Chief Information Security Officer

Neara; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 260,000 - 520,000; Full time

Job summary

Varo Bank seeks a hands-on Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) to lead and scale a secure digital banking platform serving millions of customers. You will bridge executive strategy with technical architecture, shaping a proactive security stance across cloud infrastructure and product development.

This role demands deep cloud security expertise, threat intelligence leadership, and the ability to communicate risk to the CEO, board, and regulators.

Qualifications

• Experience in regulated banks or financial services with OCC/FDIC expectations.
• Hands-on practitioner with knowledge of cloud security architectures, modern infra, and automated DevSecOps pipelines.
• Deep knowledge of threat landscapes, SOC management, and proactive threat hunting.
• Proven ability to build, mentor, and lead diverse security teams with empathy and transparency.
• Ability to translate complex vulnerabilities and risk metrics for executive leadership.

Responsibilities

• Lead hands-on design, implementation, and monitoring of the information security program.
• Secure a cloud-native banking infrastructure with zero-trust and automated threat protection.
• Oversee threat monitoring, incident response, and risk mitigation efforts.
• Ensure compliance alignment with OCC/FDIC and federal banking regulators.
• Mentor and empower a security team while embedding a security-first mindset across product/engineering.

Skills

Banking & Fintech

Cloud security

Threat intelligence

Inclusive leadership

Strategic communications

Tools

Cloud security

DevSecOps

Job description

About Job

At Varo Bank, we are on a mission to democratize access to high-quality, affordable financial services for everyday people. We combine the rapid-fire innovation of a tech startup with the trust and stability of an FDIC-insured national bank. We are seeking a highly collaborative, hands-on Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) who wants to build, protect, and scale a digital banking infrastructure that serves millions of customers.

This is not a purely administrative or hands-off, high-level advisory role. You will be a player-coach who is deeply passionate about protecting our customers' hard-earned money and personal data. In this critical executive seat, you will roll up your sleeves to lead our cybersecurity strategy, directly shaping our defensive posture by bridging the gap between sophisticated threat intelligence, robust cloud infrastructure security, and rigorous banking regulatory standards

Responsibilities

• Lead Hands-on Defense: Actively design, implement, and monitor Varo's comprehensive information security program, shifting comfortably between executive strategy sessions and technical architecture reviews.




• Secure Modern Infrastructure: Build and safeguard our fully digital, cloud-native banking infrastructure, ensuring modern security practices (like zero-trust architecture and automated threat protection) are baked into our hyper-efficient tech stack.




• Drive Threat Intelligence: Oversee our proactive threat-monitoring and incident-response capabilities, utilizing real-time threat intelligence to identify, mitigate, and neutralize emerging risks before they impact our customers.




• Navigate Banking Compliance: Align our security systems with the strict compliance frameworks of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), FDIC, and other relevant federal banking regulators.




• Mentor and Empower: Cultivate an inclusive, high-performing, and collaborative security team while embedding a security-first mindset across Varo's product and engineering organizations.

Skills & Qualifications

• Banking & Fintech Expertise: Extensive experience managing information security within a regulated bank or financial services institution, with a solid grasp of OCC/FDIC compliance expectations.




• Hands-on Technical Background: Proven experience as a practitioner who understands the \"how-to\" of security, specifically cloud security architectures, modern infrastructure, and automated DevSecOps pipelines.




• Threat Intelligence Capability: Deep knowledge of modern threat landscapes, security operations center (SOC) management, and proactive threat hunting methodologies.




• Inclusive Leadership: Strong track record of building, mentoring, and leading diverse security teams with empathy, candor, and transparency.




• Strategic Communication: Ability to translate complex technical vulnerabilities and risk-based metrics into actionable business contexts for the CEO, executive leadership, and the Board of Directors.

For cash compensation, we set standard ranges for all US-based roles based on function, level, and geographic location, benchmarked against similar-stage growth companies. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors as well as candidate experience and expertise and may vary from the identified range.

Varo is an equal opportunity employer. Varo embraces diversity and we are committed to building teams that represent a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

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