Application Security Architect, Information Technology

ServiceLink is seeking a builder-leader who combines strong application architecture judgment with hands-on execution. This role owns the secure architecture direction for a large, cloud-native financial services platform on Azure handling sensitive customer data and is expected to personally implement key controls while leading others to scale.

Success means reducing real risk in production systems through shipped controls, faster secure delivery, and measurable coverage improvements.

ServiceLink is modernizing the mortgage services industry through AI-accelerated engineering, intelligent automation, and next-generation software delivery practices. We empower the nation's top lenders and financial institutions with advanced technology, data-driven insights, and high-velocity product development models.

We're not just evolving legacy workflows - we're redefining how software is designed, built, tested, and deployed. Generative AI, autonomous systems, and continuous delivery are core to how we operate. Innovation isn't optional here - it's the expectation.

If you’re passionate about transforming engineering organizations and operationalizing AI‑driven development models at enterprise scale, you’ll thrive at ServiceLink.

This is a hybrid role, and will be required to work in-office at our Plano, TX office at least 3 days per week.  Candidates must be located within reasonable commuting distance of this office and be willing to work in-office on a regular basis.

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis and must not require sponsorship for employment visa status now or in the future.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

In this role, you will…

OPERATING MODEL (EXPECTED TIME SPLIT)

      50% hands-on engineering: build reference implementations, improve pipelines, validate controls in real services

      30% technical leadership: architecture decisions, threat modeling, secure design reviews, backlog direction

      20% enablement and communication: standards, coaching, leadership reporting, audit-ready evidence

OUTCOMES YOU OWN

      Secure-by-default patterns are adopted across .NET, Python, and SPA services

      High-risk authN/authZ and PII exposure paths are identified and remediated

      Identity-first service-to-service architecture is operationalized (managed identities, token patterns, least privilege)

      Security testing and policy checks are integrated into CI/CD with clear ownership and SLAs

      Security posture is measurable with trendable metrics, not one-time reports

      Build and publish production-ready security reference architectures and reusable templates

      Lead threat modeling and design reviews for new and materially changed services

      Own RBAC and authorization architecture, including endpoint-to-data classification and least-privilege mapping

      Design and drive managed identity adoption for SQL, Cosmos DB, and service-to-service communication

      Implement container and Kubernetes hardening controls, including image trust, patch cadence, and egress guardrails

      Evaluate and tune SAST, SCA, DAST, IaC, container, and secret scanning against real codebases and deployment patterns

      Define AI/LLM security guardrails, including prompt-injection defenses, model/data access controls, and safe-use patterns for engineering teams

      Lead chaos engineering exercises to validate security controls and resilience under failure and attack scenarios

      Define risk-based security gates in Azure DevOps and partner with engineering on pragmatic exception handling

      Convert third-party pen test and internal findings into durable engineering fixes and regression checks

      Mentor engineers and junior security staff through design pairing, code review, and incident retrospectives

      Present architecture decisions, risks, and remediation progress to technical and executive stakeholders

      First 90 Days (Concrete Deliverables)

• Publish a target-state application security architecture with prioritized implementation roadmap

• Deliver two reference implementations (one API service, one data-access service) showing secure patterns end-to-end

• Stand up baseline threat-model workflow for all tier-1 services with tracked remediation outcomes

• Define and launch security scorecard metrics (coverage, MTTR, policy exceptions, high-risk exposure trends)

• Complete toolchain fit assessment with keep/replace recommendations and rollout plan

Required

      7+ years in application security, security engineering, or software engineering with significant security architecture ownership

      Proven delivery in cloud-native Azure environments (AKS, App Services, Entra ID, Managed Identities)

      Deep experience with microservice/API security, authentication/authorization, secrets management, and data protection

      Strong practical threat modeling and secure design review experience tied to shipped outcomes

      Hands-on experience integrating security controls into CI/CD workflows (Azure DevOps preferred)

      Ability to code and review implementation quality in at least one major backend stack (.NET or Python preferred)

      Demonstrated ability to drive cross-team adoption, resolve trade-offs, and deliver under business constraints

Preferred

      Financial services or similarly regulated environment experience

      Kubernetes network policy and runtime hardening depth

      Experience building security metrics programs and engineering SLAs

      Background partnering with offensive security and incident response teams