Principal Engineer Cryptography

Location  Details:  United States, Remote

At the company the future of work looks different for each team. Some teams work in the office full-time; others have a hybrid arrangement (they work remotely some days and in the office some days)   and some work entirely remotely.

This is a remote position, so you’ll be working remotely from your home. You may occasionally visit the company office to meet with your team for events or meetings.

This position is not eligible to be performed in Alaska, Mississippi, North Dakota, or the Virgin Islands.

Join our team

At the company, we are seeking an exceptional Principal Compliance Engineer - PKI with deep technical expertise to define requirements and guide the evolution of our Certificate Authority (CA) platform. Reporting to the company's Vice President Engineering Partners, you will translate industry standards into technical requirements, define specifications for compliance automation, and provide technical guidance for next-generation cryptographic systems. This role combines technical leadership with strategic requirements development, focusing on post-quantum cryptography readiness, certificate lifecycle automation, and CA infrastructure resilience.

What you'll get to do...

Technical Standards & Requirements Leadership

• Actively participate in standards bodies such as the IETF, representing the company in working groups for TLS and related SSL standards

CA Infrastructure & Systems Requirements

• Conduct deep-dive technical assessments of CA infrastructure, identifying architectural gaps, security vulnerabilities, and performance bottlenecks

• Define technical requirements for the evolution of certificate issuance pipelines, HSM integrations, and cryptographic key management systems

• Specify requirements for automated testing frameworks for compliance validation, including CT log integration, OCSP responder infrastructure, and revocation mechanisms

• Develop automation scripts for compliance testing and validation processes

• Define SLIs/SLOs focused on certificate issuance latency, system availability, and compliance metrics

• Document requirements for infrastructure-as-code solutions for CA deployment, disaster recovery, and high-availability architectures

Cryptographic Systems & Innovation

• Research and define requirements for post-quantum cryptographic algorithms (e.g., ML-KEM, ML-DSA, SLH-DSA) and hybrid certificate chains

• Develop migration strategies and technical requirements for transitioning legacy cryptographic systems to next-generation algorithms

• Create technical specifications for proof-of-concept implementations for emerging standards (ACME extensions, certificate transparency v2, delegated credentials)

• Collaborate with cryptography researchers to evaluate algorithm performance, key sizes, and implementation trade-offs

Platform Requirements & Automation

• Define the technical requirements roadmap for CA platform capabilities including certificate lifecycle automation, API development, and integration frameworks

• Specify requirements for scalable APIs and automation tools for certificate issuance, renewal, and revocation workflows

• Document specifications for self-service platforms and tools to reduce manual intervention in certificate operations

• Develop automated testing scripts and define requirements for continuous compliance monitoring systems with automated remediation capabilities

Technical Collaboration & Documentation

• Partner with security engineering teams on threat modeling, secure coding practices, and vulnerability management

• Lead architecture reviews and technical design sessions with cross-functional engineering teams, providing requirements and guidance

• Establish technical documentation standards and compliance engineering requirements for CA-related systems

• Mentor engineers on PKI concepts, cryptographic implementations, and compliance engineering patterns

Your experience should include...

• 8+ years of hands-on engineering experience in PKI systems, applied cryptography, or security infrastructure with proven technical leadership and strong technical background in languages such as Go, Python, Java, or C++

• Deep expertise in PKI architecture including X.509 certificate structures, ASN.1 encoding, certificate chain validation, HSM operations, and cryptographic primitives

• Proven experience translating CA/Browser Forum Baseline Requirements into technical specifications, including controls for key generation, certificate issuance, and audit logging

• Systems engineering background with experience in distributed systems, API design, database architecture, and cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP/Azure)

• Strong ability to define requirements for PKI protocols (ACME, Certificate Transparency, OCSP/CRL) and translate compliance requirements into technical specifications, detailed engineering requirements, and test automation scripts

You might also have...

• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Cryptography, Mathematics, or Electrical Engineering

• Experience researching and evaluating post-quantum cryptographic algorithms (NIST PQC finalists, hybrid modes)

• Security certifications such as CISSP, CEH, or specialized cryptography credentials

• Experience with security audit processes (WebTrust for CAs, ETSI EN 319 411) from a technical implementation perspective

• Contributions to PKI-related projects (Boulder, cert-manager, OpenSSL, BoringSSL, etc.)

• Experience defining requirements for high-availability systems design, hardware security modules (HSMs), and secure key ceremony procedures

• Knowledge of DevSecOps practices, CI/CD pipelines for security-critical systems, and infrastructure automation (Terraform, Kubernetes, Ansible)

• Familiarity with cryptographic libraries (OpenSSL, BoringSSL, PKCS#11) and performance considerations for cryptographic operations

• Experience developing test automation scripts for compliance validation

We encourage you to apply even if your experience or skillset doesn’t align perfectly with every requirement. We value a wide range of backgrounds and transferable skills, and we are excited to support learning and growth.

About us...  The company is empowering everyday entrepreneurs around the world by providing the help and tools to succeed online, making opportunity more inclusive for all. The company is the place people come to name their idea, build a professional website, attract customers, sell their products and services, and manage their work. Our mission is to give our customers the tools, insights, and people to transform their ideas and personal initiative into success. To learn more about the company, visit About Us .

At the company, we know diverse teams build better products—period. Our people and culture reflect and celebrate that sense of diversity and inclusion in ideas, experiences and perspectives. But we also know that’s not enough to build true equity and belonging in our communities. That’s why we prioritize integrating diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging principles into the core of how we work every day—focusing not only on our employee experience, but also our customer experience and operations. It’s the best way to serve our mission of empowering entrepreneurs everywhere, and making opportunity more inclusive for all. To read more about these commitments, as well as our representation and pay equity data, check out our Diversity and Pay Parity annual report which can be  found on our Diversity Careers page .

We also embrace our diverse culture and offer a range of Employee Resource Groups ( Culture ). Have a side hustle? No problem. We love entrepreneurs! Most importantly, come as you are and make your own way.

The company is proud to be an equal opportunity employer . The company will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with local and federal requirements.   Refer to our full EEO policy.

Our recruiting team is available to assist you in completing your application. If they could be helpful, please reach out to [link for members] .

Colorado Residents:  In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.

The company doesn’t accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters or employment agencies.

Compensation & Benefits

What We Offer

Working at the company offers many benefits, including competitive pay, generous time off, parental and wellness leave, healthcare, retirement savings program, and much more. Offerings vary by location.

This role is eligible for a comprehensive benefits package, which includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k)-retirement plan, paid sick time, paid flexible time off, paid parental leave, life insurance, short- and long-term disability, AD&D insurance, mental health or EAP programs, remote or hybrid work options, paid holidays, paid Wellness days, tuition assistance, adoption, surrogacy, and fertility benefits, dependent daycare and backup care benefits, Employee stock purchase plan, financial education and advice; and other benefits in accordance with the company’s benefit plans and applicable law.

Actual compensation and benefits eligibility will be determined based on permissible, non-discriminatory factors such as skills, experience, and geographic location.

Compensation

The estimated pay ranges for this role are listed below. In addition to base pay, this role may be eligible for other forms of compensation, which may include a corporate bonus and/or equity awards, subject to the terms of applicable plans and individual eligibility.

Bay Area (Santa Clara, San Francisco) and Los Angeles

$215,000 — $323,000 USD

Austin, D.C. Metro, CA (non-Bay Area), HI, IL, MA, NH, OR, VA, WA

$185,500 — $278,500 USD

New York City Metro, Kirkland/Seattle

$197,200 — $295,800 USD

All other US locations not previously listed

$165,500 — $248,500 USD