API Security Engineer

Moderna; Cambridge (MA); Hybrid; USD 122,000 - 195,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare

Well-being resources

Generous PTO

Location-specific perks

Job summary

Moderna is seeking a Cybersecurity Engineer to design, implement, and mature API security across applications, platforms, and AI-enabled use cases. You will collaborate across engineering and security teams to improve API exposure, authentication, monitoring, and governance.

The role emphasizes threat modeling, secure API engineering, and non-human identity patterns, with a 70/30 in-office work model and comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• Strong hands-on experience with API security concepts and controls.
• Experience securing REST, GraphQL, or other modern API patterns in cloud-native environments.
• Familiarity with API gateways, service meshes, reverse proxies.
• Ability to perform threat modeling and risk assessments for APIs and machine-to-machine interactions.
• Knowledge of identity and access concepts for non-human/workload identities.

Responsibilities

• Help design, implement, and mature Moderna’s API security capabilities across enterprise applications and platforms.
• Support evaluation and deployment of API security technologies for discovery, posture, traffic monitoring, anomaly detection, and policy enforcement.
• Partner with engineering teams to identify insecure API designs and risky patterns; drive remediation.
• Perform API-focused threat modeling and security assessments for modern services and AI-enabled workflows.
• Define secure API engineering practices including authentication, authorization, rate limiting, and secrets handling.
• Shape security approaches for non-human identities and agentic access patterns.

Skills

API security

Threat modeling

Cloud security

Identity concepts

Secure API design

Tools

API gateways

Service meshes

Reverse proxies

Job description

The Role

As a Cybersecurity Engineer, you will help design, implement, and mature Moderna’s approach to API security across modern applications, platform services, and AI-enabled use cases. This role is primarily focused on securing APIs and the systems that expose and consume them, including improving visibility, control, and risk reduction across a growing set of application and integration patterns, with support for initiatives such as AI Gateway and other shared platforms where needed.

The ideal candidate brings strong hands‑on experience with API security concepts and controls, and can work effectively across engineering, architecture, and security teams to improve how APIs are exposed, authenticated, monitored, and governed. This role also calls for someone who is forward thinking about how identity and trust models are evolving, including how to secure service identities, machine‑to‑machine access, and emerging agentic patterns where software agents interact with APIs, tools, and sensitive data on behalf of users or systems.

Here’s What You’ll Do

• Help design, implement, and mature Moderna’s API security capabilities across enterprise applications, shared services, integrations, and AI-related platforms.
• Support the evaluation, deployment, and operationalization of API security technologies used for API discovery, posture assessment, traffic monitoring, anomaly detection, and policy enforcement.
• Partner with application, platform, and engineering teams to identify insecure API designs, weak authentication or authorization patterns, excessive data exposure, and other common API security risks.
• Perform API-focused threat modeling and security assessments for modern services, microservices, integrations, and AI-enabled workflows.
• Define and promote secure API engineering practices, including strong authentication, authorization, rate limiting, schema validation, secrets handling, and secure service‑to‑service communication.
• Help shape security approaches for non-human and agentic identity models, including how services, automation, and software agents authenticate to APIs, obtain scoped access, and interact with sensitive systems safely.
• Analyze API telemetry and findings to identify abuse paths, misconfigurations, shadow APIs, and control gaps, then work with stakeholders to drive remediation.
• Collaborate with broader security teams to connect API security findings with cloud, application, identity, and detection engineering workflows.
• Provide practical engineering guidance that helps teams improve API security while preparing for new trust and identity challenges introduced by automation and AI-enabled systems.

Here’s What You’ll Bring To The Table

• 5+ years of experience in cybersecurity, application security, platform security, or a related engineering discipline, with meaningful hands‑on experience in API security.
• Strong understanding of API security risks and controls, including authentication, authorization, token handling, rate limiting, data exposure, input validation, and service-to-service trust models.
• Experience assessing or securing REST, GraphQL, or other modern API patterns in cloud-native or distributed application environments.
• Experience working with engineering and platform teams to improve API design, security posture, and operational controls.
• Familiarity with API gateways, service meshes, reverse proxies, or related control points used to secure and observe API traffic.
• Ability to perform threat modeling and technical risk assessments for APIs, integrations, backend services, and machine-to-machine interaction patterns.
• Working knowledge of identity and access concepts relevant to non-human identities, workload identities, and emerging agentic access patterns is strongly preferred.
• Working knowledge of cloud and application security fundamentals, including identity, secrets management, logging, and common security design patterns.
• Familiarity with AI-enabled architectures or gateway patterns is a plus, particularly where APIs are used to broker access to models, tools, or sensitive data flows.
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills, with the ability to turn technical findings into pragmatic remediation guidance.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work across technical and non-technical stakeholder groups.
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Pay & Benefits

At Moderna, we believe that when you feel your best, you can do your best work.

That’s why our benefits and well‑being resources are designed to support you—at work, at home, and everywhere in between.

• Competitive healthcare, plus voluntary benefit programs to support your unique needs
• A holistic approach to well‑being, with access to fitness, mindfulness, and mental health support
• Family planning benefits, including fertility, adoption, and surrogacy support
• Generous paid time off, including vacation, volunteer days, sabbatical, global recharge days, and a discretionary year‑end shutdown
• Savings and investments to help you plan for the future
• Location-specific perks and extras

The salary range for this role is $121,600.00 - $194,500.00. This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An individual’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, specific competencies, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, performance, and business or organizational needs. The successful candidate may be eligible for an annual discretionary bonus, other incentive compensation, or equity award, subject to company plan eligibility criteria and individual performance.

About Moderna

Since our founding in 2010, we have aspired to build the leading mRNA technology platform, the infrastructure to reimagine how medicines are created and delivered, and a world-class team. We believe in giving our people a platform to change medicine and an opportunity to change the world.

By living our mission, values, and mindsets every day, our people are the driving force behind our scientific progress and our culture. Together, we are creating a culture of belonging and building an organization that cares deeply for our patients, our employees, the environment, and our communities.

We are proud to have been recognized as a Science Magazine Top Biopharma Employer, a Fast Company Best Workplace for Innovators, and a Great Place to Work in the U.S.

Our Working Model

As we build our company, we have always believed an in-person culture is critical to our success. Moderna champions the significant benefits of in-office collaboration by embracing a 70/30 work model. This 70% in-office structure helps to foster a culture rich in innovation, teamwork, and direct mentorship. Join us in shaping a world where every interaction is an opportunity to learn, contribute, and make a meaningful impact.

Moderna is a smoke-free, alcohol-free, and drug-free work environment.

Equal Opportunities

Moderna is committed to equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination for all employees and qualified applicants without regard to a person's race, color, sex, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, ancestry or citizenship, ethnicity, disability, military or protected veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, marital or familial status, or any other personal characteristic protected under applicable law. Moderna is a place where everyone can grow. If you meet the Basic Qualifications for the role and you would be excited to contribute to our mission every day.

Moderna is an E-Verify Employer in the United States. We consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.

Accommodations

We’re focused on attracting, retaining, developing, and advancing our employees. By cultivating a workplace that values diverse experiences, backgrounds, and ideas, we create an environment where every employee can contribute their best.

Moderna is committed to offering reasonable accommodations to qualified job applicants with disabilities. Any applicant requiring an accommodation in connection with the hiring process and/or to perform the essential functions of the position for which the applicant has applied should contact the Accommodations team at [e-mail].

Export Control Notice

This position may involve access to technology or data that is subject to U.S. export control laws, including the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). As such, employment is contingent upon the applicant’s ability to access export-controlled information in accordance with U.S. law. Due to the nature of the work and regulatory requirements, only individuals who qualify as U.S. persons (citizens, permanent residents, asylees, or refugees) are eligible for this position. For this role Moderna is unable to sponsor non-U.S. persons to apply for an export control license.