Staff Application Security Architect

IBM; City of Poughkeepsie (NY, AR); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

IBM Software's Confluent security team seeks a Staff Application Security Engineer to shape security across on-prem and cloud platforms. You’ll lead architecture, threat modeling, and automation to embed security by design from design to deployment.

You will partner with engineering and product leadership to drive secure development, automate guardrails, and advance observability against evolving threats. A Master's degree and 12+ years in security are preferred.

Qualifications

• 10+ years hands-on application security experience across large-scale systems
• Security fundamentals for modern web apps and cloud-native platforms
• Partner with Engineering leadership to embed security into core architecture
• Lead investigations and preventive improvements through automation
• Experience securing CI/CD pipelines and cloud-native deployment workflows
• Applying AI/LLMs to automate security workflows
• Experience in distributed environments and cross-functional initiatives
• Data-driven with risk and engineering trade-offs

Responsibilities

• Partner with Engineering, Product, and Platform teams to identify security risks early and drive secure-by-design practices
• Define threat modeling frameworks and security design standards; lead security design reviews for complex systems
• Serve as SME for product security implementation reviews; oversee security code reviews and API testing
• Architect and drive the roadmap for security automation and scalable security tooling
• Design and deploy automation/orchestration frameworks that integrate security into cloud-native pipelines
• Lead vulnerability research initiatives and complex tabletop exercises to stay ahead of threats
• Identify and deploy advanced technology controls to maximize observability and harden attack surfaces

Skills

Application security

Security architecture

Leadership

AI/automation in security

Education

Master's degree

Tools

Go

Python

Java

Job description

IBM Software's Confluent security team seeks a Staff Application Security Engineer to shape security across on-prem and cloud platforms. You’ll lead architecture, threat modeling, and automation to embed security by design from design to deployment.

You will partner with engineering and product leadership to drive secure development, automate guardrails, and advance observability against evolving threats. A Master's degree and 12+ years in security are preferred.