Software Security Engineer Job Description - Role, Responsibilities and Requirements

The Software Security Engineer role is for experienced security practitioners who embed security into software development lifecycles and design resilient application architectures. Candidates should be comfortable working with engineering teams to identify, assess and remediate application and system vulnerabilities and to define security requirements from design through to production.

Software Security Engineer Job Profile

The Software Security Engineer is responsible for ensuring that software products and services meet agreed security standards and regulatory obligations. This role focuses on integrating security practices into development processes, performing risk assessments, and advising on secure design and implementation choices.

The postholder will work closely with software engineers, product owners and operations teams to reduce risk, improve security maturity and support secure release practices. The role requires a blend of technical assessment skills, practical remediation guidance and effective stakeholder communication.

Software Security Engineer Job Description

As a Software Security Engineer you will lead security activities across the software development lifecycle. You will perform threat modelling, code and architecture reviews, and security testing to identify vulnerabilities and provide actionable recommendations. You will also help define security standards and participate in design reviews to ensure security is considered at each development stage.

The role involves collaborating with cross-functional teams to prioritise and track remediation, coaching development teams on secure coding practices and supporting incident response where application vulnerabilities are implicated. You will contribute to continuous improvement of security tooling, processes and metrics to measure security posture and reduce recurring issues.

Expect to balance hands-on technical work with advisory responsibilities, translating security findings into pragmatic changes in design, configuration and processes. Regular reporting to engineering leadership on risk, trends and project security readiness will be part of the role.

Software Security Engineer: Duties and Responsibilities

• Conduct threat modelling and risk assessments for new and existing applications to identify attack surfaces and mitigation options.
• Perform secure code and architecture reviews to detect design flaws and insecure implementations.
• Plan and execute security testing including static and dynamic analysis, penetration testing coordination and verification of fixes.
• Work with development teams to triage, prioritise and remediate identified vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.
• Define and maintain secure development standards, coding guidelines and security checklists for developers.
• Integrate security controls and checks into CI/CD pipelines and deployment processes to enable early detection of security defects.
• Advise on authentication, authorisation and cryptographic practices to ensure robust identity and data protection.
• Collaborate with product owners to translate business requirements into measurable security requirements and acceptance criteria.
• Support incident response with root cause analysis of application security incidents and recommend corrective measures.
• Develop and deliver security training, coaching and awareness activities for engineering teams.
• Maintain and report security metrics to track remediation progress, risk exposure and programme effectiveness.
• Assess third party software and dependencies for security risk and advise on appropriate mitigation strategies.
• Contribute to security architecture reviews and roadmaps to ensure long term resilience of applications.
• Participate in threat intelligence consumption and apply relevant findings to protect software assets.

Software Security Engineer: Requirements and Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Security or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• Relevant professional experience in application security, secure development or vulnerability assessment, typically 3+ years for intermediate roles.
• Solid understanding of secure software development lifecycle concepts and secure design principles.
• Experience performing threat modelling, code reviews and application security testing methodologies.
• Working knowledge of web and API security, common vulnerability classes and mitigation strategies.
• Familiarity with cloud security concepts and configuration risks as they relate to applications.
• Ability to read and assess code in at least one modern programming language and to explain technical findings to engineers.
• Strong problem solving skills and the ability to recommend pragmatic remediation approaches.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills with experience producing technical reports and presentations for stakeholders.
• Experience integrating security controls within CI/CD processes and development workflows.
• Awareness of legal and regulatory considerations affecting application security and data protection.
• Relevant industry certification desirable, for example CISSP, CISM or equivalent, or equivalent practical experience.
• Ability to work collaboratively in cross-functional teams and to influence engineering practices without direct authority.