Head of Security Engineering (DevSecOps & CISO)

Join Smarkets as Head of Security Engineering, leading the security strategy for their innovative trading platform in London.

• Security expert with hands-on experience building security engineering/DevSecOps capabilities in a cloud-native, high-growth environment — ideally financial services or exchange infrastructure
• Excellent communication skills for executive, board, and regulatory audiences
• Familiarity with CFTC system safeguards expectations, including 17 C.F.R. § 38.1051 and § 39.18 or similar regulatory requirements
• Strong grasp of application security principles (OWASP Top 10, NIST) and secure SDLC practices
• Proficiency with CI/CD tooling (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, CircleCI) and security tools (Snyk, Aqua, Trivy, Checkov, Twistlock, Clair)
• Hands-on expertise securing AWS/Azure/GCP, Kubernetes, containers, and IaC
• Proficiency in Python, Bash, Go, or similar

• First dedicated security engineering hire, working from within Infrastructure and Engineering teams to establish and evolve Smarkets' security capabilities
• Own regulatory/industry engagement (including CFTC), reflecting external expectations in internal practice
• Define a pragmatic, risk-based security strategy across cloud infrastructure, applications, trading systems, and corporate environment
• Lead or support the investigation, containment and remediation of security incidents, including post-incident root cause analysis and corrective actions.
• Work with Engineering teams to build security into the SDLC — SAST, DAST, SCA, container/IaC scanning in CI/CD — without becoming a delivery bottleneck
• Implement controls across AWS, Kubernetes, containers, and IaC, hardening identity, secrets, and network access
• Establish security monitoring and detection across applications, APIs, and infrastructure
• Develop and maintain security policies, standards, and controls meeting DCM/DCO requirements
• Maintain evidence and documentation to support regulatory examinations and audits
• Act as a security partner to engineers, building a culture of ownership over security

• Personal interest in sports, exchanges, or trading
• Certifications: DSOP, CKS, CISSP, CCSP, CSSLP, or AWS/Azure/GCP Security Specialty
• Track record of security automation at scale in Agile/Scrum
• Direct experience with regulators/examiners on technology and system safeguards
• Familiarity with event contracts, prediction markets, or similar novel futures products under CFTC

• Competitive salary + stock options (4-year vesting)
• Private health insurance
• Pension (up to 6%)
• £1,000 annual education budget
• 25 days annual leave + bank holidays (5 days carryover)
• Hybrid working, plus 20 remote days/year globally
• In-house chef, daily snacks and drinks
• Cycle to work scheme