Bilingual Senior Specialist, Security Applications (AppSec)

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Société canadienne d'hypothèques et de logement(SCHL); Ottawa; Hybrid; CAD 104,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual paid vacation

Performance incentive

Defined pension plan

Group insurance plan

Growth & training

Job summary

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) is seeking a Bilingual Senior Security Applications Specialist to design, govern, and improve the enterprise AppSec program. You will ensure applications and services align with risk tolerance, security strategy, and regulatory obligations.

You will advise senior management and embedding security controls across SSDLC/SDLC, Agile, DevSecOps, and CI/CD, balancing security with delivery velocity and business needs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS/IT/Cybersecurity or related field.
• Minimum 7 years in application security or secure software delivery.
• Experience implementing enterprise app security standards and governance.
• Proven ability embedding security in SDLC/SSDLC, Agile, DevOps and DevSecOps.
• Strong collaboration to bake secure‑by‑design and secure‑by‑default principles.
• Experience with security assurance activities: SAST, DAST, threat modeling, remediation.
• Excellent bilingual communication (English and French).

Responsibilities

• Lead and evolve the enterprise Application Security framework across the SDLC/SSDLC.
• Establish governance for Secure SDLC and infrastructure security practices.
• Promote secure-by-design culture with standards and guidance for dev teams.
• Partner with engineering to embed security into Agile, CI/CD, cloud environments.
• Provide guidance on secure design decisions, risk, and remediation prioritization.
• Define security assurance activities and quality gates in delivery processes.
• Act as senior advisor and escalation point for complex vulnerabilities.

Skills

Bilingual English/French

Application security

Secure SDLC

CI/CD pipelines

Cloud-native

Threat modeling

SAST/DAST/DAST tools

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science / IT / Cybersecurity

Job description

Job Requisition ID: 12554

Position Status: Permanent Full Time

Position Type: Hybrid

Office Location: Ottawa (ON); Montreal (QC); Toronto (ON)

Travel Requirement: Limited

Language Designation: Bilingual

Language Skill Levels (Read/Write/Speak): CBC

Security Requirement: Secret

Salary: Our salaries generally range from $ 104,180.28 to $ 130,225.36 and are based on qualifications and experience.

About CMHC

The work you do and the work we do together matters. We come to work every day with a common purpose: to contribute to a well-functioning housing system.

At CMHC, we hold ourselves accountable for our results and support our colleagues in their achievements. We thrive on collaboration, connecting across CMHC and involving the right people to get our work done. Our leadership style is guided by trust, where our leaders favour an adaptive approach based on the needs of their teams.

Join us and be part of a team that's committed to making a real difference and be part of something meaningful.

Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion

We're committed to advancing employment equity and fostering an inclusive workplace. To reflect the diversity of Canada’s population, we encourage applications from women, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, 2SLGBTQI+ individuals, veterans, and racialized peoples. We also welcome applications from all individuals eligible to work in Canada.

We are also committed to advancing reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and supporting the meaningful inclusion of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis voices and priorities. While this position is hybrid requiring some in-office presence, a work from home arrangement may be considered for First Nations candidates on reserve or Indigenous candidates that reside further than 125KM from a CMHC office.

About

Learn more about our commitment to diversity and inclusion

What's in it for you

Benefits

• Annual Paid vacation.
• Annual individual performance incentive.
• Defined benefit pension plan.
• Comprehensive group insurance plan to support your well-being from day one.
• Support towards your personal and professional growth with training, mentorship and more.
• While positions at CMHC require some in-office presence, alternative work arrangements may be considered for Indigenous candidates.

About The Role

Join the Technology and Business Transformation team in the Bilingual Senior Specialist, Security Applications position. You will be responsible for designing, governing, and continuously improving the enterprise Application Security (AppSec) program to ensure that applications, architecture solutions and software‑delivered services are designed, built, tested, and operated in alignment with the organization’s risk tolerance, security strategy, and regulatory obligations.

In this role you will also provide expert‑level advisory services to senior management, architects, and delivery leadership, and be accountable for the effectiveness and outcomes of application security controls across the full Secure Software Development Lifecycle (SSDLC / SDLC) or solution design, including controls embedded in Agile and DevSecOps delivery models.

What You’ll Do

• Lead and evolve the enterprise Application Security framework, ensuring security requirements are embedded throughout the software development lifecycle and become a core part of how applications are designed, built, tested, and deployed.
• Establish governance for Secure SDLC and/or infrastructure practices, integrating security controls, automated testing, secure coding standards, and risk management directly into day-to-day development workflows.
• Drive a secure‑by-design and secure‑by‑default culture by providing standards, patterns, and guidance that enable development teams to proactively build security into applications rather than addressing it after deployment.
• Partner with engineering, platform, and architecture teams to embed application security requirements into Agile delivery models, CI/CD pipelines, development toolchains, cloud‑native environments, and third‑party integrations.
• Provide expert guidance on secure design decisions, vulnerability remediation, risk‑based control selection, and the adoption of emerging technologies while balancing security, business needs, and delivery velocity.
• Define and enforce security assurance activities and quality gates as integrated components of the software development and solution deployment process.
• Act as the senior application security advisor and escalation point for complex vulnerabilities, design‑level risks, exception requests, and secure software delivery challenges.

What You Should Have

• A bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Cybersecurity, or a related discipline. An equivalent combination of education and/or experience will be considered.
• At least 7 years of progressive experience in application security, software security, cybersecurity, secure software engineering, or secure software delivery.
• A proven experience developing and implementing enterprise application security standards, governance frameworks, and security control requirements.
• A demonstrated success embedding and operationalizing application security within day‑to‑day software development practices, ensuring security is integrated throughout the SDLC/SSDLC, Agile, DevOps, and DevSecOps delivery processes.
• A strong expertise partnering with development teams to bake secure‑by‑design and secure‑by‑default principles, secure coding standards, and automated security controls into application design, development, testing, deployment, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Extensive experience leading application security assurance activities, including secure architecture and design reviews, threat modeling, SAST, DAST, SCA, and penetration testing oversight and remediation validation.
• A proven ability to assess complex application security risks, prioritize remediation efforts, and provide risk‑based guidance to senior leaders, architects, engineers, and delivery teams.
• Excellent communication in both official languages (English and French), influencing, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to translate complex technical risks into business‑impact terms, drive adoption of secure development practices, and deliver results in complex, evolving environments.

Technical Requirements

• A deep expertise in application security principles, secure coding practices, and common application attack techniques.
• A strong understanding of modern development approaches, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud‑native application architectures.
• The ability to interpret and apply recognized security frameworks and standard (e.g. ISO 27001/27002, NIST, ITSG‑33) in an application security context.

Professional Certifications

One or more relevant security certifications required or strongly preferred, such as:

• CSSLP (Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional).
• CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional).
• GIAC application or software security–related certification.
• Another recognized application security or secure software development certification.
• Cloud security or DevSecOps‑related certifications are considered an asset.

Posting closing date:

Note, the competition will remain active until filled.

This position may be designated for Standby and Call Back duties based on operational needs. Should such duties be assigned, they must be performed in accordance with CMHC policies, including the Standby and Call Back Pay Procedure.