Senior Security Architect

Position: Senior Staff Security Architect - First Advantage  )
Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced and visionary Senior Staff Security Architect to assist the design, implementation, and governance of secure infrastructure across on-premises, AWS, and Azure environments. This role requires deep expertise in cloud-native security, secure software development strategies, information security and security engineering, with an eye towards automation and infrastructure-as-code. You will be responsible for reviewing software and infrastructure architectures, engineering robust security controls, and owning the automation of go-live security reviews to ensure scalable and secure cloud deployments.

Key Responsibilities

Cloud Security Architecture:
Design and maintain secure cloud architectures for AWS and Azure platforms, ensuring alignment with industry best practices and compliance requirements.
Software Architecture Review:
Collaborate with engineering teams to review application and infrastructure designs, identifying and mitigating security risks early in the development lifecycle.
Security Engineering:
Develop and implement advanced security controls, including IAM policies, network segmentation, encryption, and monitoring solutions.
Automation Ownership:
Lead the development of automated pipelines and tooling for go-live security reviews, integrating with CI/CD workflows to enforce security gates.
Governance & Compliance:
Ensure cloud environments meet regulatory and organizational compliance standards (e.g., SOC 2, ISO 27001, SOX, CJIS).
Mentorship & Leadership:
Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior security engineers and cross-functional teams.
Incident Response Support:
Collaborate with incident response teams to advise on cloud-related security incidents.

Required Qualifications

7+ years of experience in software development, with at least 4 years focused on cloud security architecture.
Strong background in software development (e.g., Python, Go, Java, or similar).
Deep expertise in AWS and Azure cloud platforms, including native security services.
Proven experience conducting software and infrastructure architecture reviews.
Demonstrated ability to design and implement automated security review pipelines.
Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code/configuration-as-code tools (e.g., Terraform, Cloud Formation, Bicep, Ansible, Puppet, etc).

Experience with container security (e.g., Kubernetes, EKS, AKS) and serverless architecture.
Strong understanding of Dev Sec Ops  principles and CI/CD integration.
Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

Relevant certifications such as AWS Certified Security – Specialty, Azure Security Engineer Associate, CISSP, or CCSP.

Experience with multi-cloud security strategies and hybrid environments.
Knowledge of security frameworks such as NIST, CSA CCM, and MITRE ATT&CK

United States Equal Opportunity Employment:

First Advantage is proud to be a global leader in removing barriers and supporting our community members to ensure the changing demographics of the workforce are reflected in our hiring and employment practices. We value all of our candidates, employees, and clients, and place great emphasis on hiring and supporting qualified individuals in each role. We are an equal opportunity employer.

We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, marital status, disability, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, genetic information, or any other area protected by applicable law.