Application & Platform Security Architect – NIS2 Ready

VITO; Mol; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

VITO is seeking an Application & Platform Security Architect to shape secure and sustainable digitalization across the organization. You will embed security by design in research software, guide teams toward NIS2 compliance, and develop practical guidelines and reusable building blocks.

You will join a multidisciplinary team and work across cloud-native platforms, Kubernetes, CI/CD, and DevSecOps practices to ensure secure, scalable research software from prototype to operation.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Software Engineering, or equivalent.
• At least 5 years of experience in software architecture, security architecture, application security, or a related field.
• Strong understanding of secure software development practices, application security principles, and modern software architectures.
• Experience with cloud-native technologies, container platforms (e.g. Kubernetes), CI/CD pipelines, and DevSecOps practices.
• Familiarity with cybersecurity frameworks, standards, and regulations such as NIS2, ISO 27001, OWASP, or similar.
• Experience conducting architecture reviews, risk assessments, and translating security requirements into practical guidance for development teams.
• The ability to balance security, usability, innovation, and operational realities in a research-driven environment.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, enabling you to collaborate effectively with researchers, developers, IT teams, and management.
• A proactive mindset with the ability to drive change and build consensus across diverse teams.
• Excellent English communication skills, both written and spoken. Knowledge of Dutch is considered an asset.

Responsibilities

• Embed security by design into our digital solutions and collaborate across researchers, software engineers, and DevOps teams.
• Assess the current security posture of internally developed applications and define a phased roadmap towards NIS2 compliance.
• Define, implement, and maintain security standards, architectural guidelines, and software development best practices.
• Develop policy frameworks, guidelines, and reusable building blocks to integrate cybersecurity into research proposals from the outset.
• Review architectures and development processes to identify improvements in security, quality, maintainability, and operational maturity.
• Coach development teams in secure coding, modern CI/CD practices, and scalable architectural patterns.
• Promote a consistent and future-oriented software engineering approach where security, compliance, and quality are built in by default.
• Bridge IT, software development and research to evolve prototypes into operational services.
• Make an organization-wide impact on how digital solutions are designed, developed, and operated in a leading research organization.

Skills

Security architecture

Cloud-native

Kubernetes

CI/CD

DevSecOps

Communication

English proficiency

Dutch language (asset)

Education

Master's degree in Computer Science / Cybersecurity

Tools

CISSP

CCSP

TOGAF

Azure Security Engineer

Job description

VITO is seeking an Application & Platform Security Architect to shape secure and sustainable digitalization across the organization. You will embed security by design in research software, guide teams toward NIS2 compliance, and develop practical guidelines and reusable building blocks.

You will join a multidisciplinary team and work across cloud-native platforms, Kubernetes, CI/CD, and DevSecOps practices to ensure secure, scalable research software from prototype to operation.