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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Information Security Architect

💰 $ - $

Information SecurityCybersecurityArchitecture

🎯 Role Definition

The Information Security Architect designs, governs, and operationalizes enterprise-wide security solutions and controls to protect data, applications, infrastructure, and users. This role establishes secure architecture patterns for cloud and on-prem environments, integrates security into the software development lifecycle (SDLC), leads threat modeling and risk assessments, and partners with engineering, product, and business stakeholders to ensure secure-by-design outcomes across the organization. The ideal candidate balances deep technical knowledge (cloud security, network segmentation, IAM, encryption, SIEM/EDR) with strategic skills in governance, compliance, and stakeholder communication.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Security Engineer with demonstrated architecture experience
  • Security Consultant or Technical Security Specialist with enterprise engagements
  • Cloud Architect or Network Architect transitioning into security-focused roles

Advancement To:

  • Principal Security Architect
  • Director of Security Architecture or Security Engineering
  • Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)

Lateral Moves:

  • Cloud Security Architect
  • Enterprise Architect (with security specialization)
  • Risk & Compliance Lead / Head of Third-Party Risk

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Design and document secure, scalable, and maintainable security architectures for hybrid cloud and on-premise environments, including network segmentation, secure network topologies, and integration patterns for AWS/Azure/GCP.
  • Lead threat modeling workshops with product, engineering, and platform teams to identify attack surfaces, enumerate threat scenarios, recommend mitigations, and prioritize remediation within the development lifecycle.
  • Define and maintain enterprise security architecture standards, reference designs, and guardrails (including Zero Trust principles) to drive consistent secure-by-design implementations across cloud platforms, containers, and serverless services.
  • Architect and operationalize identity and access management (IAM) solutions including SSO, SAML/OAuth/OpenID Connect, RBAC/ABAC policy models, privileged access management (PAM), and lifecycle automation for accounts and keys.
  • Architect encryption and key management strategies for data at rest, data in transit, and data in use, specifying cryptographic standards, KMS/HSM integrations, and certificate lifecycle management.
  • Develop and enforce secure SDLC practices and DevSecOps integrations: design automated security testing in CI/CD pipelines, IaC scanning (Terraform/CloudFormation), SCA, SAST/DAST orchestration, and shift-left security tooling.
  • Evaluate, select, and integrate security platforms and tooling such as SIEM (Splunk/Elastic/ArcSight), SOAR, EDR/XDR, WAF, CASB, DLP, vulnerability management (Tenable/Qualys), secrets management, and container security solutions.
  • Lead architecture reviews and security risk assessments for new projects, third-party vendors, and strategic initiatives; produce security design review artifacts, risk treatment plans, and executive briefings.
  • Own vulnerability management architecture: design scanning cadence, exploitability triage, patching strategy, compensating controls, and metrics to reduce risk exposure across systems and cloud workloads.
  • Define monitoring, detection, and incident response requirements, including SIEM use cases, logging architecture, telemetry standards, alert prioritization, and playbook-driven automation to accelerate mean time to detect and respond.
  • Translate business and regulatory requirements (PCI-DSS, SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, NIST CSF/800-53, ISO 27001) into technical architecture controls and lead compliance mapping and remediation activities.
  • Design secure API and microservice architectures, including authentication/authorization patterns, rate limiting, payload validation, input sanitization, and secure API gateway configurations.
  • Architect container and orchestration security controls (Kubernetes/Rancher/OpenShift) including network policies, runtime protection, image signing and scanning, admission controls, and least-privilege service accounts.
  • Provide architecture-level guidance for endpoint and mobile security, defining EDR/MDM profiles, application hardening, and secure remote access strategies including VPN alternatives and conditional access.
  • Develop and maintain security architecture artifacts: diagrams, standards, patterns, reusable modules, and decision logs to accelerate secure implementations and onboarding of new teams.
  • Conduct periodic architecture and control effectiveness reviews, maturity assessments, and gap analyses; propose roadmap initiatives to remediate systemic risks and improve security posture.
  • Partner with procurement and vendor management to evaluate security posture of third-party services, perform secure design reviews for SaaS/PaaS vendors, and define contractual security requirements and SLAs.
  • Provide technical leadership and mentoring to security engineers and architects; define training plans, conduct brown-bag sessions, and grow the organization’s secure architecture capability.
  • Implement and evangelize Zero Trust network access models, least-privilege access, micro-segmentation strategies, and continuous adaptive risk-based authentication to reduce lateral movement risk.
  • Lead proof-of-concept (POC) evaluations and pilot implementations for emerging security technologies; prepare cost/benefit analyses, runbooks, rollout plans, and scaling considerations.
  • Collaborate with product and engineering leadership to balance security controls with product velocity, providing pragmatic risk-based tradeoffs and documented exceptions when needed.
  • Define security KPIs and reporting dashboards to communicate architecture effectiveness and risk trends to senior leadership and the board, including risk reduction metrics and control coverage.
  • Drive incident remediations from an architecture perspective after major security events; perform root cause analysis, design long-term mitigations, and update architecture patterns to prevent recurrence.
  • Ensure secure telemetry and observability by defining logging standards (structured logs, trace context, retention), monitoring of cloud-native services, and integration with SOC tooling.
  • Participate in change control and release governance to ensure architectural security reviews are part of major changes, mergers, and acquisitions, including security due diligence.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc security assessments, architecture deep dives, and feasibility studies to accelerate secure product delivery.
  • Contribute to the organization's security architecture roadmap, prioritizing initiatives that reduce risk and enable business goals.
  • Collaborate with engineering teams to translate security architecture patterns into implementation guides, IaC modules, and reusable policy-as-code artifacts.
  • Participate in sprint planning, security gating, and architectural ceremonies with development teams to ensure alignment and timely risk mitigation.
  • Provide subject-matter expertise for security-related RFPs, proposals, and technical procurement evaluations.
  • Assist in creating and updating runbooks, playbooks, and operational procedures for security tooling and platform integrations.
  • Facilitate cross-functional workshops to socialize new architecture standards and gather feedback for continuous improvement.
  • Support internal audits and external assessments by preparing architecture documentation, evidence packages, and remediation plans.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Cloud security architecture for AWS, Azure, and/or Google Cloud Platform (GCP) including VPC/VNet design, IAM policies, KMS, CSPM, and cloud-native security services.
  • Identity and Access Management (IAM) expertise: SSO, SAML, OAuth2/OpenID Connect, SCIM, RBAC/ABAC design, and PAM/PIM solutions.
  • Secure infrastructure and network architecture: firewalls, IDS/IPS, micro-segmentation, VPN/Zero Trust Network Access, and hybrid connectivity security.
  • DevSecOps and secure SDLC: experience with CI/CD security integrations, IaC scanning (Terraform, CloudFormation), SAST/DAST tools, and policy-as-code (OPA, Sentinel).
  • Container and orchestration security: Kubernetes security controls, admission controllers, image scanning, runtime protection, and service mesh considerations.
  • SIEM/Logging and detection engineering: threat detection use case design, log architecture, telemetry, and integration with SOAR and incident response tooling.
  • Vulnerability management and penetration testing: vulnerability scanning platforms (Tenable, Qualys), remediation processes, and managing pentest engagements.
  • Application security fundamentals: threat modeling, secure coding practices, API security, secrets management, and web app protections (WAF).
  • Cryptography and key management: encryption protocols, PKI, HSM/KMS design, certificate lifecycle, and secure key rotation practices.
  • Compliance and governance: mapping controls to NIST, ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI-DSS, GDPR/HIPAA and implementing compensating controls.
  • Security product evaluation and architecture integration: CASB, DLP, EDR/XDR, WAF, API gateways, identity providers, and cloud security posture management (CSPM).
  • Automation & scripting: Python, Bash, Terraform, ARM templates, CloudFormation, and automation of security controls and monitoring.
  • Architecture frameworks and documentation: TOGAF, reference architectures, UML/Diagrams, and architecture decision records (ADR).
  • Network and protocol knowledge: TCP/IP, BGP, DNS security, TLS, OAuth flows, and secure API patterns.

Soft Skills

  • Strong written and verbal communication skills to translate complex security concepts into business terms for executives and cross-functional teams.
  • Stakeholder management and influencing skills to drive adoption of security architecture patterns while enabling product timelines.
  • Strategic thinking and business acumen to prioritize architecture work that reduces risk and supports revenue and operational objectives.
  • Leadership and mentorship: ability to lead cross-functional design reviews and grow technical competency across the security team.
  • Problem-solving and analytical mindset for root cause analysis and pragmatic risk-based decision making.
  • Project management and organizational skills to manage architecture roadmaps, POCs, and multi-team rollouts.
  • Collaboration and facilitation skills to run workshops, threat modeling sessions, and architecture governance boards.
  • Adaptability and continuous learning orientation to keep pace with evolving threat landscapes and emerging security technologies.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Security, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related technical field.

Preferred Education:

  • Master’s degree in Cybersecurity, Information Technology, Computer Science, or an MBA with strong technical electives.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Cybersecurity
  • Computer Science
  • Information Systems
  • Network Engineering
  • Software Engineering

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 8+ years in information security with at least 3–5 years in an architecture or senior engineering role.

Preferred:

  • 10+ years of progressive experience in enterprise security architecture, cloud security, or security engineering.
  • Proven track record designing security architectures for medium to large-scale distributed systems and cloud-native platforms.
  • Experience supporting compliance frameworks (NIST, ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI-DSS) and evidence collection for audits.
  • Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional security initiatives, mentoring engineers, and delivering security roadmaps.

Certifications (highly desired): CISSP, CISM, CCSK, CCSP, AWS Certified Security – Specialty, GIAC certifications (GSEC, GCIH, GCIA), or relevant vendor certifications.

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