Cyber Security Architect

Job Description

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Cybersecurity Architect Agentic Identity & Access Management

Dallas, TX(Hybrid 3 days a Week Onsite)

Job Summary:

We are seeking an experienced Cybersecurity Architect to design integrated authorization architecture and governance model for AI applications and agents across SWA within the Identity and Access Management space; evaluate and recommend new and/or existing capabilities and tools that integrate with SWA infrastructure, including emerging technologies; and to serve as Subject Matter Expert to Cybersecurity Teams on identity governance for AI systems, building durable capabilities.

WORK ACTIVITIES/CONTEXT:

• Define the enterprise target-state architecture and governance model for identities, delegated authority, and authorization across AI applications, agents, tools, APIs, and human users.
• Establish reusable authorization patterns for user-to-agent, agent-to-tool, machine-to-machine, and agent-to-agent interactions.
• Design policy enforcement approaches that support least privilege, ZSP, separation of duties, context-aware access, runtime decisioning, and human-in-the-loop guardrails.
• Define lifecycle governance for AI agents and other non-human identities, including registration, sponsorship, ownership, credential issuance, rotation, recertification, suspension, deprovisioning, and evidence retention.
• Develop standards for OAuth 2.0, OIDC, token exchange, workload identity, delegated authorization, service accounts, and short-lived credentials.
• Evaluate vendor and native platform capabilities; document options, tradeoffs, integration impacts, risks, and recommendations for Southwest.
• Partner with IAM, IGA, PAM, Enterprise Access Management, Cloud Security, Application Security, AI Engineering, AI Governance, Enterprise Architecture, and platform teams to align controls and operating responsibilities.
• Create reference architectures, design principles, control requirements, decision records, implementation roadmaps, and adoption guidance.
• Support solution reviews and threat-informed design decisions for AI use cases, MCP servers, agent tools, data access paths, and autonomous actions.
• Define logging, traceability, audit evidence, and monitoring requirements that connect an agent action to the agent identity, sponsoring owner, delegated user or system, authorization decision, and affected resource.
• Provide technical leadership and consultation to Cyber teams; translate complex IAM and AI security concepts into clear decisions for engineers, product teams, leaders, and governance forums.
• Track relevant market and technology developments and recommend updates to architecture standards and strategic roadmaps
• Must be able to meet any physical ability requirements listed on this description.
• May perform other job duties as directed by Employee's Leaders.

WORK EXPERIENCE:

• Must have a minimum 3 years' experience solving complex problems and driving multiple stakeholders towards implementable solutions; prefer 5 years of experience
• Minimum 3 years' experience developing communication strategies for buy-in and acceptance preferred; prefer 5 years of experience
• Minimum 3 years working in a cross-functional environment within technology domain; prefer 5 years of experience
• 2 years or more of experience in Cybersecurity Identity and Access Management domain preferred
• Experience and solid knowledge of strategic and financial analysis and issues/risk management and project change requests.
• Ability to influence diverse customer groups to align on strategic goals and decisions
• Prefer at least 1 year working in a Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) environment.
• Consulting experience (highly desired)

SKILLS/ABILITIES/KNOWLEDGE/WORK STYLE:

• Built and maintained communication strategy for diverse user group (highly desired)
• Must have the ability to assume a high-level responsibility and to provide direction in a cross-functional, team-oriented environment
• Ability to quickly ramp up when placed in new areas business (proactively engage all levels the organization to expand functional understanding.
• Proficiency in Agile methodologies, collaborating effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Deep expertise in enterprise Identity and Access Management (IAM) architecture and integration patterns for AI systems and agent-based environments
• Understanding of best practices for authorization enforcement across AI agents, tools, APIs, and human identities
• Knowledge of core authorization principles such as least privilege access, Zero Standing Privilege (ZSP), policy enforcement, auditability, and runtime governance
• Technology expertise: AWS AgentCore, SailPoint Identity Security Cloud, Ping Identity Platform, CyberArk
• Experience designing OAuth 2.0 / OIDC flows for machine-to-machine and agent-to-agent communication
• Understanding of AI agent lifecycle governance - registration, credential rotation, deprovisioning, and auditability of autonomous actions
• Technology expertise: Ping Agent IAM Core module, SailPoint Entro Security, CyberArk Idira, CrowdStrike, Microsoft Foundry, Microsoft EntraID
• Experience with secrets management and credential vaulting (e.g., CyberArk, HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager)
• Familiarity with AI safety/governance frameworks (NIST AI RMF, OWASP Top 10 for LLMs) and regulatory/compliance considerations for autonomous systems
• Strong communication and cross-team collaboration skills; ability to translate complex IAM concepts for engineering and leadership audiences
• Strong hands-on knowledge of:
  • Privileged Access Management (PAM)
  • Directory services (AD, eDirectory, LDAP)
  • Workforce/Enterprise IAM
  • CIAM platforms and patterns
• Experience with IAM tools such as CyberArk, BeyondTrust, Ping, Azure AD, SailPoint, or similar
• Experience in cloud-based IAM (AWS, Azure, hybrid environments)
• Ensure IAM solutions align with Zero Trust, least privilege, and identity-first security principles.
• Exceptional attention to detail, with strong documentation skills.
• Self-motivated, proactive, and committed to driving tasks to completion.
• Ability to connect how and programs integrate with company objectives.
• Experience solving complex problems (Business and Technical) and identifying options for solutions.
• Experience supporting (or leading) Executive-level communication (e.g. project status updates, presentations requesting approval,
• Multiyear Roadmaps, Financial health etc.)
• Ability to digest significant amount of detail and summarize relevant information for the appropriate stakeholder (e.g., Managers, Directors, VPs, etc.)
• Experience with or thorough understanding the process for gathering business requirements for an implementation project.
• Understands how to translate business needs into releases that strategically deliver business value.
• Ability to translate business process into strategy and drive innovation that builds capabilities.
• Understands how to read market landscape and implement best practices to remain competitive.
• Ability to lead discussions with stakeholders from multiple backgrounds who have conflicting priorities; act as mediator if Teams are not aligned and drive towards a recommendation or solution.
• Ability to use critical thinking to identify, analyze and interpret trends and patterns in complex data sets to solve problems, and develop recommendations based on findings.
• Strong oral communication and presentation delivery skills when facilitating discussions at the Executive level.
• Skilled influencer, negotiator, consensus-builder, and change agent.
• Display ability to recognize inefficiencies with processes/procedures and proactively offer suggestions for improvements ability to take items a step further, not just follow defined path (continue process because it is the same as it is today).
• Must be able to work remain flexible and work in the grey as priorities may shift to meet enterprise objectives.
• Must be able to comply with Company attendance standards as described in established guidelines.

OTHER QUALIFICATIONS:

• Must maintain a well-groomed appearance per Company appearance standards as described in established guidelines.
• Southwest Airlines is an Equal Opportunity Employer.