Lead Application Security/DevSecOps Engineer

Job description

Faria is a leader in international education systems & services, offering an integrated suite across learning, admissions, school-to-home, and online courses — trusted by 10,000+ schools and 4 million students across 155 countries . Our product family includes ManageBac (curriculum, assessment & reporting for international schools), OpenApply (admissions management & CRM, used by 600+ leading international and independent schools), SchoolsBuddy (co-curricular & activity management), and Vectare (school transport management). We are looking for a Lead Security/DevSecOps Engineer on the Product Engineering team, with a great opportunity to be self-directed and level up security practices and capabilities. We expect this to be a hands-on leadership role with a potential opportunity to build/upskill a small team. The person will report to the VP of Engineering and work in partnership with the vCISO, DevOps team, and engineering teams. Key Responsibilities Do an initial deep-dive assessment and evaluation to drive risk-based prioritisation of the following responsibilities Stand up and own the application security program across all five products — this is effectively greenfield. Define and embed a secure SDLC (shift-left): security requirements, design reviews, guardrails, and coding standards for an AI engineering reality. Select, deploy, and operationalise AppSec tooling (SAST, DAST, SCA/dependency and secrets scanning) integrated into CI/CD. Implement and operationalise secrets management: detection, rotation, and vault integration across CI/CD pipelines. Build risk-based vulnerability management: triage, prioritise, and drive remediation across teams and stacks. Lead remediation of some vulnerabilities as necessary in support of the software engineering team Run threat modeling and security reviews for new architecture and significant features. Improve cloud security posture across AWS (primary) and Azure, partnering with platform/infra. Lead technical incident response for application-layer incidents; coordinate with SOC and vCISO on cross-domain incidents. Build security awareness and a security-champions network to upskill engineers. Uphold student-data privacy and regulatory obligations. Contribute technical evidence and metrics to support the security roadmap and future hiring decisions Requirements (must have) 7+ years in application/product security, ideally including standing up or substantially maturing an AppSec program (ideally near-zero to functioning). Strong AI knowledge and curiosity in the space, with the aim of proactive protection, as well as approaching problem-solving AI-first Comfortable as a founding, hands-on, solo function — self-directed and pragmatic under ambiguity Breadth across stacks: able to work across Ruby on Rails, PHP/Laravel, .NET/C#, and Python (deep in one or two, competent across the rest). Strong cloud security across AWS (primary) and Azure. Deep grasp of common vulnerability classes and secure coding practices. Hands-on with AppSec tooling and DevSecOps / CI/CD integration. Threat-modeling experience. Excellent communication and influencing skills — able to drive change in an engineering org, new to formal security. Nice to have GitHub Advanced Security experience is a strong nice-to-have. The candidate has worked with student data or PII-heavy regulated environments (FERPA, COPPA, GDPR for UK/EU students). Proven experience managing large vulnerability backlogs: ability to classify, deduplicate, and drive burn-down across hundreds of repositories. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to age, race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, marital status, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, nationality, or sex. Faria operates a safer recruitment policy, and the successful applicant may be required to complete an enhanced DBS disclosure and an Enhanced Check for Regulated Activity. Please note: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted due to a high volume of applicants. What we offer Compensation - Competitive compensation and opportunities for career development Learning - We encourage continued education, providing an online learning platform, unlimited book purchases, and diverse internal and external training programs. Team - Friendly atmosphere, group activities, and corporate events Equipment - MacBook Pro or another laptop of your specification, peripherals, and displays included ABOUT FARIA EDUCATION GROUP For over 15 years, Faria Education Group has deeply understood the needs of schools, leveraging extensive experience in education. Our dedication to reaching every learner and inspiring every educator has supported over 10,000 schools and 4 million students across 155 countries. We are committed to driving transformative experiences for learners, educators, and families globally. Our integrated SaaS solutions suite supports all aspects of curriculum management (Atlas), teaching and learning (ManageBac), admissions (OpenApply), and school-to-home communications (SchoolsBuddy). With an unwavering commitment to innovation, our technology meets rigorous data protection and security standards and provides first-class training and support. Through our innovative online schools (Pamoja and Wolsey Hall), we provide comprehensive educational experiences with IB Diploma and Cambridge online courses, delivering high-quality education to schools and homes worldwide. Join us in our commitment to transforming education and empowering communities worldwide.