategy into execution plans and measurable outcomes
• Represent the Foundation externally as a credible technical leader and convener on ecosystem security

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in security, including significant experience in senior leadership roles
• 5+ years leading security programs, teams, or functions with meaningful scope
• Deep experience in product and application security, with hands-on judgment in real-world environments
• Strong familiarity with blockchain and decentralized system security
• The ability to assess and prioritize risk across areas such as protocol design, smart contracts, wallets, validators, dependencies, and governance mechanisms
• Experience driving security improvements across multiple teams, organizations, or ecosystem participants, including in environments where you do not have direct authority
• Strong incident judgment, including experience handling high-severity incidents and disclosure processes
• A pragmatic approach to security, with the ability to make tradeoffs that reduce real-world risk rather than optimize for theoretical completeness
• Experience building, leading, and developing high-performing security teams
• The ability to set strategy, translate it into execution, and deliver measurable outcomes
• Clear communication skills and the credibility to work effectively with engineers, executives, and external ecosystem participants

Bonus points

• Experience with secure development frameworks such as NIST SSDF
• Familiarity with Web3 security frameworks such as OWASP SCSVS or SEAL
• Experience in financial infrastructure, payments, custody, or tokenized finance
• Experience with large-scale platform or ecosystem security architecture
• Experience in identity, trust, encryption, or internet-scale systems

Pay

Competitive pay with a base salary range for this position of $225,000 - $320,000 depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and location. In addition, we offer lumen-denominated grants along with the following perks and benefits:

• USA Benefits/Perks: Competitive health, dental & vision coverage with most plans covered at 100% for the employee + any dependents
• Flexible time off + 15 company holidays including a company-wide holiday break
• Generous paid parental leave for all parents, plus paid pregnancy disability leave for birthing parents
• Gym reimbursement ($80 per month)
• Life & ADD (up to $50K)
• Short & Long term disability
• 401K with 4% match
• Health & Dependent Care FSA Accounts
• Commuter benefits with $250/month employer contribution
• Health Savings Account (HSA) with monthly employer contribution
• Family building benefits through Kindbody
• Wellbeing benefits (One Medical, Rightway, Headspace)
• L&D budget of $1,500/year
• Daily lunch and snacks in office
• Company retreats

About Stellar

Stellar is more than a blockchain. Powered by a decentralized, fast, scalable, and uniquely sustainable network made for financial products and services and a thriving and passionate ecosystem that includes a non-profit organization driven by a mission, Stellar is paving the path to unlock the world’s economic potential through blockchain technology. Built with speed and low costs in mind, the Stellar network provides builders and financial institutions worldwide a platform to issue assets, and to send and convert currencies in real time creating real world utility.

About the Stellar Development Foundation

The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is a non-profit organization focused on working with and supporting change-makers to create equitable access to the global financial system through blockchain technology. SDF provides grants, investments, funding, and other awards to builders and organizations. SDF also develops resources and tooling on the Stellar network to help unlock real world utility. As a nonprofit foundation, SDF puts the health of the Stellar network and the Stellar ecosystem and its mission above all else. We look forward to hearing from you!