Associate Director - Lead Application Security

S&P Global is seeking an Associate Director, Lead Application Security with over 10 years of experience to lead and enhance application security for their AI-first organization. This player-coach role involves defining strategy, leading threat modeling, establishing secure coding guidelines, managing AppSec tooling, and mentoring a team. The goal is to embed secure-by-design principles into product development without hindering innovation, directly impacting the protection of next-generation AI products.

Must Have

• 10+ years of hands-on application security experience in fast-paced product environments.
• Proven track record of building and leading AppSec programs at scale (SaaS, consumer, or AI companies strongly preferred).
• Expert-level knowledge of web, mobile, and API security.
• Deep understanding of modern authentication/authorization (OAuth 2.1, OIDC, JWT, mTLS, SPIFFE).
• Strong coding/scripting skills (Python, Go, TypeScript, or similar) with experience writing or auditing production code.
• Extensive experience integrating and tuning AppSec tools in CI/CD (GitHub Actions, GitLab, Jenkins, etc.).
• Demonstrated ability to influence engineering culture without gatekeeping velocity.
• Ability to own the end-to-end AppSec program, from secure SDLC to runtime protection.
• Institutionalize systematic threat modeling across all product teams.
• Author, maintain, and evangelize production-grade secure coding guidelines.
• Select, deploy, and continuously improve the AppSec toolchain.
• Plan and execute advanced application pen tests.
• Serve as the primary AppSec escalation point during security incidents.
• Hire, grow, and lead a high-performing application security team.
• Drive alignment with OWASP ASVS, OWASP Top 10 (including LLM Top 10), NIST SSDF, and emerging AI security regulations.

Good to Have

• Hands-on experience securing LLM-powered applications (prompt injection, jailbreaks, model inversion, RAG security, etc.).
• Familiarity with OWASP Top 10 for Large Language Models and emerging AI attack taxonomies.
• Prior experience in bug bounty program management or offensive security leadership.
• Contributions to open-source security tools or public research.

Perks & Benefits

• Health & Wellness: Health care coverage designed for the mind and body.
• Flexible Downtime: Generous time off helps keep you energized for your time on.
• Continuous Learning: Access a wealth of resources to grow your career and learn valuable new skills.
• Invest in Your Future: Secure your financial future through competitive pay, retirement planning, a continuing education program with a company-matched student loan contribution, and financial wellness programs.
• Family Friendly Perks: It’s not just about you. S&P Global has perks for your partners and little ones, too, with some best-in class benefits for families.
• Beyond the Basics: From retail discounts to referral incentive awards—small perks can make a big difference.
• Equity in a high-growth, mission-driven organization.
• Flexible, remote-first culture with global reach.

Job Description

About the Role:

Grade Level (for internal use): 12

Job Title: Associate Director, Lead Application Security

We are seeking an Associate Director, Lead Application Security with 10+ years of deep technical experience to own and elevate application security across a high-velocity, AI-first organization.

You will be the authoritative voice and technical leader for all things application security — bridging strategy with hands-on execution, partnering deeply with Engineering, Product, Platform, and Data Science teams to embed secure-by-design principles into every layer of our products without compromising speed or innovation.

This is a player-coach role: you will set the vision, drive the strategy, build and lead a lean team of AppSec engineers, and still roll up your sleeves to perform code reviews, design patterns, and threat models yourself.

The Impact

• Directly protect next-generation AI products used by millions.
• Define and scale the application security program for a rapidly growing AI company.
• Equity in a high-growth, mission-driven organization.
• Flexible, remote-first culture with global reach.
• Work alongside elite AI researchers, platform engineers, and product leaders.
• Shape industry-leading practices in secure AI application development.

Key Responsibilities

• Application Security Strategy & Roadmap: Own the end-to-end AppSec program — from secure SDLC to runtime protection — and align it with business velocity and risk appetite.
• Threat Modeling Leadership: Institutionalize systematic threat modeling across all product teams; personally lead modeling for flagship AI products and high-risk features.
• Secure Code & Design Patterns: Author, maintain, and evangelize production-grade secure coding guidelines, libraries, and reference architectures (API security, authentication, input validation, LLM-specific risks, etc.).
• Tooling & Automation: Select, deploy, and continuously improve the AppSec toolchain (SAST, DAST, SCA, IAST, runtime protection, secret scanning, etc.) deeply integrated into CI/CD pipelines.
• Penetration Testing & Red Team Collaboration: Plan and execute advanced application pen tests; scope and oversee external red team engagements focused on business logic, AI-specific attacks, and prompt injection.
• Incident Response & Forensics Support: Serve as the primary AppSec escalation point during security incidents affecting applications.
• Team Building & Mentorship: Hire, grow, and lead a high-performing application security team; mentor engineers organization-wide on secure development practices.
• Standards & Compliance: Drive alignment with OWASP ASVS, OWASP Top 10 (including LLM Top 10), NIST SSDF, and emerging AI security regulations.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of hands-on application security experience in fast-paced product environments.
• Proven track record of building and leading AppSec programs at scale (SaaS, consumer, or AI companies strongly preferred).
• Expert-level knowledge of web, mobile, and API security; deep understanding of modern authentication/authorization (OAuth 2.1, OIDC, JWT, mTLS, SPIFFE).
• Strong coding/scripting skills (Python, Go, TypeScript, or similar) with experience writing or auditing production code.
• Extensive experience integrating and tuning AppSec tools in CI/CD (GitHub Actions, GitLab, Jenkins, etc.).
• Demonstrated ability to influence engineering culture without gatekeeping velocity.
• Relevant certifications preferred: OSCP, CASE, CISSP-ISSAP, CSSLP, or equivalent.

Preferred Skills

• Hands-on experience securing LLM-powered applications (prompt injection, jailbreaks, model inversion, RAG security, etc.).
• Familiarity with OWASP Top 10 for Large Language Models and emerging AI attack taxonomies.
• Prior experience in bug bounty program management or offensive security leadership.
• Contributions to open-source security tools or public research.

Who You Are

• Builder & leader: You scale programs through people and automation, not bureaucracy.
• Collaborative influencer: Engineers trust you because you’ve shipped code and found real bugs.
• Hands-on to the end: You still dive into pull requests and exploit code when needed.
• AI-native: You understand how LLMs change the attack surface and defense paradigms.
• Pragmatic risk owner: You know when to say “yes with guardrails” instead of just “no.”

If you live at the intersection of deep technical expertise, leadership, and product velocity — and want to protect the future of AI — we want to hear from you.

What’s In It For You?

Our Mission:

Advancing Essential Intelligence.

Our People:

We're more than 35,000 strong worldwide—so we're able to understand nuances while having a broad perspective. Our team is driven by curiosity and a shared belief that Essential Intelligence can help build a more prosperous future for us all.From finding new ways to measure sustainability to analyzing energy transition across the supply chain to building workflow solutions that make it easy to tap into insight and apply it. We are changing the way people see things and empowering them to make an impact on the world we live in. We’re committed to a more equitable future and to helping our customers find new, sustainable ways of doing business. Join us and help create the critical insights that truly make a difference.

Our Values:

Integrity, Discovery, Partnership

Throughout our history, the world's leading organizations have relied on us for the Essential Intelligence they need to make confident decisions about the road ahead. We start with a foundation of integrity in all we do, bring a spirit of discovery to our work, and collaborate in close partnership with each other and our customers to achieve shared goals.

Benefits:

We take care of you, so you can take care of business. We care about our people. That’s why we provide everything you—and your career—need to thrive at S&P Global.

Our benefits include:

• Health & Wellness: Health care coverage designed for the mind and body.
• Flexible Downtime: Generous time off helps keep you energized for your time on.
• Continuous Learning: Access a wealth of resources to grow your career and learn valuable new skills.
• Invest in Your Future: Secure your financial future through competitive pay, retirement planning, a continuing education program with a company-matched student loan contribution, and financial wellness programs.
• Family Friendly Perks: It’s not just about you. S&P Global has perks for your partners and little ones, too, with some best-in class benefits for families.
• Beyond the Basics: From retail discounts to referral incentive awards—small perks can make a big difference.

For more information on benefits by country visit: https://spgbenefits.com/benefit-summaries

Global Hiring and Opportunity at S&P Global:

At S&P Global, we are committed to fostering a connected and engaged workplace where all individuals have access to opportunities based on their skills, experience, and contributions. Our hiring practices emphasize fairness, transparency, and merit, ensuring that we attract and retain top talent. By valuing different perspectives and promoting a culture of respect and collaboration, we drive innovation and power global markets.

Recruitment Fraud Alert:

If you receive an email from a spglobalind.com domain or any other regionally based domains, it is a scam and should be reported to reportfraud@spglobal.com. S&P Global never requires any candidate to pay money for job applications, interviews, offer letters, “pre-employment training” or for equipment/delivery of equipment. Stay informed and protect yourself from recruitment fraud by reviewing our guidelines, fraudulent domains, and how to report suspicious activity here.

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Equal Opportunity Employer

S&P Global is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race/ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, marital status, military veteran status, unemployment status, or any other status protected by law. Only electronic job submissions will be considered for employment.

If you need an accommodation during the application process due to a disability, please send an email to: EEO.Compliance@spglobal.com and your request will be forwarded to the appropriate person.

US Candidates Only: The EEO is the Law Poster http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf describes discrimination protections under federal law. Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision - https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ofccp/pdf/pay-transp%20EnglishformattedESQA508c.pdf

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20 - Professional (EEO-2 Job Categories-United States of America), IFTECH202.2 - Middle Professional Tier II (EEO Job Group)