Security Engineer (Senior/Staff) - VC Backed Startups

Join SignalFire’s Talent Network for Security Engineer (Senior/Staff) Roles at VC-Backed Startups

This is not an application for a specific job. Instead, this is a way to get on the radar of VC-backed startups that are actively hiring Security Engineering talent. If you have any questions, please direct inquiries to [email protected].

At SignalFire, we partner with top early-stage startups that are shaping the future of technology. Our portfolio spans 200+ innovative companies across AI, cybersecurity, healthtech, fintech, developer tools, and enterprise SaaS.

We’re looking to connect with exceptional Senior and Staff Security Engineers who are excited about building secure products, protecting critical systems, and establishing scalable security practices at high-growth startups.

By joining SignalFire’s Talent Network, your profile will be shared with our portfolio companies, giving you visibility into exclusive early-stage opportunities that may not be publicly listed.

Who Should Join?

We’re looking for engineers who are:

Passionate about building secure, resilient products and infrastructure

Experienced in identifying vulnerabilities and translating security risks into practical engineering solutions

Excited to establish security programs and technical standards in fast-moving startup environments

Comfortable partnering across engineering, product, infrastructure, and business teams

Interested in balancing strong security controls with product velocity and customer needs

Typical Roles & Responsibilities

• Design and implement security controls across applications, cloud infrastructure, internal systems, and development environments

• Conduct architecture reviews, threat modeling, code reviews, and security assessments for new products and features

• Identify, prioritize, and remediate vulnerabilities across the technology stack

• Embed security into the software development lifecycle through secure coding standards, automated testing, and developer tooling

• Build and improve detection, monitoring, incident response, and vulnerability management capabilities

• Partner with engineering and infrastructure teams to strengthen cloud, container, network, identity, and access security

• Lead or support the investigation and remediation of security incidents

• Develop reusable security tooling, automation, documentation, and technical guardrails

• Evaluate third-party technologies, integrations, and vendors for potential security risks

• Support customer security reviews, enterprise diligence, and technical compliance requirements

• Help establish security policies and controls aligned with frameworks such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, or PCI DSS

• Mentor engineers and promote shared ownership of security across the organization

Common Qualifications

While each startup has its own hiring criteria, many Senior and Staff Security Engineer roles in our network look for:

• 5+ years of experience across security engineering, application security, cloud security, infrastructure security, or related disciplines

• Strong software engineering or systems engineering foundation, with proficiency in languages such as Python, Go, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, or Rust

• Experience securing cloud-native applications and infrastructure on AWS, GCP, or Azure

• Knowledge of common application and infrastructure vulnerabilities, attack techniques, and mitigation strategies

• Experience with threat modeling, secure design reviews, penetration testing, or vulnerability research

• Familiarity with identity and access management, secrets management, encryption, and network security

• Experience building security automation and integrating controls into CI/CD pipelines

• Ability to communicate technical risks and recommendations to engineering teams and business stakeholders

• Strong judgment around risk prioritization, remediation, and balancing security with execution speed

• Experience in venture-backed startups, security-sensitive industries, or rapidly scaling technology companies

Technologies You Might Work With:

• Languages & Development: Python, Go, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, Rust, Bash

• Cloud & Infrastructure: AWS, GCP, Azure, Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, Linux

• Application Security: SAST, DAST, software composition analysis, dependency scanning, API security, penetration testing

• Detection & Response: SIEM, EDR, intrusion detection, log analysis, incident response, security orchestration

• Identity & Data Security: IAM, SSO, OAuth, SAML, secrets management, key management, encryption

• Security Platforms & Tools: Wiz, Snyk, Semgrep, Burp Suite, CrowdStrike, Okta, Datadog, Splunk

What Happens Next?

• Submit your application to join SignalFire’s Talent Ecosystem.

• We review applications on an ongoing basis to identify strong candidates.

• If there’s a match, a SignalFire talent partner or a leader from one of our startups may reach out directly.

• No match yet? We’ll keep your profile on file for future Security Engineering roles across our portfolio.