Security Engineer Job Description - Role and Responsibilities

The Security Engineer role is responsible for protecting information assets, reducing cyber risk and supporting secure system design. Candidates with experience in vulnerability management, incident response, secure development practices or security architecture should consider applying. This description is suitable for recruiters, hiring managers and candidates seeking a clear, role-specific outline.

Security Engineer Job Profile

A Security Engineer designs, implements and maintains technical controls that protect systems and data across an organisation. The role balances proactive risk reduction through design and testing with reactive incident handling to limit impact when security events occur.

The purpose of the position is to embed security into development and infrastructure lifecycles, provide technical guidance to engineering teams, and ensure that security controls meet business and regulatory requirements.

Security Engineer Job Description

The Security Engineer will work within cross-functional technology teams to identify threats, assess vulnerabilities and implement mitigations. Day-to-day activities include conducting security assessments, supporting secure architecture reviews, collaborating on secure coding practices and contributing to continuous improvement of security processes.

The role operates in a dynamic technical environment and requires clear communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders. The Security Engineer is expected to produce actionable findings, drive remediation, and contribute to incident detection and response activities when required.

Successful candidates will demonstrate a pragmatic approach to security, prioritise risks based on business impact and support the adoption of repeatable, measurable security practices across projects and operations.

Security Engineer: Duties and Responsibilities

• Design and implement security controls to protect applications, infrastructure and data.
• Perform vulnerability assessments and coordinate remediation activities with engineering teams.
• Conduct threat modelling and security risk assessments for new and existing systems.
• Support secure design and architecture reviews during project lifecycles.
• Develop and maintain security configuration baselines and hardening guidelines.
• Monitor security alerts and support incident detection, triage and response.
• Review application code or design for security issues and advise on secure coding practices.
• Define and enforce access control policies and least privilege principles.
• Apply encryption and key management best practices to protect sensitive data.
• Prepare clear, prioritised findings and remediation plans for technical teams.
• Collaborate with operations to improve monitoring, logging and forensic readiness.
• Contribute to security testing activities and coordinate external assessments where required.
• Maintain security documentation, runbooks and standard operating procedures.
• Provide training and guidance to development and operations teams to raise security awareness.

Security Engineer: Requirements and Qualifications

• Bachelor degree in computer science, information security or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• Proven experience in security engineering, vulnerability management or incident response.
• Strong understanding of common security concepts such as authentication, authorisation, encryption and secure design principles.
• Experience performing threat modelling and security risk assessments.
• Practical knowledge of network, application and system security fundamentals.
• Ability to review code or design for security issues and provide constructive remediation guidance.
• Familiarity with security testing methods and reporting of technical findings.
• Experience with scripting or automation to support security operations and repeatable tasks.
• Analytical problem solving skills and a methodical approach to incident investigation.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills for stakeholder engagement and documentation.
• Ability to prioritise work across multiple projects and manage time effectively.
• Knowledge of regulatory and compliance considerations relevant to information security.
• Commitment to continuous learning and staying current with evolving security threats and practices.