Software Security Engineer

Software Security Engineer

6 Months Contract-to-Hire

REMOTE in EST

Key Candidate Attributes:

1. Communication Skills: Critical for interfacing with various teams; candidate should be clear, confident, and engaging.
2. Energy & Initiative: Looking for someone with enthusiasm for the work and the ability to take initiative without constant direction.
3. Technical Skills:
4. Strong background in Java, Spring Boot, AWS (ECS, EKS, S3, Lambda), and production systems.
5. Experience remediating vulnerabilities, not just running scans.
6. Knowledge of software versioning, package managers, and CI/CD pipelines.
7. Ability to read and update code directly (not just suggest changes).

Work Scope:

• Focus on remediating vulnerabilities in production systems tied to mortgage technology (e.g., underwriting, servicing).
• Systems are already live; this is not a greenfield dev role.
• Includes tasks like Java version updates, dependency remediation, and base image security fixes.

Ideal Background:

• Former or current developers with application security experience are preferred.
• Hands-on experience in secure coding and remediation is essential.
• Not suitable for candidates limited to only running scans or generating reports.

We are seeking a Software Security Engineer to join our progressive information technology Software and Platform Engineering optimization team to help us mature our software security practice. This highly skilled and experienced Application Security Engineer/Specialist will bring hands-on expertise in analyzing risk from vulnerabilities and assessing their impact on custom applications and open-source libraries. The ideal candidate will have a deep understanding of open-source vulnerability remediation, along with practical experience in remediation for Java and JavaScript software. The candidate should also understand risk mitigation techniques to ensure the security of software applications.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Set up and operate software security testing techniques in conformity with the technical reference architecture and Freedom s security policies and guidelines
• Conduct in-depth analysis of open-source threats and vulnerabilities (including zero-day), collaborate with engineering teams to evaluate and assess the impact of vulnerabilities on current code, including libraries, frameworks, and dependencies.
• Identify and prioritize high-risk open-source components within our codebase, considering factors such as exploitability, severity, and exposure.
• Develop and implement remediation and risk mitigation plans to address identified vulnerabilities
• Coaching and hands on experience for code refactoring, patching, and dependency updates.
• Identify and recommend engineering design changes to help reduce vulnerabilities.
• Champion and evangelize secure coding practices with the engineering community.
• Develop and lead security reviews and drive innovative security remediation efforts.
• Provide technical designs for innovative software solutions to address security risks.
• Coaching and assisting in administration and configuring of security tools, documenting secure configurations.
• Serve as an Application security consultant and advisor for software engineering teams in assisting with secure coding best practices, threat detection, Software security vulnerabilities, security reviews, remediation recommendations throughout the delivery lifecycle.
• Building relationships and developing partnerships with engineering/development, security operations, enterprise and application architecture teams to mature Security Coding practices for Freedom owned applications and platforms.
• Stay informed about emerging threats and vulnerabilities in the open-source community, understanding impact of attacks, controls and mitigation measures in the application security space.
• Communicate project related security risks, control and remediation measures accurately and in a timely manner to stakeholders and impacted teams.
• Integrate and adhere with the defined development and delivery process/ Change Management, SLA Compliance, productivity and other enterprise goals.
• Serve as a thought leader, change agent and influencer within the enterprise providing feedback to leadership, engineering, architecture and security operation team members.

Desired Competencies:

• Strong spoken and written communication skills
• Analytical and Problem-solving mindset
• Developer background with experience in all types of application security testing specific to Software composition Analysis.
• Good understanding of web application security, static security testing, cloud security, container security - tools, scan, triage, risk evaluation and remediation.
• Thorough understanding and experience in identifying and mitigating application vulnerabilities publicized by OWASP, WASC, CWE, CVE etc.
• Strong knowledge on industry best practices, code review and analysis
• Proficient with source code security review and remediation.
• Experience working with application development teams, architecture teams, security teams, and infrastructure teams.
• Has advised and guided teams with secure coding practices and design best practices for security risk recommendation and remediation.
• Thorough familiarity with different industry standard tools for code repository management, code quality, DevOps, containers, and AWS cloud services.
• Hands on experience with tools such as Sonatype, Qualys, SonarQube, and AWS Inspector.
• Proficient with the following languages: JavaScript, Java, and Python
• Working knowledge of GitHub, AWS ECS/EKS, AWS Lambda, Docker, Terraform.

Essential Soft Skills

• Interested in learning and applying new technologies and concepts while staying up to date with technology tools and trends in the industry.
• Possess a positive, can-do attitude and enjoys making a difference in the business through technical contributions
• Ability to think creatively, stimulate new ideas and challenge existing thinking.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to articulate technology topics to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Mortgage Industry Experience would be a plus

Educational Requirements:

• Position requires a bachelor s degree in computer science or computer engineering with AWS certifications and security certifications and/or equivalent experience.