Executive Director, Data and Application Security

About CLS:

CLS is the trusted party at the centre of the global FX ecosystem. Utilized by thousands of counterparties, CLS makes FX safer, smoother and more cost effective. Trillions of dollars' worth of currency flows through our systems each day.


Created by the market for the market, our unrivalled global settlement infrastructure reduces systemic risk and provides standardization for participants in many of the world's most actively traded currencies. We deliver huge efficiencies and savings for our clients: in fact, our approach to multilateral netting shrinks funding requirements by over 96% on average, so clients can put their capital and resources to better use.

CLS products are designed to enable clients to manage risk most effectively across the full FX lifecycle - whether through more efficient processing tools or market intelligence derived from the largest single source of FX executed data available to the market.

Our ambition to make a positive difference starts with our people. Our values underpin everything that we do at CLS and define our working environment:

• Pivotal purpose
• Trusted guardian
• Targeted innovation
• Facilitate connections
• Delivering excellence
• Inclusive culture

What you will be doing:

• Oversee the day-to-day activities of Data & Application Security (e.g., secure code testing, data classification, data loss prevention, data protection, cryptography, data strategy and application security) but also act as the key point of contact, bridging the gap to leadership, collaborating closely with and providing regular reporting and updates to the CISO to ensure visibility and alignment with the overarching security strategy.
• Design and implement data security programs, managing and uplifting data protection services and securing organization-wide sensitive data through collaboration with different security domains and teams.
• Oversee application security capability and lead the integration of application security into the software development lifecycle (SDLC) to ensure secure design, development, and deployment, perform code-level security assessments (e.g., SAST/DAST) and evaluate application architectures for security weaknesses.
• Oversee the execution of data specific risk assessments to identify vulnerabilities, evaluate threats and implement data security measures and application of data protection controls (e.g., DLP, tokenization), to protect sensitive data across cloud, SaaS and on-premises environments.
• Guide the direction of management for the entire data lifecycle, including classification, labelling and secure access controls and implementation of encryption and key management systems (e.g., PKI, KMS, PGP) to protect sensitive data.
• Identify areas of organizational improvements regarding data and application security and oversee and lead data and application security awareness and training programs promoting best practices.

What we're looking for:

• Take ownership and accountability for data and application security, integrating the previously disjointed and siloed capabilities and collaborating with previous capability owners to share knowledge, ensuring a seamless transition and enhancing overall security outcomes.
• Manage the coordination between other security pillars (e.g., Cyber Operations) ensuring seamless collaboration to align efforts on monitoring and threat detection. Facilitate communication to flag sensitive data activity, enable timely responses to potential data leaks, and provide context for alerts or anomalies detected by the SOC's monitoring tools.
• Identify, recruit and upskill in-house application security talent, with the skills to implement secure coding practices, perform static and dynamic application security testing (SAST/DAST) and manage vulnerability remediation across the SDLC.

Professional qualifications / certifications

• Extensive experience in data security (~10 years), including ~5-7+ years in a senior leadership role overseeing data protection, application security and SDLC uplift.
• Experience in:
  • Working in highly regulated operations and complex organizational structures.
  • Reporting to senior leadership supporting executive level decision-making and prioritization.
  • Engaging in complex governance, contributing to multi-layered committees or forums.
• Understand, interpret and apply regulatory requirements, compliance and industry standards as pertains to Data & Application Security.

Our commitment to employees:

At CLS, we celebrate inclusion and consider this to be one of our strongest assets. We are committed to fostering an environment in which everyone feels comfortable to be who they are, and inclusion is valued. All employees have access to our inclusive benefits, including:

• Holiday - UK/Asia: 25 holiday days and 3 'life days' (in addition to bank holidays). US: 23 holiday days.
• 2 paid volunteer days so that you can actively support causes within your community that are important to you.
• Generous parental leave policies to ensure you can enjoy valuable time with your family.
• Parental transition coaching programmes and support services.
• Wellbeing and mental health support resources to ensure you are looking after yourself, and able to support others.
• Employee Networks (including our Women's Forum, Black Employee Network and Pride Network) in support of our organisational commitment to embrace and always be learning more about inclusivity.
• Hybrid working to promote a healthy work/life balance, enabling employees to work collaboratively in the office when needed and work from home when they don't.
• Active support of flexible working for all employees where possible.
• Monthly 'Heads Down Days' with no meetings across the whole company.
• Generous non-contributory pension provision for UK/Asia employees, and 401K match from CLS for US employees.
• Private medical insurance and dental coverage.
• Social events that give you opportunities to meet new people and broaden your network across the organisation.
• Annual flu vaccinations.
• Discounts and savings and cashback across a wide range of categories including health and retail for UK employees.
• Discounted Gym membership - Complete Body Gym Discount/Sweat equity program for US employees.
• All employees have access to Discover - our comprehensive learning platform with 1000+ courses from LinkedIn Learning.
• Access to frequent development sessions on a number of topics to help you be successful and develop your career at CLS.