Head of Security

ABOUT the company

The company is a leading Decentralized Finance (DeFi) lending protocol backed by a16z crypto, Paradigm, Ribbit Capital, Apollo, Vaneck, Coinbase Ventures, Variant and 50 others to build an open credit network giving anyone, anywhere, access to the best possible terms. The company is experiencing exponential adoption, with over billion in deposits on the network and used by institutional clients including Bitwise, Galaxy, and Anchorage Digital and the largest crypto exchanges, such as Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken. Now, the company is scaling its team of contributors to establish itself as the open credit network, not just of DeFi, but of the world.

WHY the company EXISTS

Everyone has the potential to build something great for the world. But fulfilling that ambition almost always requires more: people willing to trust you with their capital. Yet access to capital still depends on where you live, who you know, and which institutions are willing to trust you. Even when capital is available, it sits fragmented across disconnected networks and hidden behind intermediaries. The result is a system that fails most of the people it should serve. Borrowers overpay. Lenders earn less than they should. Many are shut out entirely, not because they are unworthy of credit, but because today's infrastructure was never built to connect them. The company exists to solve this. Full article here [link for members]

LOCATION

Paris or remote (from -5h GMT up to +2h GMT to ensure sufficient overlap with the rest of the team).

ABOUT THE ROLE

As Head of Security, you'll define and drive the company's security strategy across the entire organization - corporate IT, cloud and infrastructure, application, supply chain, identity, incident response, threat intelligence, and counterparty security - and you'll build the team and function to deliver it. This is a hands-on leadership role: in the early days you'll personally do the work while you hire, and you'll stay close enough to the technical detail to earn the trust of a deeply technical organization. You'll also be the company's credible security voice, internally to leadership, and externally to the integrators, institutions, and ecosystem partners who depend on us. You'll partner closely with Engineering on infrastructure and deployment integrity, and with our Integration team, which works with various partners across the company ecosystem.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Own and continuously evolve the company's security strategy and roadmap across, cloud/infrastructure, application, supply-chain, identity, and operational security.

• Build and lead the security function - hire, grow, and develop the team, recruiting skillsets across security operations and application security.

• Oversight of the IT function

• Stay hands-on. Personally execute critical security work - threat modeling, architecture review, control implementation, and incident command - while the team scales.

• Set the governance architecture: a coherent security framework that ties tooling and controls together, rather than accumulating tools in isolation.

• Own incident response end to end - runbooks, incident command, severity and escalation structure, and market communication during an event.

• Build and run a counterparty security program for curators and partners - identity verification, screening, operational diligence, and bidirectional incident-coordination channels.

• Lead the company's certification strategy (e.g. SOC 2, ISO 27001), meeting both the spirit and the letter sustainably.

• Represent the company's security posture externally - to fintechs, financial institutions, and the broader ecosystem - and internally to executives.

• Partner cross-functionally with Engineering, Protocol, and Integrations, driving security outcomes through both direct ownership and influence.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

FIRST 30 DAYS

• You've built a clear, independent picture of the company's posture, architecture, threat model, and in-flight work - and pressure-tested the existing strategy against it.

• You've met the team and established working relationships with the people who own the surfaces you'll most depend on.

• You understand the path-to-funds attack surface in depth and have an early, evidence-based view of the highest-severity risks and quick wins.

• You know exactly where incident-response readiness stands today.

FIRST 60 DAYS

• You've published a clearly prioritized security roadmap with clear sequencing, owners, and the rationale for what's deferred and aligned leadership behind it.

• You've defined the team build-out plan and opened the first hire.

• You're personally driving the top-severity gaps - identity and authentication enforcement, deployment guardrails, and a documented incident-response runbook among them.

• You've set the governance framework and the certification path in motion.

FIRST 90 DAYS

• Demonstrable progress closing the highest-priority gaps, with key controls enforced rather than optional.

• A documented incident-response capability that's been validated by at least one tabletop exercise.

• Hiring underway, and a clear operating rhythm established with Engineering, Protocol, and Integrations.

• the company's external security posture is taking shape - trust surface, counterparty security program, and ecosystem engagement - and you're recognized internally and externally as the company's credible security voice.

MUST-HAVE EXPERIENCE & SKILLS

• 10+ years in security, several of them building or leading a security function, ideally at a crypto/web3, fintech, or financial-services company where security is core to the business.

• Strong grasp of the crypto/web3 threat model

• Proven experience building and growing a security team from a small base, recruiting across security operations and application/infrastructure security.

• Deep, hands-on technical expertise across cloud, infrastructure, CI/CD, supply-chain, identity, and application security - you do the work, not just direct it.

• Owned incident response end to end, including incident command and external communication.

• Sharp prioritization and the ability to galvanize action through hard and soft influence, including driving outcomes through teams you don't own.

• Exceptional, organized, responsive communication - credible to executives and to external audiences from fintechs to Fortune 500 institutions.

• Humble.

NICE TO HAVE

• An established network and public profile in the security or crypto-security community, and comfort representing security work publicly (talks, writing, framework contribution).

• Offensive security depth, or experience standing up red/blue capabilities.

• Familiarity with institutional and regulatory expectations and threat-sharing networks (e.g. Crypto ISAC, TIBER-style frameworks).

• Taken an organization through certifications (SOC 2, ISO 27001, or equivalent)

PERKS & BENEFITS

We design benefits around deep work and growth, so you can do the best work of your career. Expect fair, top-tier compensation, real flexibility, time together in Paris, great health coverage, and support to keep learning.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and hire based on talent, potential, and values alignment.