Advanced Specialist, Security Engineer

Responsibilities

The Security Engineer will design and operate security tooling for regulated environments while providing technical oversight and mentorship to the team. They will also act as the primary technical interface for business units, auditors, and government customers regarding sovereign security requirements.

Requirements

Candidates must possess a bachelor's degree in a technical discipline and significant hands-on experience in cloud and infrastructure security within regulated environments. Strong proficiency in cloud platforms, security automation, and regulatory frameworks like FedRAMP is essential for this senior-level role.

Skills

• Cloud security
• Infrastructure security
• FedRAMP
• GovRAMP
• NIST SP 800-53
• Azure
• GCP
• AWS
• Application security
• Secure SDLC
• SIEM
• Python
• Vulnerability management
• Technical leadership
• Audit preparation
• Regulatory compliance

Benefits

• Annual incentive program
• Global benefits package

About this role

Summary

The Sovereign Team is the technical cybersecurity team of Pearson’s
cybersecurity organization that works with the Lines of Business on contractual
and regulatory obligations as it relates to sovereign requirements from
countries around the world. We are not compliance or audit function — we are the
deep technical experts on cloud, infrastructure and application security who
hold the architectural knowledge that makes certifications such as FedRAMP,
GovRAMP and Cyber Essentials Plus achievable and defensible.

As a Security Engineer, you will be a senior hands-on practitioner and technical
individual contributor within the team, leading your own efforts. You will
validate that architecture is actually deployed correctly against each sovereign
requirement, design and operate the security tooling that underpins regulated
boundaries, and provide oversight, direction and mentorship to engineers across
the team. You will be expected to represent the team credibly with business
units, enterprise security teams, external auditors and government customers —
and to carry senior-level conversations, including budget and vendor
discussions.

This is a technical role with leadership responsibility. It is not a
people-management role, but you will set technical direction, mentor engineers,
and act as the escalation point for complex sovereign security problems.

Key Responsibilities

Sovereign architecture & readiness

* Conduct readiness assessments for business units entering regulated or
sovereign environments; review authorization boundaries and data flows.

* Identify architectural blockers early across identity, cloud, application,
logging and data controls.

* Validate that proposed tools and services are suitable for the applicable
boundary — and escalate where they are not.

* Translate regulatory and contractual requirements into concrete technical
designs, standards and hardening guidance.

Security engineering & approved tooling 

* Lead paved road tool selection, design and onboarding for regulated
environments.

* Define sovereign requirements for enterprise operated tooling, validate
suitability, and coordinate with the enterprise owners who run the platforms.

* Design and support boundary critical capability such as identity, WAF, DSPM
and logging/SIEM architecture.

* Identify and automate opportunities to reduce manual control validation and
evidence gathering.

* Ability to create scripts to support FedRAMP 20x to automate governance and
compliance measurements for Rules and KSIs

Continuous assurance & authorization maintenance

* Own vulnerability and control health oversight across the sovereign estate,
escalating risk trends and missed remediation commitments to the right owner.

* Provide penetration test scope assurance and cadence support, including
annual IT Health Check and ATO cycles.

* Lead technical audit preparation and evidence quality review; support POA&M,
KEV and STIG activity.

* Interface directly with 3PAOs, external assessors and government customers on
technical control questions.

* Technical leadership & enablement

* Provide oversight, direction and advice to cybersecurity engineers by
reviewing security designs and implementations.

* Mentor and develop engineers on sovereign requirements, secure architecture
and secure SDLC practice.

* Build reusable playbooks, standards and onboarding material so team
capability scales beyond individuals.

* Serve as a single technical entry point for business units at project intake,
security kickoff and tool onboarding.

* Contribute to budget, licensing and vendor conversations, and communicate
technical risk clearly to senior leadership.

Essential Skills & Experience

* Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Security, MIS or an
equivalent technical discipline.

* Significant hands-on experience in cloud and infrastructure security
engineering, at a senior or lead level.

* Demonstrable experience operating within a regulated or accredited
environment — FedRAMP, GovRAMP, NIST SP 80053, ISO27001, or a comparable
national scheme.

* Strong practical cloud security depth in Azure, GCP and AWS, including
boundary design, network segmentation, hardening and identity.

* Experience defining and evidencing technical controls for external audit and
engaging directly with assessors.

* Working fluency in application security and secure SDLC — SAST/SCA/RASP
tooling, vulnerability triage, and credible engagement with development
teams.

* Experience with SIEM, logging and alerting platforms and their integration
into a monitored boundary.

* Ability to script and automate (Python or comparable) to reduce manual
control and evidence work.

* Excellent written and verbal communication; able to explain technical risk to
nontechnical and executive audiences.

Desirable Skills & Experience

* Direct experience preparing for or maintaining a FedRAMP or GovRAMP
authorization.

* Familiarity with additional sovereign regimes — UK Cyber Essentials Plus /
NCSC, EU GDPR and NIS2, China MLPS/PIPL, Saudi NCA ECC, Australia ASD
Essential Eight.

* Experience supporting government or public-sector customers under contractual
security obligations.

* Vulnerability management and posture management tooling at enterprise scale.

* Experience with CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure as code in a regulated
context.

* Professional accreditation such as CISSP, CISM, CCSP or equivalent.

* Prior experience mentoring engineers or leading a small technical function.

* Comfort operating in an agile environment with shifting priorities and
multiple concurrent regulatory deadlines.

 

Compensation at Pearson is influenced by factors including skill set,
experience, and location. 

The full-time salary range for this role is $80,000 – $125,000. This position is
eligible to p...

About Pearson

Education · 10,001+ employees · headquartered in London