Application Security Analyst

Application Security Analyst

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Grade: 6 Schedule: M-F (4 days onsite 1 remote) Location: Atlanta, GA or Birmingham, AL Position Summary Southern Company, a major U.S. energy firm, is seeking an Application Security Analyst/Engineer to help protect web applications and APIs through hands-on security analysis, testing, and policy management. The candidate will directly support the company’s efforts to mitigate real and potential cyber threats to the company’s facilities, personnel, technology, operations, and brand – including critical electric and gas utility infrastructure and its privately owned telecommunications network. The analyst will execute the application security roadmap and become a subject matter expert in advanced bot protection and API security. The environment includes Imperva Cloud WAF, Snyk SAST/DAST, Sonatype SCA for software composition analysis. Comparable platform experience is welcome. The analyst will partner with developers, Infrastructure Operations, Detection Engineering, and the Security Operations Center (SOC) to implement effective controls while supporting reliable application access. This position is responsible for ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the company’s information assets. This will be accomplished by: Establishing and implementing an information security framework and technical architecture. Designing, developing, and implementing information security products. Providing information security expertise and consulting. While Southern Company is headquartered in Atlanta, we bring energy to homes and businesses across the country. We’ve made our name as a leading producer of clean, safe, reliable, and affordable energy, and we approach each day as a vital step in building the future of energy. We’re always looking ahead, and our innovations in the industry—from new nuclear to deployment of electric transportation and renewables —help brighten the lives and businesses of millions of customers nationwide. Our team is critical to building the future of energy with secure, resilient, and sustainable cyber solutions. Job Responsibilities Configure and tune web application firewall, advanced bot protection, and API security policies in alignment with the needs of the organization and established change processes. Analyze automated traffic and strengthen defenses against credential stuffing, scraping, and abuse of application workflows while preserving legitimate user and business activity. Investigate application and API security alerts, correlate traffic and logs in Splunk, and recommend policy changes or remediation based on supporting evidence. Manage security policy exceptions, documenting business justification, scope, approvals, expiration, and periodic review to limit unnecessary exposure. Use API discovery and runtime monitoring to maintain an inventory, identify undocumented or exposed endpoints, and work with application owners to assess and address risk. Review API authentication and authorization controls and perform hands-on testing for access control weaknesses, input handling issues, and abuse of business functionality. Configure and maintain Snyk DAST scans, validate findings, and use Snyk SAST and Sonatype SCA results to support vulnerability analysis and remediation. Partner with developers to prioritize findings, explain risk, track remediation, and retest fixes to verify resolution. Establish and maintain web application and API security tests in CI/CD pipelines with development teams, including repeatable tests for identified vulnerabilities. Document configurations, testing procedures, findings, and runbooks; report protection coverage, bot mitigation effectiveness, false positives, and remediation progress. Build expertise in advanced bot protection and API security, maintain current application security knowledge, and help extend API visibility and controls to internal environments. Education/Experience: Practical experience in application security or a related role involving web application protection, security testing, or vulnerability analysis. Candidates should demonstrate applied knowledge and a willingness to develop deeper expertise with guidance from the Application Security Manager. Experience with network infrastructure, modern operating systems, database applications, web applications and other computing technologies Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of information security concepts and best practices (NIST, COBIT, ISO, PCI, OWASP, etc.) Ability to perform detailed information security risk assessments and recommend mitigating controls. Industry certification preferred (CISSP, CCSP, CISA, GIAC, etc.) Requirements and Qualifications: Minimum Working knowledge of OWASP web applications and API security risks and experience applying security concepts to identify, investigate, or remediate vulnerabilities. Understanding of REST APIs, JSON, sessions, cookies, and authentication and authorization concepts, including OAuth/OIDC and token-based access. Experience with web application or API security testing, WAF policy management, or analysis of application security findings using comparable tools. Ability to analyze logs and request/response data, distinguish suspicious activity from legitimate traffic, and explain findings with supporting evidence. Understanding of automated bot threats, WAF controls, rate limiting, false positives, and the need to validate the business impact of security changes. Familiarity with software development workflows, source control, CI/CD concepts, and automated security testing. Ability to work with developers and operations teams, document technical issues clearly, and follow assigned work through remediation or escalation. Ability to prioritize tasks within an established roadmap, exercise sound judgment, and seek guidance when risks or decisions exceed assigned authority. Must pass NERC CIP & Insider Threat Protection background checks. Preferred Qualifications Experience configuring and tuning Imperva Cloud WAF, advanced bot protection, or API security capabilities; comparable platform experience is also valued. Experience with API discovery, runtime monitoring, authentication and authorization testing, or tools such as Burp Suite, Postman, or comparable testing utilities. Experience with Snyk DAST, Snyk SAST, Sonatype SCA, or comparable application security testing platforms. Experience querying Splunk and collaborating with detection engineering or SOC teams on web application and API threats. Ability to write or adapt scripts in Python, JavaScript, or another language to automate testing, analyze data, or integrate security checks into CI/CD pipelines. Experience using AI-assisted development tools such as GitHub Copilot, OpenAI Codex, or Claude to support scripting, automation, testing, or application security analysis. Relevant education, training, or industry certifications in cybersecurity, application security, cloud security, or secure software development. Working knowledge of cloud and traditional security network architectures. Industry certifications such as: CISSP, CCSP, CISA, GIAC, OSCP, CRISC, CCNP, etc. This position falls under the company’s Insider Threat Program and will have access to, and control over sensitive data, systems or assets. Enhanced personnel screening, which includes a background review, drug screen and psychological assessment, will be required if you are selected for this position About Southern Company Southern Company (NYSE: SO ) is a leading energy provider serving 9 million customers across the Southeast and beyond through its family of companies. Providing clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy with excellent service is our mission. The company has electric operating companies in three states, natural gas distribution companies in four states, a competitive generation company, a leading distributed energy solutions provider with national capabilities, a fiber optics network and telecommunications services. Through an industry-leading commitment to innovation, resilience and sustainability, we are taking action to meet customers' and communities' needs while advancing our goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Our uncompromising values ensure we put the needs of those we serve at the center of everything we do and are the key to our sustained success. We are transforming energy into economic, environmental and social progress for tomorrow. Our corporate culture has been recognized by a variety of organizations, earning the company awards and recognitions that reflect Our Values and dedication to service. To learn more, visit . Southern Company invests in the well-being of its employees and their families through a comprehensive total rewards strategy that includes competitive base salary, annual incentive awards for eligible employees and health, welfare and retirement benefits designed to support physical, financial, and emotional/social well-being. This position may also be eligible for additional compensation, such as an incentive program, with the amount of any bonus/awards subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable incentive plan(s). A summary of the benefits offered for this position can be found here . Additional and specific details about total compensation and benefits will also be provided during the hiring process. Southern Company is an equal opportunity employer where an applicant's qualifications are considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other basis prohibited by law. Job Identification: 22384 Job Category: Cybersecurity Job Schedule: Full time Company: Southern Company Services Southern Company