Head of Information Security Engineering

Director of Security Engineering

Established in 2021, Independence Pet Holdings is a corporate holding company that manages a diverse and broad portfolio of modern pet health brands and services, including insurance, pet education, lost recovery services, and more throughout North America.

We believe pet insurance is more than a financial product and build solutions to simplify the pet parenting journey and help improve the well-being of pets. As a leading authority in the pet category, we operate with a full stack of resources, capital, and services to support pet parents. Our multi-brand and omni-channel approach include our own insurance carrier, insurance brands and partner brands.

Responsibilities:

• Define and execute the security engineering strategy aligned with organizational goals and regulatory requirements
• Architect and oversee the implementation of secure systems, applications, and infrastructure across cloud and legacy environments
• Lead secure software development practices, including code reviews, threat modeling, and vulnerability remediation
• Oversee identity and access management, encryption, and key management solutions
• Collaborate with product, IT, and DevOps teams to integrate security into CI/CD pipelines and development lifecycles
• Provide security engineering guidance and oversight across all OpCos to ensure consistent standards and practices
• Evaluate and implement security tools and technologies to strengthen engineering capabilities
• Embed operational resilience principles into system design and engineering processes to minimize downtime and ensure continuity
• Partner with risk & compliance teams to ensure compliance with relevant frameworks and standards (e.g., ISO 27001, NIST, OWASP, PCI-DSS)
• Partner with Security Operations to support incident response and post-incident engineering improvements
• Develop and enforce security policies, standards, and secure coding guidelines across the development stack
• Build, mentor, and retain a high-performing security engineering team, including defining roles and career paths
• Promote a culture of security awareness and engineering excellence across the organization
• Contribute to the overall security strategy, risk management framework, and technology roadmap
• Develop metrics, dashboards, and reports for executive leadership on engineering security posture and progress
• Drive measurable improvements in application security, vulnerability closure rates, and secure development adoption

Requirements:

• 10+ years of experience in security engineering, with at least 5 in a leadership capacity, with a preference for experience in financial or other regulated industries
• Bachelor's degree in Information Security, Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field; Master's degree preferred
• Preferred Certifications: CISSP, CSSLP, CISM, or cloud security certifications (AWS, Azure, GCP)
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional security engineering initiatives across complex or multi-entity organizations
• Proven experience designing and implementing secure architectures in cloud and hybrid environments, with expertise in Microsoft enterprise cloud environments, Kubernetes, and modern application architectures
• Deep knowledge of secure software development practices, application security, and DevSecOps principles, with a track record of improving secure development lifecycle adoption and reducing vulnerabilities
• Strong understanding of security technologies including IAM, encryption, container security, and API security
• Strong knowledge of secure coding frameworks and standards (e.g., OWASP Top 10, NIST)
• Experience embedding operational resilience into engineering practices, including disaster recovery and business continuity planning
• Demonstrated ability to lead engineering teams and influence cross-functional stakeholders
• Excellent leadership, communication, and strategic planning skills
• Proven ability to present technical concepts to executive audiences and foster collaboration across business units

All of our jobs come with great benefits including healthcare, parental leave and opportunities for career advancements. Some offerings are dependent upon the location of where you work and can include the following:

• Comprehensive full medical, dental and vision Insurance
• Basic Life Insurance at no cost to the employee
• Company paid short-term and long-term disability
• 12 weeks of 100% paid Parental Leave
• Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• Retirement savings plan
• Personal Paid Time Off
• Paid holidays and company-wide Wellness Day off
• Paid time off to volunteer at nonprofit organizations
• Pet friendly office environment
• Commuter Benefits
• Group Pet Insurance
• On the job training and skills development
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)