Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Upstart is an AI lending marketplace focused on reducing the cost and complexity of borrowing through advanced technology. The Senior Application Security Engineer will lead application security projects, partner with engineering and product teams to reduce risk, and build secure-by-default controls, automation, and practices across products, APIs, and AI-enabled systems.
Responsibilities
- Lead application security projects from planning through implementation, coordinating contributors and dependencies to deliver high-quality outcomes
- Conduct threat modeling and security architecture reviews for complex customer-facing applications, APIs, distributed services, and AI/ML systems
- Design and implement secure-by-default controls across the software development lifecycle, including secure coding standards, API protections, automated testing, CI/CD safeguards, and secrets management
- Partner with engineering teams to identify systemic vulnerabilities, evaluate practical remediation options, and ensure high-risk issues are resolved effectively
- Build services and automation that improve vulnerability detection, prioritization, validation, and prevention while reducing friction for developers
- Assess the security of AI-enabled products and developer workflows, including GenAI integrations, agentic systems, model inputs and outputs, sensitive-data handling, and access boundaries
- Provide technical leadership during high-severity application security incidents, helping determine root causes and drive durable follow-up improvements
- Improve team effectiveness by contributing to design and code reviews, documenting reusable patterns, mentoring engineers, and helping strengthen application security practices across Upstart
Skills
- 5+ years of experience in security engineering, software engineering, or a related technical role, including 2+ years focused on application or product security
- Experience leading security projects involving multiple contributors or partner teams
- Experience conducting threat modeling and security architecture reviews for complex production applications
- Experience developing production software or security automation in Java, Python, Ruby, Go, or a similar programming language
- Experience designing or implementing application security controls across the software development lifecycle, including several of the following: API security, secure coding standards, SAST, DAST, SCA, CI/CD security, or secrets management
- Experience identifying, validating, prioritizing, and driving remediation of application vulnerabilities
- Experience securing cloud-native or distributed systems, including web applications, APIs, or microservices
- Experience investigating significant application security issues or incidents and translating findings into corrective engineering work
- This role is available in the following locations: Remote
- The team operates on the East/West coast time zones
- The majority of our employees can live and work anywhere in the U.S or Canada (outside of Quebec)
- Experience building reusable application security guardrails, platforms, or automation adopted by multiple engineering teams
- Experience securing modern frontend frameworks, REST or GraphQL APIs, microservices, and event-driven architectures
- Familiarity with security risks affecting AI/ML and GenAI-enabled systems, including prompt injection, insecure tool use, sensitive-data exposure, and model supply-chain risks
- Experience using risk metrics or program data to prioritize work and measure improvements in application security outcomes
- Experience mentoring security or software engineers and raising quality through design and code reviews
- Experience partnering with Legal, Risk, Compliance, or Audit teams in a regulated environment
- Security certifications such as CISSP, CSSLP, CCSP, AWS Security Specialty, or equivalent practical expertise
Benefits
- Remote work; most Upstarters have the flexibility to work from wherever they thrive
- Target bonuses
- Equity compensation
- Generous benefits packages, including medical, dental, vision, and 401k
- Retirement benefits, including a 401(k) or Group Retirement Savings Plan with a company match of $2 for every $1 contributed, up to $15,000 annually (USD in the US, CAD in Canada)
- Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) with discounted stock purchase options for eligible employees (US only)
- Comprehensive health coverage, including medical, dental, vision, and wellness resources for US employees and supplemental health coverage for Canada
- Health Savings Account contributions from Upstart for eligible plans (US only)
- Income protection benefits, including life insurance and disability coverage
- Paid time off, sick leave, and company holidays, in line with local requirements
- Paid family and parental leave to support caregiving and major life moments (duration varies by country)
- Family-centered benefits to support fertility, parenthood, and caregiving needs
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offering mental health support and life-centered resources
- Financial wellness resources, including access to financial planning tools and a financial concierge service (US only)
- Annual wellness allowance to support physical and emotional well-being and personal development
- Annual productivity allowance to invest in relevant tools and resources needed to do your best work
- Connection and community through team events, all-company updates, and employee resource groups (ERGs)
- Onsite perks, including catered lunches and fully stocked micro-kitchens when working from offices in the Bay Area, Austin, Columbus, and New York City
Company Overview
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