Application Security and Risk Engineer

Ladder; New Jersey; Remote; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

Flexible PTO

Stock options

401k match

Paid parental leave

Remote work stipend

Job summary

Ladder is seeking a SecOps/AppSec Engineer to embed in our development lifecycles and own application security vulnerability management for engineering teams. The role emphasizes hands-on Clojure and JVM work while strengthening our shift-left security approach across cloud, tooling, and code.

You will monitor cloud security, respond to incidents, conduct risk reviews, and support audits, all while mentoring engineers on secure coding practices and secure defaults in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of software engineering and/or cybersecurity experience.
• Hands-on coding in Clojure and JVM; read and fix functional code.
• Experience securing modern cloud infrastructures and incident response.
• Ability to conduct security risk reviews and support compliance.

Responsibilities

• Secure the code: champion application security vulnerability management with dev teams.
• Security Ops: configure, fine-tune, and monitor cloud security posture (SIEM/SOAR/CSP).
• Governance & risk: conduct security reviews and risk assessments with vendors/APIs.
• Maintain workspace security: IAM, device compliance, tooling protection.
• Mentor engineers on secure coding practices and secure defaults.

Skills

Clojure

JVM

Cloud security

Incident response

Secure coding

Risk assessment

Education

BS in CS or related field

Tools

Google Security Command Center

Chronicle

Datomic

BigQuery

Kafka

Job description

SecOps/AppSec Engineer (Clojure Required)

Please note, this is a remote role based in one of the 23 States Ladder is currently hiring in - AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, IA, KS, MA, MD, MN, NC, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, TX, VA, WA, WI with the exception of the following cities: We saw a problem within the life insurance industry: getting covered took too long, involved too much paperwork, and required too many in-person meetings with sales agents. We developed a method of real-time underwriting leveraging AI and, in doing so, reduced the months-long process of applying for life insurance to minutes. Our digital experience is quick (instant decisions!), loved by users (check out our Trustpilot or Google reviews) and prolific ($74 billion+ in coverage provided).

We are looking for a cybersecurity unicorn. A Security Engineer / Analyst who brings a rare blend of application security engineering and risk management maturity. In this role, you will be the driving force behind our vulnerability management lifecycle, balancing day-to-day security operations with development-facing vulnerability management and compliance.

Your primary mission will be embedded within our development lifecycles, taking ownership of application security vulnerability management for our engineering teams. Because our backend infrastructure runs heavily on Clojure, you won't just be running automated scanners, you will actively look at code and leverage your functional programming experience to strengthen our shift-left security philosophy. Beyond AppSec, you will wear multiple hats: monitoring our cloud infrastructure and responding to alerts, conducting security risk reviews, supporting compliance audits, and ensuring our day-to-day workspace remains locked down.

We are looking for someone who is organized, self-motivated, has excellent problem-solving and writing skills, and enjoys working with people in a challenging and fast-paced environment. In this role, you will have the opportunity to drive innovation within the reporting function and help build out the accounting function.

Please note, Ladder is not currently sponsoring or transferring OPT or H1-B visa's.

Secure the Code (Primary): Partner directly with development teams to champion application security vulnerability management. Security Ops: Configure, fine-tune, and monitor our cloud security posture leveraging Security Operations tools (SIEM, SOAR, CSP, CNAPP) to detect and respond to threats in real time.

Champion Governance & Risk: Conduct thorough Security Reviews and risk assessments on internal architecture, third-party vendors, and APIs to ensure alignment with our corporate risk tolerance and compliance standards.

Maintain and optimize our day-to-day corporate workspace security, ensuring identity access management, device compliance, and productivity tools are highly secure yet frictionless for the team.

Mentor engineers on secure coding practices, establish secure defaults, and make practical risk decisions that scale with our growth

An Experienced Security Professional: 4+ years of software engineering and/or cybersecurity experience, backed by a strong foundation in Computer Science, Cyber Security, or a related field.

Hands-on experience coding in Clojure and working within the JVM environment. You are comfortable reading functional code, understanding immutable data structures, and collaborating directly with backend engineers on code-level fixes.

A Cloud SecOps Practitioner: Hands-on experience securing modern cloud infrastructures, as well as experience working incident response.

Backend & Code: Clojure, JVM, TypeScript, JavaScript

Cloud & Infrastructure: GCP, Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, GraphQL

Security & Data Operations: Google Security Command Center, Chronicle, Datomic, BigQuery, Kafka

To support you in your role, we offer fantastic perks and benefits that reflect our mission of care and support, including:

• Excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage | We offer competitive healthcare, dental and vision plans for you and your family.
• Flexible paid time off | Take the time that you need to rest and recharge, including our week-long winter holiday closure.
• Stock options | We offer competitive stock option packages to participate in the success of building Ladder.
• A rewarding 401k match program | We'll match up to 4% of your contributions as you save for your retirement goals.
• Paid parental leave |We think it's crucial that new parents have time to adjust to their new lives without worrying about work, so we provide all parents inclusive of birthing, adoption, or fostering ten weeks of paid baby bonding.
• Work-from-home flexibility and support | We recognize that everyone's homelife is different and support remote work. Upon joining, we provide a one-time remote office stipend for all team members and then a monthly stipend to cover WFH costs such as the internet.

That’s why we plan fun virtual events to let loose and laugh.

In addition to the base pay range listed below, this role is also eligible for equity and benefits as shared above.

Ladder is building a diverse team of talented and enthusiastic people.

At Ladder, differences are celebrated and supported to benefit our people, product, and community. Research shows that candidates from underrepresented backgrounds often don't apply for roles if they don't meet all the criteria – unlike majority candidates meeting significantly fewer requirements.