Robinhood

Senior Staff Software Security Engineer

Robinhood$247K — $290K *
Information Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Proven technical leadership at an organizational scale, establishing direction and trust without formal authority.
  • Deep expertise in Identity & Access Management (IAM) and/or Cryptography; broad knowledge across security engineering domains.
  • Strong software or security engineering foundation with hands-on production systems experience.
  • Ability to independently identify unstructured technical problems and develop actionable roadmaps.
  • Exceptional communication and mentorship skills, fostering growth among junior and senior engineers.

Responsibilities

  • Define cross-domain technical strategy and architectural direction across Security Engineering.
  • Establish security foundations for emerging AI technologies and internal automation.
  • Drive major cross-cutting initiatives from concept to production across technical domains.
  • Write code and build operational systems for critical security problems.
  • Engage with engineering leaders to set priorities and align technical roadmaps.
  • Mentor and provide hands-on architectural guidance to improve overall technical quality.
  • Stay involved with production environments to ground security strategies in operational reality.

Benefits

  • Challenging, high-impact work to advance your career.
  • Performance-driven compensation with multipliers, bonuses, and equity ownership.
  • Comprehensive health benefits covering 100% for employees and 90% for dependents.
  • Flexible benefits spending account for wellness, education, and more.
  • Employer-paid life and disability insurance, as well as fertility and mental health support.
  • Generous time-off policies including holidays, PTO, and parental leave.
  • Catered meals, events, and comfortable office amenities.
Full Job Description
About the Role & Team

At Robinhood, security is foundational to our mission of democratizing finance for all. As a Senior Staff Software Security Engineer on our Security Engineering team, you will serve as the most senior individual contributor across a ~40-person organization spanning Infrastructure Security, Cloud Security, Cryptography, Access Management Platform (IAM), AI Security, and our Detection & Response platform. You will bridge domain expertise, set long-term technical direction, and build the security architecture that enables Robinhood to innovate safely, including the foundation for emerging AI, agentic experiences, and production AI capabilities.

This is an autonomous, highly visible role where you will identify high-impact technical problems, bring teams together around a unified strategy, and drive major cross-cutting initiatives from idea through execution.

What You'll Do
  • Define Technical Strategy: Provide cross-domain technical strategy and architectural direction across Security Engineering, connecting distinct security domains into a cohesive strategy.
  • Build AI Security Foundations: Help establish and evolve Robinhood's security foundation for emerging AI technologies, agentic use cases, internal automation, and production AI applications.
  • Drive Strategic Initiatives: Identify high-leverage technical problems across infrastructure, cloud, identity, and detection systems, driving major cross-cutting initiatives from concept through production.
  • Build & Ship: Write code and land production systems for the hardest problems you identify, from prototype through operation, rather than handing designs to other teams.
  • Partner & Align: Work closely with engineering managers and senior technical leaders to establish quarterly priorities, resolve complex technical trade-offs, and align roadmaps across teams.
  • Elevate the Bar: Raise the technical bar across the organization through direct mentorship, technical leadership, and hands-on architectural guidance for engineers.
  • Maintain Operational Proximity: Remain technically close to production environments to ensure security strategies and architectural decisions remain grounded in operational reality.


What You'll Bring
  • Organizational Scale & Influence: Proven track record of technical leadership at organizational scale, with a demonstrated ability to establish technical direction, build trust, and drive strategy across large groups of engineers without relying on formal authority.
  • Deep Security Expertise: Deep technical expertise in Identity & Access Management (IAM) and/or Cryptography, combined with strong generalist breadth across security engineering domains (Cloud Security, Infrastructure Security, Platform Security, Detection & Response).
  • Builder Orientation: A strong software or security engineering foundation with hands-on experience designing, building, operating, and maintaining production systems.
  • Navigating Ambiguity: Exceptional ability to identify critical, unstructured technical problems independently and craft actionable roadmaps without waiting for top-down direction.
  • Collaborative Leadership: Outstanding communication skills, humility, and a strong track record of mentoring junior and senior engineers alike.
  • AI Security Depth (preferred): Hands-on experience securing AI infrastructure, LLM integrations, or agentic automation frameworks.

What We Offer
  • Challenging, high-impact work to grow your career.
  • Performance-driven compensation with multipliers for outsized impact, bonus programs, equity ownership, and 401(k) matching.
  • Best-in-class benefits to fuel your work, including 100% paid health insurance for employees with 90% coverage for dependents.
  • Lifestyle wallet - a highly flexible benefits spending account for wellness, learning, and more.
  • Employer-paid life & disability insurance, fertility benefits, and mental health benefits.
  • Time off to recharge including company holidays, paid time off, sick time, parental leave, and more!
  • Exceptional office experience with catered meals, events, and comfortable workspaces.

About Robinhood

Robinhood is a financial services company that offers commission-free trading through its website and mobile app. The company was founded in 2013 by Vladimir Tenev and Baiju Bhatt, and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Robinhood's mission is to democratize finance for all by making investing accessible to everyone. The company has raised over $5 billion in funding and has over 13 million users. Robinhood has faced criticism for its business model, which relies on selling order flow to market makers, and for its handling of the GameStop trading frenzy in early 2021.
Learn more about Robinhood
Size
2,000 employees
Industry
Founded
2013

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