Senior Application Security Specialist

The Application Security Specialist exists to embed application security expertise across Europe’s products and services, supporting the Secure Development Practice and enabling a consistent ‘shift-left’ approach. The role is accountable for advancing application security capability, leading security reviews on higher-risk systems, and ensuring secure development practices are adopted across engineering teams. The post holder will act as a technical authority on application security, helping reduce vulnerability risk and improve security outcomes across both internal IT systems and customer-facing solutions.

• Strong knowledge of application security principles and practices
• Experience with SAST, DAST and software composition analysis tools
• Knowledge of secure coding practices across languages such as Java, C, C++
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and DevSecOps integration
• Threat modelling techniques and tools
• Understanding of OWASP Top 10 and common vulnerability classes
• Experience with API security and web application security
• Understanding of fuzz testing and advanced testing techniques
• Familiarity with secure AI development considerations
• Knowledge of secure development frameworks such as SSDF
• Understanding of vulnerability management processes

Experience Required

Minimum

• 3 to 5 years in application security, secure development or software engineering with a security focus
• Hands-on experience conducting application security reviews
• Experience implementing security in CI/CD processes
• Experience working with development teams in an enterprise environment

Desirable

• Experience building or contributing to a security CoE or capability model
• Experience working in a multi-entity, multinational environment
• Experience integrating security into large-scale development programmes
• Experience supporting secure AI or data-centric applications

Minimum Qualifications Required

Minimum

• Degree or equivalent professional experience in one of the following:
• computer science
• software engineering
• cyber security
• information security or related technical discipline
• Evidence of formal or structured learning in secure development or application security (for example through certifications, formal training or demonstrable experience).

Desirable

• Recognised application security or secure development certification, such as:
• CSSLP (Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional)
• GIAC Web Application Penetration Tester (GWAPT) or GWEB
• Offensive Security certifications (e.g. OSCP) where relevant to application testing
• Cloud security certifications relevant to application hosting environments:
• AWS Security Specialty
• Microsoft Azure Security Engineer Associate
• Google Professional Cloud Security Engineer
• DevSecOps or CI/CD related certifications or formal training
• ISO 27001 Lead Implementer or Lead Auditor, or demonstrable understanding of ISO control environments
• Familiarity with NIST frameworks, particularly NIST CSF and NIST SSDF, demonstrated through training or experience
• Relevant vendor certifications linked to SAST, DAST, SCA or pipeline tooling where used in the organisation
• Evidence of continuous professional development in secure coding, software assurance or emerging technologies such as AI security

Minimum Skills Required

Minimum

• Strong software engineering foundation:
• ability to read and understand code across at least one major language (Java, C, C++, C#, Python or similar)
• understanding of common development frameworks and application architectures
• Practical application security capability:
• hands-on experience identifying and explaining common vulnerabilities
• ability to guide remediation in a way developers can implement
• Secure development lifecycle knowledge:
• understanding of how to embed security into design, build, test and deployment stages
• familiarity with shift-left practices and developer workflows
• Threat modelling capability:
• ability to identify threats, abuse cases and attack surfaces
• experience applying structured approaches such as STRIDE or similar
• CI/CD and DevOps familiarity:
• understanding of pipelines, build processes and release workflows
• capability to integrate or advise on automated security testing within pipelines
• Analytical and diagnostic capability:
• ability to interpret scan results and distinguish false positives from real risk
• ability to identify systemic issues rather than isolated defects
• Communication and influence:
• ability to translate security issues into actionable developer guidance
• confidence in engaging engineers, architects and product owners
• Risk awareness:
• ability to link technical vulnerabilities to business risk and prioritisation

Desirable

• Advanced application security techniques:
• experience with fuzz testing, advanced dynamic testing or manual code review
• experience testing APIs, microservices and distributed systems
• DevSecOps implementation:
• experience designing or implementing security controls within CI/CD pipelines
• hands-on experience integrating SAST, DAST, SCA and secrets scanning tools
• Secure architecture understanding:
• familiarity with secure design patterns and common failure modes in modern architectures (cloud-native, microservices, serverless)
• Secure AI and data-driven systems awareness:
• understanding of risks associated with AI models, data pipelines and prompt or model manipulation
• Training and enablement capability:
• ability to design or deliver developer-focused training or workshops
• ability to simplify complex security concepts without diluting technical accuracy
• Broader security framework awareness:
• working knowledge of OWASP SAMM, ASVS or similar maturity models
• familiarity with threat intelligence inputs and how they influence application risk
• Tooling depth:
• experience selecting, tuning or optimising security tools for development environments
• understanding of strengths and limitations of common tooling categories
• Multi-environment experience:
• exposure to both internal enterprise IT systems and externally facing customer solutions
• Ability to operate in federated organisations:
• comfort working across multiple teams, geographies and delivery models with varying levels of maturity