Security Engineering Manager

About the Company

This London-headquartered AI drug design company is working to turn the discovery of new medicines from a slow, hit-and-miss process into something closer to engineering. It brings together machine learning researchers, scientists and engineers to design drugs computationally, and it has the backing to match the ambition: well over a billion dollars in funding, and the support of one of the world’s largest technology groups.

The problem is hard, the stakes are human, and the team working on it is exceptional. Everything it builds rests on valuable models, sensitive scientific data and large-scale compute. That makes security a core part of the mission.

The Role

As Security Engineering Manager, you will lead the engineers who keep this science safe and let it move quickly. You will set the direction for how security is designed into the company’s systems, and you will build and grow a team that researchers and engineers see as an enabler rather than a gatekeeper.

This is a manager-level role in London, with real scope to shape a security function inside a company that is scaling fast. You will be close to the work, close to the people doing it, and close to the decisions that matter.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, coach and grow a team of security engineers, setting clear priorities and a high bar for quality.
• Shape and deliver the security engineering roadmap, balancing risk, pace and the needs of a research-driven organisation.
• Build security into the way software, infrastructure and data platforms are designed and shipped, so the safe route is also the easy one.
• Strengthen cloud security, threat detection and incident response capabilities as the company grows.
• Protect proprietary models, scientific data and intellectual property with practical, well-judged controls.
• Work with research, engineering, IT and leadership colleagues to turn complex risks into clear decisions.
• Hire great people and build a team culture that is curious, collaborative and accountable.

Essential Requirements

• Proven experience in security engineering, with a track record of delivering technical security work in complex environments.
• Experience managing or leading engineers, and a genuine enjoyment of developing people.
• Strong working knowledge of modern cloud security and secure infrastructure practices.
• Hands-on understanding of detection, response and risk management, and the judgement to prioritise between them.
• The ability to explain technical risk clearly to scientists, engineers and senior stakeholders alike.
• A pragmatic, partnership-minded approach to security that supports fast-moving teams.

Why Join

• Work on a mission with real consequences: helping to bring better medicines to people faster.
• Join a heavily funded, fast-moving company at the frontier of AI and drug discovery.
• Build and lead a security team at a formative stage, with room to shape its identity and standards.
• Work alongside leading researchers, scientists and engineers who will challenge and sharpen you.
• Grow into a role with real influence over how a pioneering company protects what it creates.

If you would like to know more, I would be glad to talk it through. Drop me a line for a confidential chat about the role, the team and where it could take you.