Sr. Security Engineer

About Nava

Nava is a consultancy and public benefit corporation working to make government services simple and effective. Since 2015, federal, state, and local agencies have trusted Nava to help solve highly scrutinized technology modernization challenges.

As a client services company, we guide agencies constrained by legacy systems to a future with sharp user experiences built on secure, reliable, fault-tolerant cloud infrastructure. We bill for our time, offering our expertise and problem-solving approach to help our government partners enhance their digital products and services. People are at the heart of our work, from members of the public who rely on benefit programs to government agency staff. Through human-centered design and modern engineering best practices, we help our government partners understand user needs and deliver on their missions more effectively. This focus gives everyone at Nava the opportunity to do work that is meaningful, impactful, and deeply connected to public good.

Position summary

The Senior Security Engineer will lead the design, implementation, and ongoing operation of security controls for our clients’ systems.

• Apply Zero Trust principles across system design and integrations
• Translate architectural controls into ongoing, enforceable engineering practices
• Threat model and penetration test our systems and third party applications, with remediation of issues
• Implement automated defense and detection at the operating system and container level
• Own the vulnerability lifecycle: identification, prioritization, remediation, and reporting
• Implement security automation to replace manual compliance tasks (dashboards, automated vulnerability reports, compliance drift detection)
• Integrate vulnerability management into CI/CD and deployment pipelines
• Deep familiarity with NIST 800-53, FISMA, FedRAMP, and HHS-specific requirements
• Experience supporting the Authority to Operate (ATO) process — providing documentation, implementing controls, and maintaining evidence
• Ability to acquire and maintain ATOs by ensuring security controls are continuously met, monitored, and remediated
• Develop scripts and automation to reduce manual effort in compliance, patching, and monitoring
• Integrate security tooling into engineering workflows
• Providing key management services for encryption, identity and access management to ensure users have appropriate permissions
• Design and validate access controls that align with federal standards and data handling policies
• Performing exercises to achieve governance objectives 
• Reviewing services and configurations
• Providing evidence to ensure defined controls are met
• Conducting security impact analysis for changes being made to an application
• Performing exercises to test that plans are up to date

• 6 years experience as security engineer 
• Significant experience in one or more of: Cloud security, Linux/Unix OS and container security, web application and API security
• Zero Trust security architecture and operations
• Vulnerability management & compliance automation
• Security engineering for integrations (SFTP, APIs, file transfers)
• Strong scripting/automation for security tooling
• Federal security standards (NIST, FedRAMP, HHS-specific controls)
• A thoughtful, adaptive, and collaborative mindset
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, technical and otherwise
• Ability to pick up and learn new security, development, and operations skills
• Ability to explain security best practice to less technical stakeholders
• Ability to lead security projects from kick-off to implementation

Other requirements

All roles at Nava require the following:

Legal authorization to work in the United States

Ability to meet any other requirements for government contracts for which candidates are hired

Work authorization that doesn’t require visa sponsorship, now or in the future

May be subject to a government background check or security clearance, depending on the contract

Perks working with Nava

Health coverage — comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans to support your overall health needs

Insurance coverage — Nava provides disability, life, and accidental death insurance at no cost

Time off — vacation, holidays (including Juneteenth), and floating holidays to rest and recharge

Company holidays — enjoy 12 paid federal holidays each year on top of your regular PTO

Annual bonus — when Nava meets its goals, eligible employees receive a performance-based annual bonus

Parental leave — paid time off for new parents, plus weekly meals delivered to your home

Wellness program — full platform offering physical, mental, & emotional health resources & support tools

Virtual care — see doctors online with no copay through UnitedHealthcare’s virtual visit program

Sabbatical leave — earn extended unpaid leave after continuous service for personal growth or rest

401(k) match — Nava matches 4% of your salary to support your retirement savings plan

Flexible work — remote-first environment with flexibility built around your schedule and responsibilities

Home office setup — company laptop & setup assistance provided via Staples for remote work needs

Utility support — monthly reimbursement to help offset eligible home office utility expenses

Learning opportunities — internal training programs and resources to help grow your professional skills

Development opportunities — LinkedIn Learning access & an annual allowance for courses, tuition, & certs 

Referral bonus — get rewarded when you refer great people who join the Nava team

Commuter benefits — pre-tax commuter programs to support in-office travel when applicable

Supportive culture — A collaborative and remote-friendly team environment where people genuinely care

Location

We have fully remote options if you reside in one of the following states: 

Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, DC, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin

*If you are not living in one of the states listed above, unfortunately, you will not be considered for a position at this time. 

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Please contact the recruiting team at [email protected] if you would like to request reasonable accommodation during the application or interviewing process.  

We participate in E-Verify. Upon hire, we will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. This role requires you to work from the contiguous United States.