Product Security Architects at Equity Bank Kenya

Role Brief

The Product Security Architect will be responsible for designing and development of security control for the business Commercial, Fintech, and digital initiatives. He/ she will work closely with the various business team to understand the product and services and further recommend security controls for inclusion. The controls should be less business disruptive, enforce cyber control, reduce fraud and is frictionless with business objective. The Product Security Architect ensures existing and new business services and products have adequate security controls and conform to Equity Policies, procedures, and standards.

Role Responsibilities

Architecture:

•  Formulate security specific requirements for business services for Commercial, Fintech, and digital initiatives
• Work closely with all the business teams to design and incorporate security as part of product development
• Work closely with the other domain architects to ensure that security is properly embedded in their respective domain architectures.
• Work independently with developers, system/network administrators, product owners, and other relevant stakeholders to ensure secure design, development, and implementation of applications and networks.
• Ensuring timely and comprehensive threat modelling is conducted for new and existing services from different business units in collaboration with identified stakeholders.
• Perform security design reviews of applications, systems, and networks.
• Provide remediation guidance and recommendations to developers and administrators.
• Define Security best practices and standards, interpreting same to business and product owners.
• Familiarity with common vulnerabilities and attack vectors.
• Advise product and business owners on encryption technologies (PGP, SSH, SSL, etc.) and common authentication protocols (OpenID Connect, OAUTH, SAML, RADIUS, LDAP, KERBEROS, etc.)
• Leading and contributing to the security posture of Equity’s networks and systems, data centre infrastructures, cloud architectures and solutions.
• Developing and/or carrying out the strategic direction of security projects to enable execution of the information security strategy

Strategy:

• Excellent understanding of customer transaction flow of commercial and Fintech services.
• In-depth understanding of threat ecosystem, risk identification and profiling, and adaptive controls’ practices.
• Understand B2C, B2B and C2C business models in relation to security controls.
• Ability to simplify analysis and present results clearly at all levels of the business - including at senior management team level

Key Critical Competencies

• Ability to know when to implement solutions with consideration to the wider impacts i.e. risk, cost, customer impact, timescales, etc.
• Excellent negotiation, written and verbal presentation skills.
• Ability to handle high pressure situations with key stakeholders.
• Good Analytical skills, Problem solving and Interpersonal skills.
• Deep knowledge of enterprise application development security controls.
• Some knowledge of Telco convergence, FinTech network traffic consumption

Role Complexity:

• Document security control for each business service delivery.
• Understand Threat Modelling.
• Understand each business function – Commercial, FinTech and digital initiatives

Budgets/ Financial Input

• Provide knowledge of business services and products to the security team
• Consolidate and translate business security needs into finical measurable matrix

Qualifications

• A Degree or its equivalent in Information Technology, Network Security, Enterprise Network Management, Information Security, Management Information System Computing, Engineering or similar area of study.
• Relevant industry certifications in information security programs, and governance as well as PMP will be an added advantage.
• Minimum of 2 years working in information security governance.
• Minimum of 1 year working as a business analyst in technical security and IT (added advantage)
• Good understanding of business models and services in financial, telecom and FinTech domain.
• Good understanding of customer, merchant integration models.
• An excellent team member who is analytical, logical and able to work with other Product team which are dedicated to making Equity products and technologies as secure as possible.
• Experience with creating technical documentation: product documentation, technology, software and systems architecture, and technical whitepapers.
• Working experience with the following concepts: SSL Crypto Solutions, Data Protection and Security, Software Development Methodologies (E.G. Agile), API Gateways, Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing.
• Strong cross-domain and cross-functional knowledge that will enable design of the best possible security technology solutions.
• Has good understanding of the SecureSDLC process and follows the process to effectively develop, design solutions and incorporate threat modelling.
• Ability to function as an individual contributor and mentor/leader detached from the corporate environment.
• Good understanding of Open Application Programming Interface business model.
• Good understanding ISO27001 and PCI-DSS certification. 
• Experience of identifying and managing technology security risk. 
• Up-to-date knowledge of future IP and network security technologies, equipment and their benefits. 
• Widespread knowledge of different IP and network security vendors and solutions, and managed.