Deputy CISO

Ethos; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 185,000 - 327,000; Full time

Job summary

Ethos, a leading life insurance technology company, seeks a Deputy CISO to partner with the CISO in shaping security strategy, architecture, and operations across the organization. This role blends strategic leadership with hands-on security credibility to protect complex systems.

You will mentor engineers, oversee incident response, and drive secure-by-design in SDLC, cloud, APIs, and data protection, reporting directly to the CISO and engaging executives and the board as needed.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of security engineering, architecture, or leadership roles with hands-on work.
• Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, CS, IT or related field.
• Deep hands-on expertise in cloud security architecture (AWS) including infrastructure-as-code.
• Strong background in application security, secure software development, and modern architecture patterns.
• Proven ability to read and evaluate system architecture and code at a technical level.
• Experience leading technical incident response including root cause analysis for complex, multi-system incidents.
• Demonstrated experience building and leading technical security teams.
• Strong communication skills, translating technical risk for executives and the board.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute security strategy, roadmap, and priorities with the CISO.
• Act as deputy and escalation point for security leadership and board communications.
• Mentor and lead security engineers and architects, raising technical standards.
• Own security budgeting, vendor evaluation, and resourcing decisions.
• Provide hands-on review of security architecture across cloud, apps, APIs, and infra.
• Lead threat modeling and architecture reviews for major systems and initiatives.
• Drive secure-by-design practices across SDLC and CI/CD pipelines.
• Lead or oversee major security incident responses and root cause analysis.
• Stay current on threat landscape and translate into concrete controls.

Skills

Security leadership

Cloud security (AWS)

IaC

Application security

Security architecture

Incident response

Team leadership

Technical communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field

Tools

AWS

Terraform

CloudFormation

OWASP LLM Top 10

MITRE ATLAS

NIST AI RMF

Job description

Ethos is a leading life insurance technology company on a mission to protect families by democratizing access to life insurance and empowering agents at scale. With its robust three-sided technology platform, Ethos is transforming the life insurance experience for consumers, agents, and carriers alike. Ethos offers instant, accessible products and a seamless online process that requires no medical exams and just a few health questions; it eliminates traditional barriers, making it easier than ever for everyone to protect their families. Ethos is redefining how life insurance is bought, sold, and underwritten.

About the Role

We're seeking a Deputy CISO with a strong technical background in security architecture, engineering, and operations to partner closely with the CISO in leading our security organization. This role reports directly to the CISO and will have broad oversight across the security function, acting as a technical leader and escalation point for the team.

This is a high-impact role for someone who has built and defended real systems, and who brings that hands‑on technical credibility to a senior security leadership position.

Duties and Responsibilities

Security Leadership & Strategy

• Partner with the CISO to define and execute the security strategy, roadmap, and priorities across the organization.
• Act as a deputy and escalation point for the CISO, representing security leadership in their absence, including with executives and the board when needed.
• Provide leadership and oversight across the security organization, empowering strong existing team leads to run their functions effectively while ensuring overall direction stays grounded in technical reality.
• Build, mentor, and lead security engineers and architects, raising the technical bar across the function.
• Own security budget planning, vendor/tool evaluation, and resourcing decisions in partnership with the CISO.

Technical Architecture & Engineering Oversight

• Provide hands‑on technical review of security architecture across cloud platforms, applications, APIs, and infrastructure.
• Lead threat modeling and architecture reviews for major systems and new initiatives, directly engaging with engineering and platform teams.
• Drive secure‑by‑design practices into the SDLC and CI/CD pipelines, working alongside DevOps and engineering leadership.
• Personally lead or oversee response to major security incidents, including technical root‑cause analysis and remediation planning.
• Stay current with the threat landscape, offensive security techniques, and emerging technologies (including AI/ML systems), and translate that knowledge into concrete technical controls.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Ensure security priorities and policies are grounded in sound technical judgment, working closely with all parts of the security organization.
• Communicate technical risk clearly to non-technical stakeholders and executive leadership.
• Represent the security function credibly in cross-functional forums, backed by hands‑on technical expertise.

Qualifications and Skills:

Required Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in security engineering, security architecture, or technical security leadership roles, with a track record of hands‑on technical work.
• Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field from a reputable institution.
• Deep, hands‑on expertise in cloud security architecture (AWS), including infrastructure-as-code.
• Strong background in application security, secure software development, and modern architecture patterns (microservices, containers, APIs, zero‑trust).
• Proven ability to read and evaluate system architecture and code at a technical level - able to engage credibly with senior engineers, not just review documentation.
• Experience leading technical incident response, including root cause analysis for complex, multi‑system incidents.
• Demonstrated experience building and leading technical security teams.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to translate deep technical risk into business terms for executives and the board.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience as a CISO, Deputy CISO, or Head of Security Engineering at a comparable organization.
• CISSP.
• Experience with AI/ML security, including familiarity with OWASP LLM Top 10, MITRE ATLAS, or NIST AI RMF.
• Experience operating in regulated industries (fintech, healthcare, SaaS at scale).

The US national base salary range for this full-time position is $185,000 - $327,000. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only and do not include applicable bonus, equity, or benefits.

You can find further details of our US benefits at https://www.ethoslife.com/careers/

Don’t meet every single requirement? If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. At Ethos we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace.

We are an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. Pursuant to the SF Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider employment for qualified applicants with arrests and conviction records.