Principal Engineer - Cybersecurity

Engineer and defend the digital backbone of one of the world’s largest global banks, raising the bar for Cyber engineering with real hands-on impact.

HSBC Technology builds and runs digital services that help millions of customers bank quickly, simply and securely - on one of the largest and most complex technology estates in the industry. Cybersecurity is investing in a step-change in engineering capability and this role is central to making that real.

We’re hiring a senior, hands-on technology leader to accelerate Cybersecurity’s vision of Engineering Excellence : a world-class engineering capability that helps HSBC navigate cyber risk with innovative, responsive, frictionless technologies and services . If you’re energised by meaningful security problems, cultural change and building safer systems at scale-this is the platform.

What you’ll do (hands-on + strategic)

This is a Director-level individual contributor role with an initial focus on improving engineering practice within Cyber, driving improvements in how we select, build and operate our services globally across in-house developed and third-party solutions. Very important - you need to code for this role and it will take up 30%-40% of the role.

Core responsibilities

Engineering Excellence & Operating Model

• Drive improvements in engineering practice across Cyber: how we design, build, run and continuously improve services
• Help mature “the way we do things”: standards, patterns, governance and pragmatic guardrails that speed delivery safely
• Improve build and deployment automation , reducing friction and increasing reliability
• Support simplification of the technology stack , reducing complexity and operational risk

Hands-on Technical Leadership

• Stay hands-on in development while leading technical direction -comfortable down in the weeds and in senior technical working groups
• Contribute to strategy and direction for cyber engineering capability and service evolution
• Drive both technical and cultural change : empowerment, experimentation, learning, partnership and delivery

Architecture & Secure Solution Design

• Lead architecture and design across solution design and end-to-end system design targeted at specific cyber outcomes
• Shape global services across cloud, on-prem and hybrid deployments in a highly regulated environment
• Build and influence enterprise-scale full stack engineering and custom security software approaches

DevSecOps & Automation

• Advance DevSecOps maturity: automated build, end-to-end testing and deployment pipelines across multiple stacks and toolchains
• Improve how services are operated in production: resilience, repeatability and safe change at pace

Cybersecurity Engineering Depth

• Apply deep experience across one or more cybersecurity domains, such as: network, endpoint and cloud security, cryptography, malware analysis, vulnerability assessment, PAM, anomaly/intrusion detection, incident response, offensive security
• Bring a practical R&D mindset-knowing when to prototype, when to standardise and when to simplify

What you’ll bring

• Extensive experience in a cybersecurity discipline as a Principal Technical Architect / Principal Engineer
• Strong software engineering capability with excellent coding skills and enterprise delivery experience
• Proven experience developing large enterprise software solutions across cloud / on-prem / hybrid in regulated industries (financial services preferred)
• Strong architecture and end-to-end system design capability aligned to cyber outcomes
• Demonstrable ability to communicate technical solutions to senior engineers and strategic vision and concepts to senior management

• DevSecOps expertise: automated build, testing and deployment pipelines across multiple tech stacks/tools
• Professional-level cloud certification in Architecture or DevOps (e.g. AWS Solutions Architect Professional , GCP Professional DevOps Engineer ) or equivalent cloud security specialism
• Security certification such as SANS GIAC, OSCP , or equivalent
• A strong STEM oriented background

Why this role matters

You’ll help build a Cyber engineering culture where engineers thrive solving hard security problems with pace and safety and delivering services that protect the bank and customers every day. It’s a rare seat: global scope, hands-on credibility and the mandate to raise the bar .

Ready to raise the bar for Cyber engineering?

If you’re driven to simplify complexity, automate the boring bits and build secure services that scale while shaping a culture of engineering excellence this is your opportunity to make it happen.

Being open to different points of view is important for our business and the communities we serve. At HSBC, we’re dedicated to creating diverse and inclusive workplaces - no matter their gender, ethnicity, disability, religion, sexual orientation, or age. We are committed to removing barriers and ensuring careers at HSBC are inclusive and accessible for everyone to be at their best. We take pride in being a Disability Confident Leader and will offer an interview to people with disabilities, long term conditions or neurodivergent candidates who meet the minimum criteria for the role.