Staff Cloud Security Engineer

Location: Reno, NV; San Ramon, CA

Are you a cloud security expert who thrives on solving hard problems with modern, scalable, and secure solutions? Do you love turning complexity into simplicity while mentoring and uplifting those around you along the way? Are you excited to work with cutting-edge technologies, including AI tools, to help shape and secure the future of an entire industry? If so, we invite you to be a part of our innovative team.

Ridgeline is seeking a Cloud Security Engineer to help guide the security of our AWS environments and empower a culture of security-by-design across the organization. You'll play a pivotal role in architecting secure infrastructure, building tools that enable scalable cloud security, and mentoring engineers to ensure that security is a shared responsibility-not a silo. This role operates at the intersection of engineering, security, and enablement, partnering closely with DevOps, product, and platform teams to make secure cloud development frictionless and intuitive. You'll use the latest tools and techniques-including AI solutions to automate, accelerate, and enhance our cloud security strategy.

What will you do? Guide cloud architecture and network security reviews across Ridgeline's AWS and third party cloud environments and drive security-by-design practices across multiple teams. Develop and maintain scalable security tooling that integrates AI capabilities where effective Design and enforce guardrails and controls in our AWS environments using Service Control Policies (SCPs), IAM boundaries, AWS managed security services, custom-built solutions, and policy-as-code. Embed runtime detection and alerting into observability tools to safeguard production workloads Advocate for secure third-party integrations and internal service communication patterns Integrate security controls directly into CI/CD and infrastructure-as-code pipelines Drive best practices in access management, key encryption, and least privilege enforcement Contribute to AI-integrated development and security automation workflows Mentor and support engineers through code reviews, design feedback, and strategic guidance Collaborate with engineering, product, and compliance teams to align on secure development strategies Desired Skills and Experience 8+ years of cloud security or platform engineering experience, ideally in fast-paced environments Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent practical experience Effective programming skills in at least one high level programming language (Python preferred, Kotlin or TypeScript a plus) Extensive hands-on experience with AWS services, including: Identity & Access Management: IAM, Organizations & SCPs, Identity Center Networking: VPC, Security Groups, Transit Gateway, Load Balancers Compute: Lambda, ECS/EKS, Fargate Data Storage & Persistence: S3, Aurora, DynamoDB Logging & Monitoring: GuardDuty, CloudTrail, CloudWatch Demonstrated ability to facilitate and deliver on cross-functional security initiatives Fluency in infrastructure-as-code (Terraform preferred) and DevSecOps practices Demonstrated success implementing scalable access management and runtime protection strategies Clear written and verbal communication skills with a collaborative mindset A growth mindset and the curiosity to explore and learn continuously An aptitude for problem solving Genuine interest in enjoying your work and fostering a positive team culture Bonus Experience with network security tooling like firewalls, IDS/IPS, or traffic segmentation Contributions to open-source security tools or published research in cloud security Familiarity with using LLMs or AI for security engineering use cases Previous mentorship or leadership experience in security-focused teams

About Ridgeline

Ridgeline is the industry cloud platform for investment management. It was founded by visionary tech entrepreneur Dave Duffield (co-founder of both PeopleSoft and Workday) to apply his successful formula of solving operational business challenges with bold innovation and human connectivity to the unique needs of the investment management industry.

Ridgeline started with a clean sheet of paper and a deep bench of experts bound by a set of core values and motivated to revolutionize an industry underserved by its current tech offerings. We are building a new, modern platform in the public cloud, purpose-built for the investment management industry and we are prioritizing security, agility, and usability to empower business like never before.

With a growing campus in Reno and offices in New York, Lake Tahoe, and the Bay Area, Ridgeline is proud to have built a fast-growing, people-first company that has been recognized by Fast Company as a "Best Workplace for Innovators," by The Software Report as a "Top 100 Software Company," and by Forbes as one of "America's Best Startup Employers."

Ridgeline is proud to be a community-minded, discrimination-free equal opportunity workplace.

Ridgeline processes the information you submit in connection with your application in accordance with the Ridgeline Applicant Privacy Statement. Please review the Ridgeline Applicant Privacy Statement in full to understand our privacy practices and contact us with any questions.

Compensation and Benefits

The cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $174,000 - $220,000. Final compensation amounts are determined by multiple factors, including candidate experience and expertise, and may vary from the amount listed above.

As an employee at Ridgeline, you'll have many opportunities for advancement in your career and can make a true impact on the product. In addition to the base salary, 100% of Ridgeline employees can participate in our Company Stock Plan subject to the applicable Stock Option Agreement. We also offer rich benefits that reflect the kind of organization we want to be: one in which our employees feel valued and are inspired to bring their best selves to work. These include unlimited vacation, educational and wellness reimbursements, and $0 cost employee insurance plans. Please check out our Careers page for a more comprehensive overview of our perks and benefits.