Head of Security: Enterprise AI & Risk Strategy

Encord; Greater London; On-site; GBP 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Equity in a high-growth startup

London office 4+ days/week

25 days annual leave + UK public hols

Learning & development budget

Travel for customer visits and events

Daily company lunches

Team offsites and monthly socials

Job summary

Encord is seeking a Head of Security to own security across the company, from product to compliance. You will set the strategy, build the team, and grow into the CISO role as the company scales—working with enterprise customers and guiding security across AI, cloud, and corporate domains.

You will lead secure-by-design practices, manage ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR/HIPAA readiness, and incident response, while collaborating with engineers and executives to balance speed and security.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in security, including 3+ years owning or leading the security function at a high-growth tech or SaaS company.
• Strong technical depth in at least one of AppSec or cloud security (GCP ideal), with breadth to lead across all domains.
• A track record of delivering ISO 27001 and/or SOC 2 as the accountable owner.
• Experience building and managing security teams from early stage.
• Credibility with engineers, enterprise customers, and the board, with a pragmatic approach that enables speed.

Responsibilities

• Own the security strategy and roadmap across application, cloud, corporate, and AI security.
• Build and lead the security team, hiring across AppSec, cloud, and GRC as we grow.
• Embed secure-by-design practices into engineering, covering threat modelling, the secure SDLC, and pentest and bug bounty programs.
• Own ISO 27001, SOC 2, and emerging AI standards such as ISO 42001, plus GDPR and HIPAA readiness for healthcare customers.
• Act as the security voice to enterprise customers: due diligence, executive briefings, and contractual security terms.
• Lead incident response and report security risk to the exec team and board.
• Set guardrails for how Encord builds with and adopts AI, including LLM risks, data handling, and vendor reviews.

Job description

Encord is seeking a Head of Security to own security across the company, from product to compliance. You will set the strategy, build the team, and grow into the CISO role as the company scales—working with enterprise customers and guiding security across AI, cloud, and corporate domains.

You will lead secure-by-design practices, manage ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR/HIPAA readiness, and incident response, while collaborating with engineers and executives to balance speed and security.