Staff Infrastructure Security Engineer

Location: San Ramon, CA | Reno, NV |

Ridgeline is on the hunt for an experienced Staff Infrastructure Security Engineer. As a Staff Infrastructure Security Engineer at Ridgeline, you will drive secure-by-default cloud architecture across product areas and set the technical direction for securing Ridgeline’s cloud environments. You are a recognized expert on AWS security and most cloud security specialties, and you drive the security roadmap for those areas. You are a force multiplier for your team and the organization, and a primary security representative for your specialty areas. You will ensure that our cloud development, deployment, and methodologies comply with industry standards and regulations.

This position requires close collaboration and partnership with our Infrastructure and Product organizations. Your role is just as much teaching and bringing those around you on the cloud security journey as it is doing the work. We believe in a culture where security is everyone's responsibility and an integral part of our engineering philosophy.

What You’ll Do

Drive secure-by-default cloud architecture across product areas. Threat model new infrastructure designs and service adoptions, and define security requirements that eliminate risk classes before systems are built.
Identify complex cloud security risks that tooling misses, such as identity chaining, cross-account lateral movement, control plane and data plane separation failures, and supply chain risks. Perform variant analysis to eradicate risk classes across the cloud environment.
Design AI-augmented analysis workflows that combine manual expertise with automated detection to find risks at scale.
Lead high-impact cloud incidents as technical lead or incident commander.
Drive findings to remediation instead of only reporting them: assess real-world exploitability, calibrate risk honestly, and build systemic fixes that reduce the risk rate over time. Use AI to find patterns across historical findings that reveal systemic weaknesses.
Own or lead development of advanced cloud security platforms that scale across the organization, including guardrails and controls in AWS (e.g., SCPs, IAM boundaries, AWS managed security services, custom-built solutions, and policy-as-code).
Architect AI-powered detection and posture management pipelines that reduce manual effort while maintaining accuracy. Relentlessly reduce false positives so engineering teams trust the tools.
Embed security into CI/CD and infrastructure automation, ensuring reproducible, testable, and auditable deployments.
Lead the strategy for access management, least-privilege enforcement, encryption/key management, and runtime protections across the platform.
Build and champion frameworks for secure platform integrations with third-party cloud services and internal tools.
Shape cloud security decisions across multiple engineering organizations. Partner with Staff+ engineers and platform teams on design, not only audit sign-off, and influence through technical credibility rather than policy mandates.
Define and execute complex cross-functional projects from planning to production, deliver within deadlines, manage expectations when plans change, and prioritize work that spans multiple cycles.
Set team standards for effective and responsible use of AI in cloud security workflows, including responsible experimentation and data use. Build lightweight agents and automations that accelerate team outcomes.
Think creatively, own problems, seek solutions, and communicate clearly along the way.

Who You Are & What Makes You Qualified

8+ years of relevant experience in cloud security or platform engineering, including independently defining and executing complex projects from planning to production and leading initiatives across multiple teams.
Expert proficiency in at least one language (Python strongly preferred; Go, Kotlin or TypeScript a plus).
Experience with AWS, especially in the following areas:
Identity and Access Management (IAM, Orgs & SCPs, Identity Center)