Senior Software Engineer – Encryption, PHI

Jobtailor; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobtailor is seeking a Senior Backend Security Engineer to design and evolve encryption and key-management systems across cloud deployments, with a focus on protecting user data and credentials.

You will collaborate with security and infrastructure teams to plan migrations, implement cryptographic controls, and ship production-ready Python services that secure data in transit and at rest.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience building and operating production backend systems.
• Strong experience with Python in production codebases.
• Hands-on experience implementing and operating security-critical product systems, including code that enforces guarantees.
• Depth in encryption and key management, signing, authentication, sessions, or token infrastructure.
• Practical knowledge of applied cryptography.
• Experience migrating critical systems without disrupting customers or data accessibility.

Responsibilities

• Design and evolve encryption and key-management systems for deployments (hosted, VPC, and on-premises).
• Build controls to detect, transform, and safely handle PHI, PII, and other sensitive data across workflows, connectors, model calls, logs, and storage.
• Protect customer credentials and tokens from storage and access control through runtime use.
• Improve tenant isolation, signing and verification, session and token handling, and service-to-service authentication.
• Build Python services, libraries, and APIs that standardize security-critical behavior.
• Plan and execute migrations, compatibility periods, staged rollouts, observability, recovery, and rollback.
• Define technical approaches, write production code, plan migrations, and remain accountable for production behavior.
• Take projects from investigation and design through implementation, migration, rollout, and operation.
• Collaborate with established security and infrastructure teams when problems cross application and platform boundaries.

Skills

Python Development

Encryption And Key Management

Sensitive Data Processing

Applied Cryptography

Security-Critical Systems

Production Code Development

Observability

Tools

HashiCorp Vault

Cloud KMS

HSMs

PKI

Certificate Systems

Job description

• Design and evolve encryption and key-management systems for hosted, VPC, and on-premises deployments
• Build controls to detect, transform, and safely handle PHI, PII, and other sensitive data across workflows, connectors, model calls, logs, and storage
• Protect customer credentials and tokens from storage and access control through runtime use
• Improve tenant isolation, signing and verification, session and token handling, and service-to-service authentication
• Build Python services, libraries, and APIs that standardize security-critical behavior
• Plan and execute migrations, compatibility periods, staged rollouts, observability, recovery, and rollback
• Define technical approaches, write production code, plan migrations, and remain accountable for production behavior
• Take projects from investigation and design through implementation, migration, rollout, and operation
• Collaborate with established security and infrastructure teams when problems cross application and platform boundaries

Requirements

• 4+ years of experience building and operating production backend systems
• Strong professional experience with Python in a substantial production codebase
• Hands-on experience implementing and operating security-critical product systems, including the code that enforces their guarantees
• Depth in at least one of: encryption and key management; signing, authentication, sessions, or token infrastructure; multi-tenant isolation; sensitive-data processing; secure storage and runtime use of customer credentials
• Practical knowledge of applied cryptography
• Experience changing critical systems without disrupting existing customers or making previously stored data inaccessible
• Strong judgment around trust boundaries, failure modes, and the consequences of compromise
• Ability to take an ambiguous technical problem from investigation through production rollout
• Prior healthcare experience is helpful but not required
• Bonus: experience with HashiCorp Vault, cloud KMS products, HSMs, envelope encryption, or key rotation
• Bonus: PHI or PII detection, redaction, pseudonymization, or tokenization
• Bonus: PKI, certificate systems, or cryptographic signing
• Bonus: multi-tenant SaaS products handling sensitive customer data
• Bonus: experience in healthcare, payments, identity, financial infrastructure, or another security-sensitive domain
• Bonus: self-hosted, VPC, on-premises, or air-gapped deployments
• Bonus: AI-agent, LLM, or connector-based application architecture
• Bonus: startup or growth-stage product experience

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in designing and implementing encryption and key-management systems, with a strong focus on security-critical product systems and sensitive data processing. Proficient in Python development for production environments, ensuring robust handling of customer credentials and compliance with security standards.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Python Development
• Encryption And Key Management
• Sensitive Data Processing
• Applied Cryptography
• Security-Critical Systems

Hard Skills

• Encryption
• Key Management
• Token Infrastructure
• Multi-Tenant Isolation
• Sensitive Data Handling
• Production Code Development
• Security Controls Implementation
• Data Migration Planning
• Runtime Security Practices
• Observability

Soft Skills

• Strong Judgment
• Problem-Solving
• Collaboration

Industry Keywords

• PHI
• PII
• Healthcare
• Payments
• Financial Infrastructure
• Security-Sensitive Domains
• SaaS Products

Tools & Technologies

• HashiCorp Vault
• Cloud KMS
• HSMs
• PKI
• Certificate Systems