Senior Software Engineer - Security Foundations
Security Engineer · Senior · Full Time
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Role
What you'll do.
Join Snowflake's Anti-Abuse team as a Senior Software Engineer to design and scale foundational security capabilities protecting millions of customers across multi-cloud environments. This role focuses on building intelligent detection and prevention systems leveraging AI/ML to combat fraud, account takeover, data exfiltration, and emerging AI security threats at enterprise scale. You'll partner across security, engineering, and product teams to define security strategy while setting engineering standards for scalable security architecture within a fast-growing organization.
Responsibilities
- Design and Scale Security-by-Default Capabilities: Design, build, and operationalize security-by-default capabilities that protect Snowflake's platform across complex multi-cloud environments (AWS, GCP, Azure). Establish architectural patterns that ensure security is a foundational property rather than an afterthought, enabling engineers across the organization to build secure systems by default.
- Develop Intelligent Threat Detection and Response Platforms: Build AI/ML-powered security platforms and services that implement sophisticated risk scoring algorithms to identify, prioritize, and respond to security threats and policy violations in real-time. Design systems capable of handling Snowflake's hyper-growth scale while maintaining detection accuracy and reducing false positives.
- Build Real-Time Detection and Prevention Systems: Develop adaptive enforcement mechanisms and granular policy control systems to defend against account compromise, AI abuse vectors, and data exfiltration attempts. Implement behavioral analysis and anomaly detection to catch sophisticated attack patterns while minimizing user friction.
- Create Security Intelligence and Monitoring Capabilities: Build observability and intelligence systems that detect suspicious account and user activity patterns, generate actionable insights for security teams, and enable rapid incident response. Design dashboards and alerting mechanisms that provide visibility into security posture across all customer environments.
- Cross-Functional Security Leadership and Strategy: Partner across Security, Engineering, and Product teams to define comprehensive security strategy, influence product architecture decisions, and champion adoption of secure engineering practices throughout the organization. Serve as a technical authority on security foundations and emerging threats.
- Set Engineering Excellence Standards: Raise the engineering bar across the Security Foundations organization by establishing standards for system design, code quality, operational excellence, scalability, and maintainability. Mentor junior engineers and drive engineering culture around security as a critical product feature.
Qualifications
What we look for.
Technical
Multi-Language Proficiency
Demonstrated mastery of JavaScript, Java, Python, C, C++, or Go with proven ability to write production-quality code. Strong emphasis on Python and/or Go for security-focused backend systems.
Data Pipeline and Detection Development
Proficiency in Python, SQL, or similar languages for designing and implementing detection logic, data pipelines, and security intelligence systems. Experience building ETL workflows for large-scale security data processing.
Cloud Infrastructure Experience
Hands-on experience architecting and deploying services across major cloud providers (AWS, GCP, Azure) with understanding of cloud-native security considerations, multi-tenancy patterns, and cross-cloud operational challenges.
Security Architecture Knowledge
Deep understanding of security primitives including static and dynamic analysis, authentication and access management (IAM), cryptography fundamentals, DDoS mitigation strategies, and vulnerability scanning. Knowledge of secure software development lifecycle (SDLC) practices.
Distributed Systems Design
Ability to design and build scalable, resilient systems that operate reliably at enterprise scale. Experience with microservices architecture, event-driven systems, and eventual consistency patterns required.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or Related Field
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Software Engineering, or equivalent technical discipline. Advanced degree (Master's or PhD) is a strong bonus.
Experience
5+ Years Software Development Experience
Minimum 5 years of professional software development experience building production systems. Demonstrated ability to take projects from design through implementation, testing, deployment, and operational maintenance.
Security-Focused Development Track Record
Track record of designing, testing, and maintaining software solutions with security as a primary concern. Experience either in security-specific roles or security-critical features within platform teams.
Technical Leadership and Project Ownership
Proven ability to lead complex projects independently, set technical direction, make architectural decisions, and drive projects to completion. Experience mentoring junior engineers and raising technical standards within teams.
Bonus: Security Domain Expertise
Prior experience with security engineering, fraud detection, account security, or adversarial threat analysis. Background in building systems that defend against sophisticated, evolving attack patterns.
Skills
Required
Python
Production-level proficiency in Python for building security detection systems, data pipelines, and analysis tools
SQL
Strong SQL skills for querying large security datasets, building detection queries, and optimizing data analysis
Cloud Architecture (AWS/GCP/Azure)
Practical experience designing and operating services across multiple cloud providers with understanding of cloud security models
Backend Development
Solid foundation in backend/server-side development with experience building APIs, services, and distributed systems
System Design and Architecture
Ability to design scalable, maintainable systems that operate reliably at scale with appropriate trade-offs
Security Fundamentals
Core understanding of authentication, access control, cryptography, threat modeling, and common attack vectors
Preferred
Go Programming
Nice to haveExperience with Go for building high-performance backend systems and services
Machine Learning and Anomaly Detection
Nice to haveExperience building ML models for threat detection, fraud detection, or anomaly detection in security contexts
Advanced Security Primitives
Nice to haveHands-on experience with static analysis tools, dynamic analysis frameworks, DDoS mitigation systems, or security scanning infrastructure
Incident Response and Threat Intelligence
Nice to haveBackground in security incident response, threat intelligence analysis, or adversarial engineering
Data Platform Engineering
Nice to haveExperience building data lakes, analytics platforms, or big data systems that enable security analytics at scale
Cross-Functional Communication
Nice to haveStrong communication and collaboration skills for working effectively with security, product, and engineering teams
Tech stack
Languages
Frameworks
Databases
Tools
Other
Compensation
Pay and benefits.
Base·USD 200,000 – 287,500
Equity·Stock options
Benefits
Comprehensive Health Coverage
Medical, dental, and vision insurance with competitive employer contributions for you and your family
Retirement Planning
401(k) plan with company matching to support long-term financial security
Equity and Stock Options
Competitive equity grants and stock option packages that align your success with company growth
Paid Time Off
Generous paid vacation, sick leave, and parental leave policies supporting work-life balance
Professional Development
Learning and development budgets, conference attendance, and technical training opportunities
Security Clearance Support
Support and resources for obtaining relevant security certifications and clearances if applicable
Workplace Flexibility
Flexible work arrangements and collaborative office environments supporting diverse work styles
Employee Wellness Programs
Mental health resources, wellness initiatives, and fitness benefits promoting holistic employee wellbeing
Process
Interview steps.
- 01
Application Review and Initial Screen
Recruiting team reviews your resume, background, and qualifications. Selected candidates will participate in a brief screening call to discuss experience, interests, and role fit.
- 02
Technical Screening
Participate in a focused technical conversation or coding assessment evaluating core competencies in system design, security concepts, and coding ability in your preferred language.
- 03
System Design Interview
Comprehensive interview assessing your ability to design scalable, secure systems. Expect discussion of architecture trade-offs, threat modeling, and operational considerations for building security systems at scale.
- 04
Security Domain Deep Dive
Technical interview with security engineering experts exploring your security domain knowledge, experience with threat detection, defensive strategies, and familiarity with security primitives.
- 05
Cross-Functional Collaboration Assessment
Conversation with product or engineering leadership to assess your communication skills, ability to influence technical decisions, and experience working across teams to drive security initiatives.
- 06
Leadership and Culture Alignment
Final round with senior engineering leadership discussing your approach to mentorship, engineering excellence standards, and alignment with Snowflake's culture of innovation and ownership.
Full posting
Original listing.
At Snowflake, we are powering the era of the agentic enterprise. To usher in this new era, we seek AI-native thinkers across every function who are energized by the opportunity to reinvent how they work. You don’t just use tools; you possess an innate curiosity, treating AI as a high-trust collaborator that is core to how you solve problems and accelerate your impact. We look for low-ego individuals who thrive in dynamic and fast-moving environments and move with an experimental mindset — who rapidly test emerging capabilities to discover simpler, more powerful ways to deliver results. At Snowflake, your role isn't just to execute a function, but to help redefine the future of how work gets done.
We are hiring a Senior Software Engineer for our Anti-Abuse team within Security Foundations. This team is responsible for protecting Snowflake and our customers from abuse on the Snowflake platform — building foundational security primitives across a complex multi-cloud environment to combat fraud, account takeovers, data exfiltration, and AI security threats at the scale of Snowflake’s hyper-growth.
AS A SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER, SECURITY FOUNDATIONS AT SNOWFLAKE, YOU WILL:
Design, build, and scale security-by-default capabilities that protect Snowflake products across a complex multi-cloud environment
Develop intelligent security platforms and services that leverage AI/ML and risk scoring to identify, prioritize, and respond to security threats and policy violations
Build real-time detection and prevention systems to defend against account compromise, AI abuse, and data exfiltration through adaptive enforcement and granular policy controls
Create security intelligence and monitoring capabilities that detect suspicious account & user activity, generate actionable insights, and enable timely response
Partner across Security, Engineering, and Product teams to define security strategy, influence product design, and drive adoption of secure engineering practices
Raise the engineering bar by setting standards for system design, code quality, operational excellence, and scalable security architecture within the Security Foundations organization
OUR IDEAL SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER, SECURITY FOUNDATIONS WILL HAVE:
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience
5+ years of experience in software development with one or more of the following: JavaScript, Java, Python, C, C++, or Go
Proficiency in Python, SQL, or a similar language for building detections and data pipelines
Experience designing, testing, and maintaining software solutions with a security focus
A track record of leading projects independently and setting technical direction
BONUS POINTS FOR THE FOLLOWING:
Master's degree or PhD in Computer Science or a related technical field
Experience working with infrastructure across major cloud providers (AWS, GCP, Azure)
Hands-on experience with security primitives including static analysis, dynamic analysis, authentication and access management, DDoS mitigation, or security scanning
Background in secure software development lifecycle (SDLC) practices
Strong interpersonal and communication skills for cross-functional partnerships
WHY JOIN OUR ANTI-ABUSE TEAM AT SNOWFLAKE?
The Anti-Abuse team sits at the intersection of security engineering and platform scale — you’ll be building foundational capabilities that protect millions of customers across every cloud, rather than maintaining legacy point solutions. You’ll have real influence over the roadmap and the opportunity to work on some of the hardest adversarial engineering challenges in the industry: fraud, account takeover, data exfiltration, and emerging AI security threats.
Our culture is built on ownership and collaboration. Every engineer has an equal opportunity to innovate, drive impact, and grow. If you’re energized by working at the frontier of security and data — where “get it done” means building things that last — this is where you want to be.
Snowflake is growing fast, and we’re scaling our team to help enable and accelerate our growth. We are looking for people who share our values, challenge ordinary thinking, and push the pace of innovation while building a future for themselves and Snowflake.
How do you want to make your impact?
For jobs located in the United States, please visit the job posting on the Snowflake Careers Site for salary and benefits information: careers.snowflake.com
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