Director Software Engineering - Central Security

Meta; United States; On-site; USD 271,000 - 347,000; Full time

Job summary

Meta's Central Security team is seeking a Director of Software Engineering to drive identity, authentication, and access management across our infrastructure. You will lead a distributed group of engineers and security professionals, shaping AI/ML security integrations and scalable controls.

You will partner with product, infrastructure, and legal teams to balance security and velocity, while translating business requirements into robust, measurable security solutions across global environments.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with a security focus.
• 7+ years of engineering management experience.
• Proven track record building and scaling engineering organizations.
• Experience forming cross-functional partnerships across product, design, and data science.
• Ability to reason rigorously with metrics and data.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive multi-year technical strategy for identity, authentication, and access management across Meta's infrastructure.
• Lead development of a credible model for agent identity and authorization as AI agents act on behalf of people.
• Build and scale a distributed organization of software engineers, security engineers, and security operations.
• Partner with Security, Infrastructure, HR, Legal and others to translate requirements into security decisions.
• Represent identity and access perspectives to leadership (VPs/CTO/CISO) with investments and risk decisions.
• Drive measurable reduction in access-related incidents by addressing root causes.
• Lead automation of access controls and scalable review processes.
• Define and enforce access policy supporting regulatory and compliance obligations.
• Develop controls addressing geographic expansion into higher-threat environments.
• Serve as escalation point for urgent confidential identity-related escalations.

Skills

Software engineering

Security

Identity & IAM

Infrastructure systems

Engineering management

Cross-functional partnerships

Data-driven decisions

Job description

You'll be joining Central Security, Meta's first line of defense technology team, managing risk across critical security domains. You'll work within a cross-functional team of engineers, analysts, product managers and program managers, collaborating closely with colleagues across Product, Infrastructure and Enterprise Engineering. You will develop automated and autonomous security systems using AI/ML across high-impact security domains including Identity and Access Management, Product Security, Threat Detection, and Detection & Response. The organization operates at the intersection of cutting-edge technology and enterprise security, helping shape how Meta approaches security across our entire technology stack, from custom-built systems to commercial software such as cloud services, and increasingly sophisticated AI/ML systems.Work in this organization includes embedding secure-by-design principles across the AI/ML lifecycle from conception to deployment, and identifying, assessing and mitigating security risks unique to AI/ML systems and the products built on them: classical ML, agentic product features, and frontier models. You will help navigate the tradeoffs between security requirements and operational friction so that Meta can maintain its pace of innovation while remaining secure.

Director Software Engineering - Central Security Responsibilities:

• Define and drive the multi-year technical strategy for identity, authentication, and access management across Meta's infrastructure, spanning production environments (Linux), corporate environments (Windows, Active Directory), third-party SaaS, and public cloud
• Lead the development of a credible, adopted model for agent identity and authorization as AI agents increasingly act on behalf of people across Meta's infrastructure
• Build and scale a distributed, multi-disciplinary organization of software engineers, security engineers, and security operations associates across multiple global sites
• Partner with Security, Infrastructure, HR, Legal, and other teams to translate ambiguous business requirements into well-articulated tradeoffs between security and operational velocity
• Represent identity and access perspectives to leadership including VPs and C-level executives (CTO, CISO), advocating for appropriate investments and risk decisions
• Drive measurable reduction in access-related security incidents by closing root-cause patterns rather than individually remediating incidents
• Lead the effort to replace manual access approval and review processes with durable, automated controls at scale
• Define and enforce access policy, supporting Meta's regulatory and compliance obligations
• Develop technical controls that address the unique requirements of geographic expansion into higher-threat environments
• Serve as an escalation point for urgent and highly confidential company escalations related to identity

Minimum Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering, with a focus on security, identity, or infrastructure systems
• 7+ years of engineering management experience, including managing engineering managers
• Track record of building and scaling engineering organizations, including recruiting, developing, and managing the performance of engineers and engineering leaders
• Experience forming cross-functional partnerships across product, design, and data science to deliver large-scale engineering outcomes
• Experience reasoning rigorously with metrics and data, with understanding of statistical uncertainty, bias, and ecosystem trade-offs

Preferred Qualifications:

• Background in agentic access, AI agent authorization models, or emerging identity paradigms
• Experience leading identity and access management programs for workforces spanning multiple geographies and threat environments
• Experience with highly-scaled distributed systems serving billions of requests
• Track record of automating access controls and reducing manual review burden at scale
• Experience with regulatory and compliance requirements related to identity and access management

About Meta:

Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology. People who choose to build their careers by building with us at Meta help shape a future that will take us beyond what digital connection makes possible today—beyond the constraints of screens, the limits of distance, and even the rules of physics.
Meta is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and affirmative action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Meta participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations, as required by law. Please note that Meta may leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies in connection with applications for employment.
Meta is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let us know at [e-mail].

$271,000/year to $347,000/year + bonus + equity + benefits
Individual compensation is determined by skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Compensation details listed in this posting reflect the base hourly rate, monthly rate, or annual salary only, and do not include bonus, equity or sales incentives, if applicable. In addition to base compensation, Meta offers benefits. Learn more about benefits at Meta.