Associate Application Security Engineer
Here at Pleo, we're onboarding new customers with Sonic.gif speed, which is amazing don't get me wrong, but the larger we become, the bigger the temptation from cyber criminals. As you may already know, we are in the FinTech business, and we handle money for our customers. So this is not just about protecting a company from a password leak that allows malicious actors to post not-funny cat videos to your SoMe account - this is about directly protecting our customers' money. Well, this is where you (hopefully) come in!
This role focuses solely on the application security side. We are talking about both security of our application and ensuring our internal dev practices improve our product security maturity. What we're looking for is someone to be part of making all of this happen. Our ideal candidate is someone with coding knowledge, some familiarity with security tooling think Burp Suite and a strong passion or desire to learn more about the industry.
To give you a better idea, here are some tasks you might do as an Associate Application Security Engineer at Pleo.
- Assist in dispatching managed Bug Bounty program findings to appropriate teams and follow up as directed
- Assist Senior team members on feedback to engineering teams during threat modelling sessions
- Work on scoped security tasks under supervision, including basic authentication, encryption, and partner integration tasks
- Assist in reviewing and understanding common security issues in code reported in our bug bounty program, and relay common best practices and guidance to developers
- Provide basic technical support to the GRC and DevOps team in developing and maintaining security automation in the CI/CD pipeline under the guidance of senior team members
Just to make it absolutely clear, we're not building a generalist security profile to take over all security-related tasks. We're building a team of specialists to support other teams through paved paths, investigations, and coaching.
There will be a lot of flexibility in this role depending on your interests and skills, but as an Associate you will most likely:
- Participate in threat modelling sessions suggesting mitigations to potential threats
- Assist technical security assessments on our web applications and mobile application
- Participate in projects while supporting a long-term security vision.
- Continuously reflect on how we’ve aimed to balance automation in controls and processes against our defined data classifications while providing access and meeting the needs of the company.
We'd expect that you have some experience in certain areas. Ideally code review and dynamic testing and not in the whole security-verse. The most important is that you have a passion for the field, you are willing to expand your knowledge, and that you enjoy the responsibilities that come along with such a role.
Your profile
- You recognize that communication is a core part of your job within application security
- You are pragmatic in your approach to security - and keen on learning the goldilocks principle. You’re starting to see that risk drives effort, effort drives cost, not the other way around.
- You agree security isn’t simple, but about understanding complex systems and applying/recycling creative thinking to interesting problems.
- You love learning new things and enjoy working with problem areas you aren't an expert in (yet) and keen to become one.
- You are honest and unafraid to state things exactly like they are - acknowledging and communicating what's broken is the first step to fixing things.
The nitty gritty skills
- You can confidently read server-side languages (we mostly use Kotlin and TypeScript but we know you can learn new languages)
- You’ve read up on common security flaws and resolutions as published by OWASP, SANS, etc.
- You have some experience in reviewing security issues during a code review.
- You’re keen on understanding and gaining experience with common security libraries, and common security flaws.
- You have played a bit with common web application testing tools (e.g., Burp Suite) and/or SCA/SAST tools
Nice to have skills
- Experience coding using Java or Kotlin and securing applications running on JVM.
- Experience working in the industry with software development teams.
- Experience with cloud services such as AWS, Azure and/or GCP services
Non-requirements
We don't really care about certificates, degrees, and all that jazz. However, we won't penalise you for talking about your super relevant degree in information security computer science or showing off your brand new certifications. We also don't need you to have any industry experience in information security, and would of course love for you to tell us about any transferable experience that you think is relevant for the job.
Show me the benefits!
- Your own Pleo card (no more out-of-pocket spending!)
- Lunch is on us - with catering in our Lisbon, Copenhagen and London offices or a monthly lunch allowance paid directly together with your salary in other markets 🍜
- Private health insurance to ensure you’re fit in body and mind to do your best work
- We offer 25 days of holiday + your public holidays
- Flexibility/remote working options
- Option to purchase 5 additional days of holiday through a salary sacrifice
- We’re trialling MyndUp to give our employees access to free mental health and wellbeing support with great success so far ❤️🩹
- Access to LinkedIn Learning - acquire new skills, stay abreast of industry trends and fuel your personal and professional development continuously
- Paid parental leave - we want to make sure that we're supportive of families and help you feel that you don't have to compromise your family due to work 👶
#Remote-LI
Why join us?
Working at Pleo means you're working on something very exciting: the future of work. Our mission is to help every company go beyond the books. Pleo itself means ‘more than you’d expect’, and it’s been the secret to our success over the last 8 years. So it’s only fitting that we’d pass this philosophy onto our customers to help them make the most of their finances.
We think company spending should be delegated to all employees and teams, that it should be as automated as possible, and that it should drive a culture of responsible spending. Finance teams shouldn’t be siloed from the rest of the organisation – they should work in unity with marketing, sales, IT and everyone else.
Speaking of working in unity, our values tell the story of how we work at Pleo. We have four core values, the first of which is ‘champion the customer’, which means we address real pain points that businesses face. Next up is ‘succeed as a team’, which highlights how our strength lies in our diversity and trust in each other. We also ‘make it happen’ by taking bold decisions and following through to deliver results. Last but not least, we ‘build to scale’, creating lasting solutions that address today’s challenges and anticipate tomorrow’s needs.
So, in a nutshell, that's Pleo. Today we are a 850+ team, from over 100 nations, sitting in our Copenhagen HQ, London, Stockholm, Berlin, Madrid, Montreal and Lisbon offices —and quite a few full-time remotes in 35 other countries! Being HQ'd out of Copenhagen means we're inspired by things like a good work-life balance. If you don't work in the office with us, we'll help you set up the best remote setup possible and make sure you still have time to connect with your team.
About your application
- Please submit your application in English; it’s our company language so you’ll be speaking lots of it if you join 💕
- We treat all candidates equally: If you are interested please apply through our application system - any correspondence should come from there! Our lovely support isn't able to pass on any calls/ emails our way - and this makes sure that the candidate experience is smooth and fair to everyone 😊
- We’re on a mission to make everyone feel valued at work. That’s only achievable if our team reflects the diversity of the world around us - and that starts with you, hitting apply, even if you are worried you might not tick all the boxes! We embrace and encourage people from all backgrounds to apply - regardless of race/ethnicity, colour, religion, nationality, gender, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, neurodiversity, socio-economic status, culture or beliefs.
- When you submit an application we process your personal data as a data processor. Find out more about how your data is used in the FAQs section at the bottom of our jobs page.
Got any questions?
Read our FAQApply for this role
We’re looking for new friends, gifted minds, team players, restless talents and passionate problem solvers.
Some more roles for you...
And it doesn’t stop there. Why not have a browse at our other open roles in this department?
How Pleo hires
1
The first call(s)
Let’s get to know each other. We want to find out more about you, your motivations, and give you more information about the role.
2
The challenge
The task is deliberately open-ended and based on something you'll actually work on. There are no right or wrong answers here.
3
The team interview
Expect to share a (virtual) meeting room with two to three people you'll work with regularly if you get the job.
4
The final interview
A call with someone in leadership who’ll walk you through the big picture and chat about how your role will figure into that.
FAQ
This is a big decision for both of us. If you join us, we’ll spend a lot of time together working on some pretty cool things. That's why we've designed a hiring process that allows everyone to make the right choice. Read more about how we hire here.