Senior Security Engineer

Responsibilities

Lead the architectural design and implementation of security controls across cloud infrastructure, platform services, and AI integrations. Drive vulnerability management, threat modeling, and incident response while shaping the company's long-term security roadmap.

Requirements

Requires deep expertise in cloud and application security, including threat modeling, vulnerability scanning, and IAM. Proficiency in AWS, Kubernetes, and integrating security automation into CI/CD pipelines is essential.

Skills

• Cloud security
• Threat modeling
• Vulnerability management
• AWS
• Kubernetes
• AI security
• CI/CD pipelines
• Python
• Go
• Bash
• IAM
• Secrets management
• SAST/DAST
• Incident response
• Zero-trust architecture
• Security automation

Benefits

• 401(k) with employer match
• Health insurance
• Health savings account
• Dental coverage
• Vision coverage
• Paid parental leave
• Vacation policy
• Mental health days
• Learning and development stipend
• Work-from-home stipend
• Tele-mental health services
• OneMedical membership
• Personal health advocacy
• Fertility benefits
• Employee support fund

About this role

The big picture: Axios is a respected media company dedicated to providing trustworthy, award-winning news content in an audience-first format known as Smart Brevity™. We are looking for a Senior Security Engineer with strong cloud infrastructure and AI security experience to lead our defensive posture, drive threat modeling and vulnerability management, and embed security controls - including AI-driven defense and monitoring - across our platform and automation pipelines.
Why it matters: As a Senior Security Engineer at Axios, you will architect and implement proactive security strategies to protect our audience, platform, and data assets against evolving threat vectors, including AI-driven attacks. In this role, you will define our security roadmap, leverage internal and third-party AI defense tools, and ensure our cloud systems remain resilient, secure by default, and capable of automated threat detection and response.
Responsibilities:
Lead the architectural design and implementation of security controls across cloud infrastructure, platform services, and AI integrations.
Drive vulnerability management, threat modeling, incident response, and proactive security assessments across AWS, Kubernetes, and AI application environments.
Shape, maintain, and execute the company’s long-term security roadmap in close alignment with engineering and executive leadership.
Embed automated security testing, SAST/DAST, and AI-driven compliance checks directly into CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code workflows.
Oversee identity and access management (IAM), secrets management, encryption protocols, and zero-trust architecture standards.
Evaluate, deploy, and maintain internal AI security tools and modern third-party defensive solutions to detect, mitigate, and respond to AI-driven threats and sophisticated attack vectors in real time.
Promote a strong security culture across engineering by conducting threat modeling workshops and coaching teams on secure coding and infrastructure practices.
Partner with product, infrastructure, data, and QE teams to ensure security is integrated seamlessly into every stage of the development lifecycle.
Skills:
Deep expertise in cloud and application security, including threat modeling, vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, IAM, secrets management, AI security, and compliance frameworks.
Strong working knowledge of AWS infrastructure and security controls (IAM, KMS, EKS, RDS, S3).
Experience hardening Kubernetes clusters, runtime security, container scanning, and network policy enforcement.
Proficiency in integrating SAST/DAST and security automation into CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions).
Solid scripting or programming skills in Python, Go, or Bash for security tooling and automated remediation.
Hands-on experience with SIEM, security logging, automated threat intelligence, and AI-powered monitoring frameworks (Prometheus, Grafana, Loki, or modern SOC tooling).
Demonstrated leadership in driving security initiatives, defining policy, and guiding engineering teams on security risk.
Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to effectively balance security requirements and business agility.
What success looks like:
Security & Compliance: Focused on proactive security initiatives, including automated vulnerability scans, implementation of controls, remediation, and contributions to the long-term security roadmap.
Cloud Security Architecture: Hardened, reviewed, and optimized AWS and Kubernetes infrastructure security to meet strict compliance, resilience, and least-privilege access standards.
DevSecOps & Automation: Integrated automated security scans, secret detection, and vulnerability gates seamlessly into CI/CD pipelines without disrupting developer velocity.
Security Tooling Adoption: Evaluated, piloted, and deployed advanced security and defensive AI tools that measurably enhanced threat detection speed and reduced exposure risk.
Threat Detection & Response: Established robust security monitoring, SIEM alerting, and incident response playbooks to maintain real-time visibility and rapid response capabilities across all production platforms.
Cross-Functional Security Leadership: Partnered with engineering, product, and QE teams to instill a security-first culture, conduct threat modeling workshops, and guide technical teams on risk mitigation.
AI Defense & Security: Evaluated and deployed internal AI security tools and 3rd-party defensive solutions to proactively safeguard infrastructure, applications, and corporate assets against AI-driven threats and emerging attack vectors.
Starting salary for this role is in the range of $150,000 - $180,000 and is dependent on numerous factors, including but not limited to location, work experience, and skills. This range does not include other compensation benefits. Axios' compensation philosophy takes into account the cost of labor differentials across the country. Because this is a remote-optional job posting, this salary range takes into account all possible locations within the United States, but candidates will only be eligible for the salary range for their location.
Axios is committed to embracing artificial intelligence as a core part of how we work. All team members are expected to actively develop AI literacy and use AI tools to enhance their productivity, creativity, and efficiency. We invest in ongoing learning to ensure every employee is equipped to responsibly and effectively integrate AI into their daily workflows.

What Axios brings to the table besides salary:
401(k) with employer match
Robust PPO and High Deductible health insurance options on the Blue Cross Blue Shield network
Employer Health Savings Account (HSA) contribution for the high deductible health plan option
Dental and vision coverage
Primary caregiver 12-week paid leave
Birth-givers will have an additional 6-8 weeks depending on type of delivery, for a total of 18-20 weeks continuous leave
Generous vac...

About Axios

Internet News · 501-1,000 employees · headquartered in Arlington, Virginia · founded 2017