Head of Security

This is Adyen

Adyen provides payments, data, and financial products in a single solution for customers like Meta, Uber, H&M, and Microsoft - making us the financial technology platform of choice. At Adyen, everything we do is engineered for ambition.

For our teams, we create an environment with opportunities for our people to succeed, backed by the culture and support to ensure they are enabled to truly own their careers. We are motivated individuals who tackle unique technical challenges at scale and solve them as a team. Together, we deliver innovative and ethical solutions that help businesses achieve their ambitions faster.

Head of Security

Everyone at Adyen, from our CEO and Co-founder to the receptionist, deeply cares about security. You will get all the resources you need to make sure that our Security Program keeps developing to adapt to our ever-changing ecosystem. With this great responsibility, your biggest challenge is counterintuitive - to build controls that enable teams to deliver secure products at high speed. If you get excited with the idea of reducing friction and processes, building secure by default products and building systems that are hard to get wrong by our colleagues, this might be the right opportunity for you.

As the Head of Security you are responsible for building and maintaining a global, scalable and resilient Security program. You will manage a global team of managers and technical leaders and provide them with strategic direction, empower them, and drive for results. You will also be a thought leader that helps the company make the right decisions that help us deliver on our ambitions.

What you will do

• Lead and mentor a global team of security professionals, empowering them to be their best and fostering a high-performing and collaborative environment while providing clear strategic direction.
• Understand and guide a team of security engineers that help the business with implementing the right controls, frameworks and tools that help protect the business facilitating security for others.
• Champion the "secure by default" philosophy, becoming a trusted partner to engineering teams to seamlessly integrate security into the software development lifecycle and inspire the creation of secure products and components.
• Design, implement, and continuously improve a world-class security program that not only addresses evolving threats and supports rapid business growth, but also becomes a source of competitive advantage, aligning with industry best practices and relevant regulations.
• Build strong partnerships between Security and Engineering teams, ensuring clear expectations and access to relevant insights about control availability, effectiveness and prompt remediation of the right issues.
• Proactively identify and assess security risks, thinking like an attacker to anticipate threats, develop and implement effective mitigation strategies, and ensure ongoing compliance with relevant security regulations and standards.
• Oversee security operations, including incident response, vulnerability management, threat intelligence, and security monitoring, ensuring timely and effective handling of security events and always learning from each experience.
• Balance security requirements with business objectives, finding creative and innovative ways to minimize friction and enable rapid product delivery without compromising security posture, understanding that security is a business enabler, not a blocker.
• Cultivate a strong security-conscious culture across the entire organization through engaging awareness programs, hands-on training, and effective communication, making security everyone's responsibility.
• Communicate security strategy, risks, and updates effectively to executive leadership, regulators and merchants, providing clear and concise reporting and building trust through transparency.
• Maintain deep knowledge of the evolving threat landscape, emerging security technologies, and industry best practices to ensure the organization's security posture remains robust and resilient, always seeking new ways to stay ahead of the curve.
• Foster a culture of open communication and collaboration within the security team and across the organization, encouraging the sharing of ideas and best practices.

Who you are

• Long tenured with at least 10 years of experience as a technology leader in a similar capacity, where you manage to deliver business results while significantly improving the overall Security posture of the company.
• Proven leadership building and scaling global security teams, including managing managers and technical experts, and fostering a culture of ownership and accountability.
• A deep passion for security and a continuous learning mindset, staying ahead of the ever-evolving threat landscape and emerging technologies.
• Strong technical background, preferably with hands-on experience in security engineering, infrastructure or related fields, giving you the credibility to lead technical discussions and make informed decisions.
• Proven track record in thinking years ahead, being able to inspire other leaders and drive sustainable change by influencing others, not through authority but through vision and collaboration.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively and build strong relationships with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, earning their trust and respect.
• Experience in highly regulated industries with a proven track record in developing compliance strategies that deliver the right value for the organization and not just to fulfil the checklist, understanding that security is a business enabler, not a roadblock.
• Strong problem-solving and fast decision-making abilities, with a focus on driving results and meeting objectives, even in ambiguous situations
• Experience on solving problems at scale, managing to contain team growth to reduce clutter and busy work, empowering teams to focus on high-impact initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to balance risk and reward, making pragmatic decisions that protect the organization while enabling innovation.

Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion commitments 

Our unique approach is a product of our diverse perspectives. This diversity of backgrounds and cultures is essential in helping us maintain our momentum. Our business and technical challenges are unique, and we need as many different voices as possible to join us in solving them - voices like yours. No matter who you are or where you’re from, we welcome you to be your true self at Adyen. 

Studies show that women and members of underrepresented communities apply for jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. Does this sound like you? If so, Adyen encourages you to reconsider and apply. We look forward to your application!

What’s next?

Ensuring a smooth and enjoyable candidate experience is critical for us. We aim to get back to you regarding your application within 5 business days. Our interview process tends to take about 4 weeks to complete, but may fluctuate depending on the role. Learn more about our hiring process here. Don’t be afraid to let us know if you need more flexibility.

We are an office-first company and value in-person collaboration; we do not offer remote positions.