Director, Security Engineering & Operations

About the role

The Director of Security Engineering and Operations at Payscale is responsible for defining and executing the security strategy across the entire security function. This role combines hands-on technical leadership with people management to ensure robust protection of corporate and cloud environments. The Director will architect and harden security controls while maintaining direct involvement in tooling, automation, and incident command decisions. They will own the maturity and performance of both Security Engineering and Security Operations, including the MDR partnership. This position requires a balance of strategic planning and tactical execution to build resilient systems. The role will also focus on fostering a high-performance culture that emphasizes continuous learning and feedback. Ultimately, the Director will ensure that security capabilities scale in line with business growth and emerging threats.

Key facts

What you'll do

Lead the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of security controls across corporate, cloud, and hosting environments while ensuring architectural integrity.

Manage and develop the Security Engineering and Security Operations teams through hiring, onboarding, performance management, and career development aligned to the company career ladder.

Set quarterly and annual objectives for security functions and translate them into measurable, prioritized roadmaps that drive security outcomes.

Own the end-to-end management of the MDR relationship, including oversight of SLAs, coverage quality, and response effectiveness.

Build and maintain security automation and integrations using SOAR, detection-as-code, and infrastructure-as-code guardrails to scale operations without adding headcount.

Engineer and operate the security tooling stack, including EDR/XDR, SIEM, identity protection, DLP/CASB, and vulnerability scanning platforms.

Partner with Engineering and Infrastructure teams to embed secure-by-design principles into CI/CD pipelines, cloud architecture, and product development lifecycles.

Drive the adoption of zero-trust methodologies across identity, endpoint, network, and application layers to reduce the attack surface.

Lead security engineering efforts for enterprise AI and agentic tooling adoption, establishing controls and guardrails for safe internal use.

Develop and manage detection engineering playbooks and incident response procedures to improve MTTA and MTTR metrics over time.

Serve as the incident commander for significant or multi-team incidents, leading the response end-to-end and ensuring effective resolution.

Extend detection and response capabilities to secure the adoption of enterprise AI and agentic tools, ensuring appropriate monitoring and controls.

Own the vulnerability and exposure management function, coordinating mitigation and remediation efforts across teams with defined SLAs.

Establish and report security KPIs to technology and executive leadership, providing transparency into risk posture and operational performance.

Collaborate with the GRC team on ISO 27001 and SOC 2 evidence, ensuring control effectiveness and audit readiness for security engineering and operations.

Requirements

Candidates must possess a Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field to build a foundation for advanced security practices.

Bring a minimum of 10 years of cumulative experience in security, with at least 5 years focused on security operations and incident response in enterprise environments.

Demonstrate hands-on expertise with security tooling, including EDR/XDR, SIEM, identity protection, DLP, CASB, and vulnerability scanning platforms.

Show a proven track record of managing MDR relationships and ensuring adherence to SLAs, coverage standards, and response commitments.

Exhibit strong leadership experience managing and developing security engineers and analysts through performance management and career progression.

Possess deep knowledge of security automation, detection-as-code, SOAR, and infrastructure-as-code guardrails to scale security operations efficiently.

Apply a zero-trust mindset across identity, endpoint, network, and application layers when designing and implementing security controls.

Have experience leading incident response programs, including playbook development, tabletop exercises, and metrics-driven improvement of MTTA and MTTR.

Be comfortable working in a remote-first environment across Canadian time zones while collaborating effectively with global stakeholders.

Nice to have

Experience with enterprise AI and agentic tooling adoption, including the development of security controls and guardrails for internal use.

Practical notes

Hours: Full-time (40 hours per week).

Location: Remote-based in Canada.

Time zone compatibility required for overlap with North American business hours.

Travel: None required for this role.

Visa Sponsorship: Not applicable for this position as location is Remote-Canada.