Principal Security Specialist

Serko Ltd; Auckland; On-site; NZD 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading tech platform in business travel seeks a Security Engineer to enhance secure practices in software development. The candidate will integrate security into CI/CD pipelines and support engineering teams while managing security tooling. Ideal applicants have experience in security engineering, DevSecOps, and knowledge of CI/CD tools. Attractive benefits include a competitive salary and health insurance.

Benefits

Competitive base salary

KiwiSaver matching contributions

Discounted health insurance

Parental leave coverage

Learning & development opportunities

Qualifications

• Experience in security engineering in a software/SaaS environment.
• Ability to embed security into the software development lifecycle.
• Strong influence over engineering culture around security.

Responsibilities

• Integrate security into CI/CD pipelines.
• Build guardrails for secure engineering workflows.
• Serve as a hands-on security advisor.

Skills

Security engineering

DevSecOps

Agile environments

Education

Certifications: CISSP, OSCP, GIAC DevSecOps

Tools

GitHub

Azure DevOps

Terraform

Kubernetes

Python

PowerShell

Bash

Job description

Serko is a cutting-edge tech platform in global business travel & expense technology. When you join Serko, you become part of a team of passionate travellers and technologists bringing people together, using the world’s leading business travel marketplace. We are proud to be an equal-opportunity employer, we embrace the richness of diversity, showing up authentically to create a positive impact.

Requirements

Reporting to the Chief Information Security Officer, you will be embedded within Serko's engineering teams to champion secure-by-default practices across the software development lifecycle. This role will focus on enabling engineering teams to build and deploy securely at speed, improving security culture, and integrating scalable security solutions that empower rather than obstruct.

What you will be doing

• Integrate security into CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code, and containerised environments.
• Build guardrails that allow engineering teams to deploy quickly and securely.
• Embed security into engineering workflows, sprint rituals and architectural decisions.
• Serve as a hands-on security advisor to product and platform teams.
• Manage and optimise security tooling (e.g., SIEM, SCA, SAST/DAST, CSPM)
• Implement automated controls, alerts and remediation workflows.
• Lead investigations and response efforts for security incidents.
• Align operational practices with compliance frameworks such as SOC 2 Type and PCI-DSS

What you will bring to the team

Experience Required

• Security engineering, DevSecOps, or operational security in a software product/SaaS environment
• Embedding security into the software development lifecycle
• Influencing engineering culture and security in agile environments.

Core Technical Skills

• CI/CD tooling (e.g., GitHub, Azure DevOps)
• Infrastructure-as-code (e.g., Terraform, Bicep)
• Container orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes)
• Scripting/automation (e.g., Python, PowerShell, Bash)
• Cloud-native security and modern application architectures
• Certifications: CISSP, OSCP, GIAC DevSecOps

Benefits

At Serko we aim to create a place where people can come and do their best work. This means you’ll be operating in an environment with great tools and support to enable you to perform at the highest level of your abilities, producing high-quality and delivering innovative and efficient results. Our people are fully engaged, continuously improving, and encouraged to make an impact.

Some of the benefits of working at Serko are:

• A competitive base salary and discretionary incentive plan based on individual and company performance
• KiwiSaver: covered with employee contributions matching up to 3% of salary, and life insurance.
• Health & Wellbeing: Discounted Southern Cross Health Insurance, access to confidential support, guidance and counselling service, wellbeing and voluntary leave, and free flu shots.
• Parental Leave Coverage: 20 weeks on full pay, return-to-work support, plus partners 3 weeks of paid leave.
• Focus on development: Access to a learning & development platform, committed budget and opportunity for you to own your own career pathways.