The mission of an Engineering Lead is to drive the healthy growth of the engineering organization. As an Engineering Lead for the Security Operations team, you are expected to help with hiring high-caliber Engineers to support the growth of the team, mentor and collaborate with team members to work toward their career goals, and drive the processes that can sustain a high-performance engineering team. People make this organization and as an Engineering Lead, it is your mission to cultivate and contribute to Anchorage's culture, coach and mentor team members, help refine our roadmap and provide continuous support with our recruiting efforts.
The mission of an Engineering Lead for Security Operations is to drive the healthy growth of a high-performing security engineering team. As an Engineering Lead, you are expected to hire for growth, create an environment of high ownership, and work with leadership to continuously improve our organization.
As an Engineering Lead for Security Operations, you will refine our security roadmap, drive operational excellence in vulnerability management and incident response, create technology strategy for security automation, and use your influence to facilitate judgment and critical thinking in decision making across your organization.
We have created the Factors of Growth & Impact to help Villagers better measure impact and articulate coaching, feedback, and the rich and rewarding learning that happens while exploring, developing, and mastering the capabilities and contributions within and outside of the Engineering Lead, Security Operations role.
Core Competencies:
8+ years of technical experience including full-time security engineering or software engineering, with 3+ years of leadership experience as a formal people manager
You have experience leading distributed teams, working cross-functionally across varying time zones
Deep understanding of security fundamentals including vulnerability management, incident response, security monitoring, and secure coding practices
You've maintained a "player-coach" skillset with the ability to provide technical guidance while managing people and processes
You genuinely enjoy learning new things and have a proven track record of diving below the surface when faced with uncertainty, understanding the "why" and the "how," not just the "what"
Technical Skills:
Demonstrate extensive knowledge across multiple security domains (vulnerability management, incident response, security monitoring, application security) with deep expertise in at least one area
Apply expertise and analytical skills to independently solve complex security problems, influencing solutions across your team and multiple functions
Contribute to department strategies, security frameworks, systems, and processes, ensuring alignment with broader organizational priorities
Complexity and Impact of Work:
Take ownership of complex security challenges, selecting the best methods and approaches with minimal oversight
Lead and significantly contribute to large, cross-functional security projects, driving execution and impact across multiple teams
Break down large-scale security initiatives into manageable tasks, proactively assessing trade-offs and priorities independently
Independently navigate ambiguity, anticipating challenges and escalating only for critical blockers
Deliver results that impact your department, with accountability for tactical security targets
Organizational Knowledge:
Monitor security industry trends and internal objectives to inform team and department-level goal-setting and decision-making
Understand and proactively communicate how security work drives Anchorage's long-term growth and competitive advantage
Lead hiring efforts, ensuring the recruitment and retention of top security talent by submitting referrals, conducting interviews, mentoring interviewers, and actively participating in external recruiting events
Communication and Influence:
Mentor mid to experienced teammates and help them align their efforts with department goals and company strategy
Demonstrate strong leadership across multiple teams and departments, proactively improving collaboration and fostering a culture of shared learning
Lead and communicate complex security ideas and solutions, ensuring alignment across your department and securing buy-in from key stakeholders
Build trust and credibility by tailoring communication to influence senior stakeholders
Proactively expand your professional network, developing key relationships inside and outside of Anchorage to drive long-term success
Team Leadership:
Manage individual contributors and may manage leads or other managers
Define team direction and priorities in collaboration with department leadership and clearly communicate department and team strategy to team members
Effectively translate strategy into individual goals, priorities and expectations
Create an inclusive, high-performance environment
Take proactive steps to address underperformance
Invest in team development through coaching, feedback, and mentoring, prioritizing 1:1s and growth conversations tailored to each team member's individual development goals
Develop team members at multiple levels, both within and outside of your department
Effectively manage team budget while finding creative ways to improve cost-efficiency
Fully own team resource planning and end-to-end hiring process, accountable for achieving hiring goals
You may be a fit for this role if you have:
You have demonstrated experience managing, mentoring, and growing a geographically distributed security engineering team
You have real-world experience building and maintaining security infrastructure, monitoring systems, and automation tools
Deep understanding of security fundamentals: vulnerability management, incident response, security monitoring, secure coding practices, cloud security, and network security
Ability to write scripting-level code in languages such as Python, Go, or bash
Experience with SIEM tools, security scanning, and monitoring platforms
You genuinely care about code quality, test infrastructure, and security best practices
You prioritize risk management, compliance requirements, and business value in decision-making
You have developed "computer science fundamentals" including concurrency, algorithms, and data structures (Formal CS degree NOT required)
You self-describe as some combination of the following: creative, humble, ambitious, detail-oriented, hardworking, trustworthy, eager to learn, methodical, action-oriented, and tenacious
Although not a requirement, bonus points if:
You have experience with applied cryptography
You have familiarity with common standards and frameworks such as OWASP, NIST, ISO27001, and SOC 2
Experience working in a regulated financial services environment
In your mind the word "crypto" stands for cryptography, not cryptocurrency
You read blockchain protocol white papers for fun, and stay up to date with the proliferation of cryptoasset innovations
You were emotionally moved by the soundtrack to Hamilton, which chronicles the founding of a new financial system. :)
