Job description
A leading healthcare-focused organization is seeking a senior data security engineer to design and operate data protection capabilities across modern cloud data environments. This role focuses on securing sensitive data, including personally identifiable information and protected health information, through data discovery, classification, access governance, and continuous monitoring.
The position works closely with engineering, analytics, product, and compliance teams to ensure that data is appropriately protected while remaining accessible to authorized users. The role emphasizes building scalable, automated solutions that strengthen data visibility, governance, and security posture.
Responsibilities
- Design, implement, and manage data security posture management capabilities to assess and improve protection of sensitive data across cloud platforms and applications
- Build and maintain automated pipelines for data discovery and scanning across databases, storage systems, and applications
- Develop and enforce data classification policies to ensure consistent handling of sensitive data aligned with regulatory and organizational standards
- Partner with data platform teams to implement and maintain access control models, including role-based and attribute-based access strategies and least-privilege principles
- Create and maintain data inventories, including asset catalogs, ownership mapping, and business context to improve governance and visibility
- Implement monitoring and alerting systems for data access, data movement, and policy violations, integrating with broader security operations workflows
- Collaborate with security, privacy, and legal stakeholders to support data governance initiatives, data reviews, and compliance requirements
- Integrate data security requirements into application design, data architecture, and development processes
- Contribute to the development of security standards, policies, and operational procedures for data protection
- Provide guidance and training to teams on data security best practices and risk mitigation strategies
Required experience and skills
- At least 5 years of experience in security engineering, data engineering, or a related field, with a minimum of 2 years focused on data security, governance, or data protection
- Experience working with cloud data platforms and architectures such as data warehouses, data lakes, or lakehouse environments
- Experience with data discovery, classification, and cataloging tools or frameworks
- Understanding of data protection requirements for sensitive information, including compliance with healthcare and privacy regulations
- Proficiency in scripting or programming languages such as Python for automation and integration
- Strong experience using regular expressions for data parsing and classification tasks
- Familiarity with data platforms such as PostgreSQL, Snowflake, Databricks, or cloud storage systems
- Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to work across technical and non-technical teams
- Experience with data security posture management tools such as Cyera, BigID, Wiz DSPM, or similar platforms
- Experience integrating security controls into data pipelines and transformation workflows
- Knowledge of data lifecycle management, retention policies, and legal hold requirements
- Experience working in regulated environments with strict data governance standards
FAQ
1. What are the primary responsibilities of a Senior Data Security Engineer specializing in DSPM and data protection?
A Senior Data Security Engineer is responsible for protecting enterprise data by implementing security controls, monitoring sensitive information, and developing strategies that reduce data exposure across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments. The role focuses on Data Security Posture Management (DSPM), data governance, encryption, access management, and continuous security monitoring to safeguard critical business assets.
2. What is Data Security Posture Management (DSPM)?
DSPM is a security approach that helps organizations discover, classify, monitor, and protect sensitive data across enterprise systems. It provides visibility into where data resides, who has access to it, how it is being used, and where security risks or compliance gaps may exist.
3. How does this role contribute to enterprise data protection?
The engineer designs and implements data protection strategies that include encryption, access controls, data classification, security policies, and continuous monitoring. These measures help reduce the risk of unauthorized access, data leakage, and cyber threats while supporting regulatory compliance.
4. What types of security technologies are commonly managed in this role?
Security engineers work with data discovery tools, DSPM platforms, identity and access management solutions, encryption technologies, cloud security services, security information and event management (SIEM) platforms, data loss prevention (DLP) solutions, and security automation tools.
5. How does the Senior Data Security Engineer support regulatory compliance?
The role helps organizations comply with data privacy and security regulations by implementing governance controls, auditing access, enforcing security policies, maintaining data inventories, and supporting compliance assessments. These activities strengthen data protection while reducing regulatory risk.
6. What role does cloud security play in this position?
Cloud security is a key responsibility because enterprise data increasingly resides in cloud platforms. The engineer secures cloud storage, databases, analytics platforms, and workloads by implementing secure configurations, monitoring access, protecting sensitive data, and reducing cloud security risks.
7. What challenges are commonly encountered in this role?
Common challenges include protecting sensitive data across distributed environments, managing complex access permissions, identifying shadow data, responding to emerging cyber threats, balancing security with business usability, and maintaining compliance with evolving regulations.
8. What skills are essential for success as a Senior Data Security Engineer?
Strong expertise in data security, DSPM, cloud security, encryption, identity and access management, security architecture, risk assessment, automation, scripting, incident response, and security monitoring is essential. Knowledge of compliance frameworks and enterprise governance practices is also highly valuable.