Stellar is an open-source blockchain network focused on improving global financial access by enabling fast, secure, and low-cost cross-border transactions. It connects financial institutions, payment systems, and individuals to transfer digital and fiat assets. With a mission to promote financial inclusion, Stellar is designed to serve both developed and underserved markets, offering interoperability between traditional and blockchain-based financial systems.

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Skills

Candidate Availability

Hybrid · New York · Required

Required and preferred rules are kept separate and reflect the wording in the original posting.

About the Role

This strategic and hands-on leadership role owns security outcomes across Stellar ecosystem participants, Foundation-developed systems, Foundation-operated infrastructure, and treasury-related responsibilities. The role requires deep expertise in product security, decentralized systems, operational risk, and cross-functional leadership.

Requirements

10+ years of security experience, including significant senior leadership experience
5+ years leading security programs, teams, or functions with meaningful scope
Track record owning security outcomes for complex, high-consequence production systems
Deep product and application security experience
Strong familiarity with blockchain and decentralized system security
Ability to assess risk across protocol design, smart contracts, wallets, validators, dependencies, and governance
Experience driving improvements across teams, organizations, or ecosystem participants without direct authority
Strong incident judgment and experience with high-severity incidents and disclosure processes
Pragmatic risk-based security judgment
Experience building, leading, and developing high-performing security teams
Ability to set strategy, translate it into execution, and deliver measurable outcomes
Clear communication skills and credibility with engineers, executives, and external participants
Experience in environments where security failures could cause financial loss, operational disruption, or loss of trust
Bonus: experience with NIST SSDF, OWASP SCSVS, SEAL, financial infrastructure, payments, custody, tokenized finance, ecosystem security architecture, identity, trust, encryption, or internet-scale systems

Responsibilities

Define and lead the Foundation's security strategy across the Stellar ecosystem and Foundation-owned systems
Raise the practical security baseline for wallets, infrastructure providers, custodians, issuers, validators, and other ecosystem participants
Publish actionable security guidance, reference patterns, and security expectations
Build coordination mechanisms for shared risks, incident response, and cross-ecosystem security improvement
Own security outcomes for Foundation software, infrastructure, and treasury or custody-related responsibilities
Partner with Engineering, Finance, Legal, IT, and Corporate Security to implement security controls
Lead secure development, threat modeling, vulnerability management, bug bounty programs, and product incident response
Build and lead a high-performing security team
Represent the Foundation externally as a technical leader on ecosystem security

Benefits

Competitive health, dental, and vision coverage
Flexible time off and 15 company holidays
Paid parental leave and pregnancy disability leave
$80 per month gym reimbursement
Life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance
Short- and long-term disability coverage
401(k) with 4% match
Health and dependent care FSA accounts
Commuter benefits with $250 monthly employer contribution
Health Savings Account with monthly employer contribution
Family building benefits through Kindbody
Wellbeing benefits including One Medical, Rightway, and Headspace
$1,500 annual learning and development budget
Daily lunch and snacks in the office
Company retreats
Lumen-denominated grants