Founding IT & Security Leader

OpenEd; United States; On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

OpenEd is seeking a founding Security Engineer to build and own our security program for 100,000+ students and families. You will lead identity and access, corporate IT security, compliance, and application security initiatives with autonomy and a hands-on approach.

The role demands deep technical expertise and the ability to collaborate with engineers and educators alike. You will report to the CTO, shape the security strategy, establish zero-trust concepts, and drive SOC 2 Type II readiness

Qualifications

• 6+ years in security, ideally in a regulated vertical (finance, education, healthcare).
• Hands-on across IT/identity and security operations — not just advisory.
• You've taken an org through SOC 2 (or ISO 27001).
• Experienced at establishing and driving human-centered processes for ensuring security across an organization.
• Strong judgment on risk: you know what actually matters and what's theater.
• Deeply technical with excellent communication skills — able to work with software engineers and elementary school teachers equally well.
• Hands-on experience designing or running a zero-trust environment (e.g., identity-based access, continuous verification, no implicit network trust).
• Bonus: Edtech/FERPA/privacy background, CISSP, or OSCP.

Responsibilities

• Own four programs end to end: Identity & access; Corporate IT security; Compliance; Application security.
• Manage SSO/SAML, MFA, provisioning, least-privilege access model, and onboarding/offboarding.
• Oversee Endpoint/MDM, SaaS and vendor risk, phishing awareness, and incident response playbooks.
• Drive SOC 2 Type II readiness, map FERPA/COPPA/state privacy controls, and own audits and outcomes.
• Contribute to AppSec initiatives (SAST/DAST/SCA in CI), triage remediation with engineers, and run external pen tests.

Skills

Security engineering

Identity & access management

SOC 2

Zero-trust

Vulnerability management

Edtech security

Job description

OpenEd is seeking a founding Security Engineer to build and own our security program for 100,000+ students and families. You will lead identity and access, corporate IT security, compliance, and application security initiatives with autonomy and a hands-on approach.

The role demands deep technical expertise and the ability to collaborate with engineers and educators alike. You will report to the CTO, shape the security strategy, establish zero-trust concepts, and drive SOC 2 Type II readiness