Fast Facts

Coursera is seeking a Senior Staff Data Security Privacy Engineer to protect sensitive information, implement privacy programs, and ensure compliance with data protection regulations across the organization.

Responsibilities: Key responsibilities include developing and implementing privacy programs, conducting risk assessments, managing incident responses, ensuring compliance with data protection laws, and collaborating with various teams on data security matters.

Skills: Required skills include extensive experience in Information Security and compliance, knowledge of privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA, familiarity with data classification frameworks, incident response, and security certifications like CISSP, CISA, CISM.

Qualifications: Preferred qualifications include strong analytical skills, experience with privacy risk assessments, the ability to analyze data vulnerabilities, and excellent communication abilities.

Location: The role is remote but candidates must have compatible timezone overlap with their team and possess eligible working rights in the US.

Compensation: $121800 - $295000 / Annually

Coursera was launched in 2012 by Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller with a mission to provide universal access to world-class learning. It is now one of the largest online learning platforms in the world, with 183 million registered learners as of June 30, 2025. Coursera partners with over 350 leading university and industry partners to offer a broad catalog of content and credentials, including courses, Specializations, Professional Certificates, and degrees. Coursera’s platform innovations enable instructors to deliver scalable, personalized, and verified learning experiences to their learners. Institutions worldwide rely on Coursera to upskill and reskill their employees, citizens, and students in high-demand fields such as GenAI, data science, technology, and business. Coursera is a Delaware public benefit corporation and a B Corp.

Join us in our mission to create a world where anyone, anywhere can transform their life through access to education. We're seeking talented individuals who share our passion and drive to revolutionize the way the world learns.

At Coursera, we are committed to building a globally diverse team and are thrilled to extend employment opportunities to individuals in any country where we have a legal entity. We require candidates to possess eligible working rights and have a compatible timezone overlap with their team to facilitate seamless collaboration. 

Coursera has a commitment to enabling flexibility and workspace choices for employees. Our interviews and onboarding are entirely virtual, providing a smooth and efficient experience for our candidates. As an employee, we enable you to select your main way of working, whether it's from home, one of our offices or hubs, or a co-working space near you.

Job Overview:

Sr. Staff Engineer, Data Security and Privacy is responsible for protecting sensitive information from unauthorized access or breaches and ensuring an organization's compliance with data protection laws and regulations. They develop and implement privacy programs, conduct risk assessments, and provide guidance on data security and privacy matters to various departments, ensuring a strong privacy-aware organizational culture.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and Implement Privacy Programs: This includes creating and maintaining policies, procedures, and protocols related to data security and privacy.
• Data Classification and Handling: Develop and implement data classification policies, procedures, and guidelines for proper handling, storage, and disposal of different information categories.
• Data Identification and Mapping: Create and maintain comprehensive data inventories identifying where sensitive information resides throughout the organization, ensuring appropriate controls and protections are applied.
• Conduct Risk Assessments: Identify, evaluate, and mitigate data security and privacy risks, including potential vulnerabilities and threats.
• Incident Response: Lead and coordinate incident response efforts related to data breaches or security incidents, including reporting, communication, and investigation. Ensure Compliance: Stay informed about and ensure compliance with relevant data protection laws and regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA, etc.). 
• Privacy Training: Develop and deliver training programs to educate employees on data security and privacy best practices and responsibilities.
• Collaboration and Communication: Work with various departments, including Legal/Privacy, Engineering, IT, and Sales/Marketing, to integrate privacy into organizational processes. Vendor Management: Oversee and manage vendor data security and privacy practices to ensure they align with organizational policies and legal requirements.
• Contractual Reviews: Review contracts with Enterprise Customers and Partners to assure compliance with data security and privacy requirements.
• Privacy Process Automation: Consult with relevant stakeholders to design and implement automated workflows for privacy and data security operations (e.g., data subject access requests, right to be forgotten requests) to ensure timely and consistent processing.
• Data Loss Prevention: Implement and manage DLP controls across various endpoints and systems to prevent unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information.
• Auditing and Monitoring: Conduct regular audits and monitoring to assess compliance and identify areas for improvement.
• Advise and Consult: Provide guidance and advice to management and other stakeholders on data security and privacy matters.
• Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs): Review and advise on DPIAs to assess the potential impact of data processing activities on privacy rights

Basic Qualifications:

• 10+ years’ of working experience in an Information Security, Privacy and Compliance role and a strong understanding of privacy laws and regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA).
• Experience with incident response planning and execution. Industry standard security certification(s) a Plus: CISSP, CISA, CISM, etc.
• Knowledge of data breach notification procedures and knowledge of relevant industry standards and best practices.
• Experience with data classification frameworks and governance programs and experience with data mapping methodologies and data discovery tools and exposure to configuring and managing DLP solutions and familiarity with workflow automation tools and ticketing systems (e.g., Jira, ServiceNow).
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Preferred Qualifications:

• Ability to analyze and interpret data and identify potential vulnerabilities.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Experience with privacy risk assessments and data protection impact assessments (DPIAs)
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If this opportunity interests you, you might like these courses on Coursera:

• Secure Software Design
• Enterprise and Infrastructure Security
• IT Security: Defense against the digital dark arts

[FOR US ROLES ONLY]

Compensation

US Zone 1: $209,600 to $295,000 USD

US Zone 2: $1218,000 to $251,000 USD

US Zone 3: $167,000 to $236,000 USD

The range(s) listed above is the expected annual base salary for this role, subject to change.

Salary is just one component of Coursera’s total rewards package. All regular employees are also eligible for a bonus program and equity in the form of RSU’s.

A number of factors are taken into account when determining pay, which includes: job level, location, training/education, business need, skill set and internal equity. 

Current Zone Locations:

• Zone 1- San Francisco Metro, New York City Metro or Seattle Metro
• Zone 2 - CA (outside of SF Bay Area), CO, CT, DC, GA, IL, MA, MD, NY/NJ (other than NYC), OR, RI, TX, VA, WA (other than Seattle)
• Zone 3 - all other US locations

Coursera is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer and considers all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected class.

If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, please contact us at [email protected].

For California Candidates, please review our CCPA Applicant Notice here.

For our Global Candidates, please review our GDPR Recruitment Notice here.