Staff Platform Security Engineer - Cloud/AWS/Kubernetes

At Early Warning, we’ve powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting-edge solutions like Zelle®, Paze℠, and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses.

Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment.

Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States, for any employer, at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship.

Overall Purpose 

The Staff Platform Security Engineer is a highly technical individual contributor responsible for defining and advancing secure target states, architecture patterns, technical standards, and control requirements for products, platforms, and shared services. This role embeds security into the software and infrastructure lifecycle by building secure-by-default platform capabilities, shaping engineering practices, and leading complex cross-functional initiatives. The role serves as a trusted partner across product, platform, infrastructure, and security teams to ensure security is integrated early and consistently. 

Essential Functions 

• Leads complex platform security engineering initiatives spanning multiple systems, services, or engineering domains.  

• Defines secure target states, reference architectures, design patterns, and technical standards for platform and shared engineering capabilities.  

• Leads securing engineering and design reviews involving platform services, infrastructure patterns, and shared service integrations.  

• Drives implementation of scalable controls and secure-by-default capabilities that reduce engineering friction while improving risk posture.  

• Embeds security requirements into engineering workflows including CI/CD, infrastructure provisioning, deployment models, runtime operations, and service lifecycle management.  

• Partners with Information Security Engineering, Product Security, Platform Engineering, Infrastructure, and developer teams to align design choices and delivery priorities.  

• Leads evaluation and adoption of new platform security technologies, patterns, and automation opportunities.  

• Translates policy and control expectations into practical engineering solutions and measurable implementation guidance.  

• Identifies and drives remediation of systemic platform risks, recurring control failures, and engineering weaknesses.  

• Mentors engineers, elevates technical practices, and contributes to a culture of secure engineering excellence.  

Minimum Qualifications 

• Typically has 8 or more years of experience or demonstrated portfolio consistent with experience required of the role.  

• Deep experience in platform engineering, infrastructure engineering, software engineering, cloud infrastructure, security engineering, or a combination of these domains.  

• Experience owning major technical initiatives involving secure platform design, control implementation, or engineering workflow transformation.  

• Strong experience defining standards, patterns, or reusable solutions adopted across multiple teams.  

• Experience influencing engineering decisions through technical expertise and cross-functional partnership.  

• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to explain complex technical risk and tradeoffs.  

• Demonstrated mentoring or technical leadership experience.  

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field or equivalent practical experience.  

Preferred Qualifications 

• Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS)
• Experience shaping enterprise or domain-level secure platform strategies.  

• Experience with policy as code, platform governance models, or large-scale security automation.  

• Experience supporting high-availability, high-scale, or regulated technology environments.  

• Experience contributing to roadmap planning for platform or security capabilities. 

• Experience securing Cloud/AWS infrastructure

The base pay scale for this position in:
Phoenix, AZ/ Chicago, IL in USD per year is: $132,000 - $165,000.
San Francisco, CA in USD per year is: $158,000 - $198,000.
Additionally, candidates are eligible for a discretionary incentive plan and benefits.

This pay scale is subject to change and is not necessarily reflective of actual compensation that may be earned, nor a promise of any specific pay for any specific candidate, which is always dependent on legitimate factors considered at the time of job offer. Early Warning Services takes into consideration a variety of factors when determining a competitive salary offer, including, but not limited to, the job scope, market rates and geographic location of a position, candidate’s education, experience, training, and specialized skills or certification(s) in relation to the job requirements and compared with internal equity (peers). The business actively supports and reviews wage equity to ensure that pay decisions are not based on gender, race, national origin, or any other protected classes.

Some of the Ways We Prioritize Your Health and Happiness 

• Healthcare Coverage – Competitive medical (PPO/HDHP), dental, and vision plans as well as company contributions to your Health Savings Account (HSA) or pre-tax savings through flexible spending accounts (FSA) for commuting, health & dependent care expenses.

• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Featuring a 100% Company Safe Harbor Match on your first 6% deferral immediately upon eligibility.

• Paid Time Off – Flexible Time Off for Exempt (salaried) employees, as well as generous PTO for Non-Exempt (hourly) employees, plus 11 paid company holidays and a paid volunteer day.

• 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave

• Maven Family Planning – provides support through your Parenting journey including egg freezing, fertility, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, postpartum, early pediatrics, and returning to work.

And SO much more! We continue to enhance our program, so be sure to check our Benefits page here for the latest. Our team can share more during the interview process!

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Early Warning Services, LLC (“Early Warning”) considers for employment, hires, retains and promotes qualified candidates on the basis of ability, potential, and valid qualifications without regard to race, religious creed, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, protected veteran or disability status or any factor prohibited by law, and as such affirms in policy and practice to support and promote equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and municipal laws. The company also prohibits discrimination on other bases such as medical condition, marital status or any other factor that is irrelevant to the performance of our employees.