Lead Security Engineer

Prelim; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

401K

Parental leave

Health, vision, dental insurance

Unlimited PTO

Remote work stipend

Lifestyle stipend

Company retreats

Job summary

Prelim seeks an experienced security engineer to own our security program for a banking-focused platform. You’ll drive secure SDLC, SOC 2 Type II, and third-party risk management across fast-moving teams, balancing risk with product velocity.

You’ll work hands-on across appsec, cloud security, and compliance, reading code, scripting, and shaping policies. This is a fully remote, US-wide role with equity and generous benefits.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in security engineering with breadth across appsec, cloud security, and compliance.

Responsibilities

• Secure SDLC: dependency scanning, static analysis, security reviews, annual penetration tests.

Skills

Security engineering

Appsec

Cloud security

Compliance

Hands-on coding

Job description

About Prelim

Prelim builds digital account-opening infrastructure for community banks and credit unions. We've sustained over 100% ARR growth for four consecutive years on seed funding, and our platform sits in the critical path of how banks onboard their customers. When our system is down, a bank can't open accounts for its customers.

We're a small team. You'd be our first dedicated security hire and help define the security program for the next generation of banking.

What you’ll own

• Secure SDLC: dependency scanning, static analysis, security review of high-risk changes, and coordinating annual penetration tests. Teach engineers to catch issues before you have to.

• Partner with DevOps on IAM, secrets management, network architecture, logging, and detection.

• Policies, risk assessment, and roadmap. Decide what a company our size and risk profile actually needs, and defend that reasoning to auditors, bankers, and internally.

• Own security questionnaires, vendor risk assessments, and customer security reviews. Banks conduct rigorous third-party risk management (often against FFIEC guidance).

• Endpoint management, access reviews, phishing resistance, offboarding hygiene. The unglamorous stuff that questionnaires ask about first.

• Own SOC 2 Type II end to end: control design, evidence collection, auditor management.

• Owning incident response, from writing the plan, to running the tabletops, and leading if it’s ever real. Banks have breach-notification expectations in their contracts. You’ll know them cold.

What we’re looking for

• 5+ years in security engineering, with breadth across appsec, cloud security, and compliance.

• Hands‑on: you can read code, write scripts, and configure cloud controls yourself

• You’ve owned or heavily contributed to a SOC 2 audit (or ISO 27001 / equivalent)

• Experience answering enterprise or financial‑institution security reviews.

• Strong written communication.

• Judgment about proportionality: you know which risks matter at our scale and which controls are theater

Nice to have

• Fintech or banking‑vendor experience; familiarity with FFIEC, GLBA, or bank third‑party risk management

• Experience as a first or early security hire

• Detection engineering / SIEM experience

• Familiarity with core banking integrations or handling of PII/KYC data flows

About Prelim

Prelim is a San Francisco and New York City-based startup that operates with fully remote positions across the US, helping banks onboard their customers. Our platform is designed to streamline the account opening process for both consumers and businesses, accelerating speed-to-market and enhancing the customer experience for financial institutions. We are seeking individuals who are driven, ambitious, and eager to make a real impact in a traditional industry ready for technological innovation.

We offer equity, a sponsored 401K, parental leave, and fully paid health, vision, and dental insurance. Additional benefits include unlimited PTO, a remote work stipend, a life-style stipend, and twice-yearly company retreats.

Prelim values diversity and inclusion; people of all backgrounds are welcome to join our mission to transform banking.