Director, Security Architecture & Engineering

About the role

The Director of (Cyber) Security Architecture and Engineering is a cyber leadership role responsible for establishing, operationalizing, and continuously maturing the organization’s security architecture and engineering capabilities in support of business strategy, technology transformation, and enterprise risk management objectives.

Responsibilities

• Lead the strategic direction, operating model, and maturity roadmap for the security architecture and engineering function.
• Define and maintain enterprise security architecture principles, reference architectures, design patterns, and engineering standards aligned to business objectives and risk tolerance.
• Oversee the design, implementation, and lifecycle management of security technologies supporting identity, endpoint, network, cloud, data, application, and infrastructure security capabilities.
• Partner with enterprise architecture, infrastructure, DevOps, cloud, and software engineering teams to embed security-by-design and secure-by-default practices into technology solutions and delivery processes.
• Review and approve security architecture for major systems, platforms, integrations, and transformation initiatives, including cloud services and third-party technologies.
• Direct security engineering activities related to control implementation, automation, integration, tuning, and operational resilience.
• Establish and socialize secure design requirements for applications, platforms, APIs, data flows, and infrastructure components.
• Collaborate with governance, risk, and compliance stakeholders to align control design and technology implementations with internal policies, customer requirements, and regulatory expectations.
• Drive technical risk reduction initiatives by identifying architecture gaps, control weaknesses, technical debt, and modernization opportunities.
• Manage vendor and technology evaluations related to security architecture and engineering capabilities, including proof-of-concept activities and implementation planning.
• Coach, develop, and performance-manage architects and engineers while building a high-performing, collaborative, and accountable team culture.
• Support incident response, significant investigations, and post-incident improvement efforts by providing architecture and engineering expertise for containment, recovery, and long-term remediation.

Requirements

• 10+ years of progressive experience in cybersecurity, information security, or closely related technology roles.
• 5+ years of leadership experience in security architecture, security engineering, or a comparable cyber leadership function.
• Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity, Information Security, Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field; or equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience.
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing enterprise security controls across cloud, infrastructure, application, identity, and data domains.
• Experience leading security architecture reviews, engineering initiatives, and cross-functional technology programs in a mid-sized or large enterprise environment.
• Experience managing and developing technical teams, including architects, engineers, or other specialized cybersecurity staff.
• Experience partnering with senior technology and business leaders to align security capabilities with strategic objectives and operational requirements.
• Experience supporting audits, assessments, customer security reviews, or regulatory/compliance initiatives through technical control design and evidence support.
• Experience evaluating and implementing security technologies, platforms, and managed services.
• Experience/Education Preferred: Master’s degree in Cybersecurity, Information Assurance, Computer Science, Business Administration, or a related discipline. Professional certifications such as CISSP, CISM, CCSP, SABSA, AWS/Azure/GCP security certifications, or other relevant architecture and security credentials.
• Experience in SaaS, cloud-native, highly regulated, or customer-facing technology environments.
• Experience aligning security capabilities to recognized frameworks or standards such as NIST CSF, ISO 27001, CIS Controls, SOC 2, PCI DSS, HIPAA, or other applicable requirements.
• Experience building or maturing security architecture review boards, secure engineering practices, or security reference architecture programs.
• Experience with mergers, acquisitions, major transformation programs, or global technology environments.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Cybersecurity, Information Assurance, Computer Science, Business Administration, or a related discipline.
• Professional certifications such as CISSP, CISM, CCSP, SABSA, AWS/Azure/GCP security certifications, or other relevant architecture and security credentials.
• Experience in SaaS, cloud-native, highly regulated, or customer-facing technology environments.
• Experience aligning security capabilities to recognized frameworks or standards such as NIST CSF, ISO 27001, CIS Controls, SOC 2, PCI DSS, HIPAA, or other applicable requirements.
• Experience building or maturing security architecture review boards, secure engineering practices, or security reference architecture programs.
• Experience with mergers, acquisitions, major transformation programs, or global technology environments.

Skills

• Strategic thinking and leadership.
• Technical expertise in security architecture, secure design, platform security engineering, cloud and application security enablement, and security tooling integration.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills.
• Ability to partner with senior technology and business leaders.
• Experience with security frameworks and standards.
• Experience with security architecture review boards, secure engineering practices, and security reference architecture programs.
• Experience with mergers, acquisitions, major transformation programs, or global technology environments.

Benefits

• Fantastic health and wellness benefits package, including an outstanding 401k match, a flexible PTO program, and a generous and inclusive parental leave policy.
• Relias pays for the employee portion of the monthly healthcare premium!
• Flexible work environment with onsite and work from home options – you choose when you want to come into the office!
• Active Employee Resource Groups open to all employees!
• Comprehensive onboarding program – a great introduction to our company, customers and culture!
• Growth and career advancement opportunities!
• Multiple development program options – leadership development, professional development curriculums, and Nanodegree options in both technology and data science.
• Professional development gained from conference attendance and participation in organizations like NC Tech.
• Onsite 321 Coffee Shop providing free coffee and pastries to employees.

Pay

• $180,000 - $200,000 (Yearly)

Schedule

• Relias values collaboration and wants to ensure that our team members have opportunities to work with their managers regularly for professional development opportunities. This role requires that you live in the state of North Carolina, within a commutable distance to our office. You would be expected to work in our Morrisville, NC Headquarters approximately 30 days/quarter.

Additional Information

• In Office Requirement: Relias values collaboration and wants to ensure that our team members have opportunities to work with their managers regularly for professional development opportunities. This role requires that you live in the state of North Carolina, within a commutable distance to our office. You would be expected to work in our Morrisville, NC Headquarters approximately 30 days/quarter.
• Disclosure requirements pertaining to the collection of your personal data: Responsible for processing the information provided in your application is the company specified in the job advertisement, with its registered office as indicated. The company processes your data for the purpose of establishing an employment relationship on the basis of Art. 6 (1) b GDPR / Section 26 (1) sentence 1 BDSG. The retention period for your data is determined by the statutory time limits applicable in the respective country, beginning upon completion of the recruitment process. You can find these here . You can contact the company’s Data Protection Officer at the above-mentioned postal address. Further information on data protection and your rights can be found here .
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