Security Engineer II (Defensive Operations)

Flywire; Boston, Northern (MA, KY); Hybrid; USD 99,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Flywire is seeking a Security Engineer II to join its global Security Engineering team. You will own secure software design, cloud-native defense, red-team testing, and real-time incident detection across Flywire’s fintech footprint.

The role emphasizes an automation-first approach, integrating security into GitLab CI/CD pipelines, and partnering with SREs and software engineers to harden cloud infrastructure. We value rigorous security testing and threat containment across regions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Cyber Security, Software Engineering, or a related technical discipline (or equivalent experience).
• 3+ years of progressive engineering experience moving fluidly between Application Security, Cloud Architecture Defense, and Active Security Operations (SecOps/Incident Response/Penetration Testing).
• Strong practical knowledge of AWS or public cloud topologies, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), network security, and building/maintaining GitLab CI pipelines.
• Proven offensive/defensive security skills including deep manual penetration testing, web app exploitation, and incident containment.

Responsibilities

• Secure SDLC & CI/CD Automation: Integrate automated security requirements into engineering pipelines and build internal tooling.
• SRE & Cloud Infrastructure Hardening: Define secure cloud architectures and enforce Zero Trust in containerized environments.
• AI-Driven Security & Governance: Design automated security review workflows and protect AI features from threats.
• Offensive Penetration Testing & Red Teaming: Conduct manual testing, API exploitation, and cloud penetration testing.
• Incident Response & Threat Detection: Lead containment and develop high-fidelity detection rules in SIEM.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration & Mentorship: Work with development teams and mentor junior engineers.
• Compliance: Align controls with PCI-DSS, SOC 1/2, or DORA.
• Preferred Qualifications / Certifications: OSCP/OSCE, AWS Certified Security - Specialty, CISSP, CK S.

Skills

Python

Ruby on Rails

Java

Node.js

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Security Engineer II (Defensive Operations)

Are you ready to trade your job for a journey? Become a FlyMate!

Passion, excitement & global collaboration are all core to what it means to be a FlyMate. At Flywire, we’re on a mission to deliver the world’s most important and complex payments. We use our Flywire Advantage - the combination of our next-gen payments platform, proprietary payment network and vertical specific software, to help our clients get paid, and help their customers pay with ease - no matter where they are in the world.

What more do we need to truly be unstoppable? Perhaps, that is you!

Who we are:
Flywire is a global payments enablement and software company, founded more than a decade ago to solve high-stakes, high-value payments in higher education. We’ve since scaled into new regions and industry verticals and expanded our product offerings to deliver meaningful value to our clients around the world.

Today we support more than 5,300 clients across the global education, healthcare, travel & B2B industries, with diverse payment methods across 240 countries & territories and more than 140 currencies.

With over 1,400 global FlyMates, representing more than 40 nationalities, and in 15 offices world-wide, we’re looking for FlyMates to join the next stage of our journey as we continue to grow.

At Flywire, we are looking for a Security Engineer II to join our global Security Engineering team. In this role, you will serve as a technical authority owning secure software design, cloud-native infrastructure defense, offensive penetration testing, and real-time incident detection across Flywire’s global footprint. You will combine a "breaker" mindset with a builder’s engineering empathy, operating fluidly across the entire product and infrastructure security lifecycle.

This role demands an "automation-first" approach embedded within a high-velocity fintech ecosystem. You will actively partner with software engineering and SRE squads to integrate security controls directly into our public cloud and GitLab CI/CD pipelines using AI workflows. Simultaneously, you will serve as an operational responder for threat detection engineering, red team penetration testing, and live incident containment.

Key Responsibilities:

Secure SDLC & CI/CD Automation: Own, design, and drive the end-to-end integration of automated technical security requirements and validation tools into high-velocity engineering pipelines. Build custom internal tooling, wrappers, and automated controls to maximize development velocity without friction.

SRE & Cloud Infrastructure Hardening: Partner directly with SRE and DevOps teams to establish secure cloud architecture blueprints, manage Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) security scans (Terraform), and enforce Zero Trust boundaries in containerized environments (Docker/Kubernetes).

AI-Driven Security & Governance: Design and deploy automated security review workflows using LLM APIs (e.g., Claude). Establish controls to protect generative AI features against prompt injection, insecure output handling, model inversion, and data poisoning.

Offensive Penetration Testing & Red Teaming: Adopt an attacker's mindset to discover logic flaws, perform exploit research, and emulate zero-day adversarial behavior across financial platforms through manual source code audits, API exploitation, and cloud penetration testing.

Incident Response & Threat Detection: Lead technical containment, forensic collection, and rapid threat eradication during active security incidents. Design and deploy high-fidelity detection rules and automated alert workflows within the SIEM environment.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Mentorship: Embed within software development and infrastructure sprint planning from inception to ensure security is built-in from day one. Provide actionable code modifications and mentor junior engineers.

Basic Qualifications:

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Cyber Security, Software Engineering, or a related technical discipline (or equivalent experience).

Experience: 3+ years of progressive engineering experience moving fluidly between Application Security, Cloud Architecture Defense, and Active Security Operations (SecOps/Incident Response/Penetration Testing).

Advanced Exploitation & Defense: Proven track record of independently performing deep manual penetration testing, web application exploitation, and incident containment without relying solely on commercial automated scanners.

Cloud & DevOps Stack: Strong practical knowledge of AWS or public cloud topologies, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), network security, and building/maintaining GitLab CI pipelines.

Programming Languages: Foundational proficiency with modern web development frameworks and programming languages including Python, Ruby on Rails, Java, or Node.js.

AI & Security Domains: Solid understanding of the OWASP Top 10 for LLMs framework, applied cryptography, cloud network isolation, and federated authentication architectures (OAuth2, SAML, OIDC, Zero Trust IAM).

SecOps & Forensics: Working proficiency with modern EDR platforms, SIEM systems, network packet analysis (PCAP), threat intelligence frameworks (MITRE ATT&CK), and forensic collection tools.

Compliance: Practical experience aligning technical software and infrastructure controls with standards like PCI-DSS (v4.0), SOC 1, SOC 2, or DORA.

Preferred Qualifications / Certifications:

Offensive/Red Team: OSCP, OSCE, or SANS GXPN.

Cloud & Architecture: AWS Certified Security - Specialty, CKS (Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist), or CISSP.

Incident Response: GCIH, GCFA, or specialized Blue Team certifications.

Submit today and get started!

We are excited to get to know you! Throughout our process you can expect to meet different FlyMates including the Hiring Manager and other Flymates. Your Talent Acquisition Partner will walk you through the steps and be your “go-to” person for questions.

Flywire is an equal opportunity employer and follows a policy of administering all employment decisions and personnel actions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, gender identity, national origin, age, ancestry, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, genetic disposition or carrier status, veteran status, or any other category protected under applicable national, federal, state or local law.

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $99,000 - 120,000 and benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role, position level, and location. The range displayed on this 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 several other factors, including job-related skills, experience, relevant education and training.