Principal Security Awareness & Human Risk Engineer

GitLab is the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps. GitLab enables organizations to increase developer productivity, improve operational efficiency, reduce security and compliance risk, and accelerate digital transformation. More than 50 million registered users and more than 50% of the Fortune 100* trust GitLab to ship better, more secure software faster.

The same principles built into our products are reflected in how our team works: we embrace AI as a core productivity multiplier, with all team members expected to incorporate AI into their daily workflows to drive efficiency, innovation, and impact. GitLab is where careers accelerate, innovation flourishes, and every voice is valued. Our high-performance culture is driven by our values and continuous knowledge exchange, enabling our team members to reach their full potential while collaborating with industry leaders to solve complex problems. Co-create the future with us as we build technology that transforms how the world develops software.

*Fortune 500® is a registered trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, used under license. Claim based on GitLab data. Fortune 100 refers to the top 20% ranked companies in the 2025 Fortune 500 list, published in June 2025. Fortune and Fortune Media IP Limited are not affiliated with, and do not endorse products or services of GitLab.

An overview of this role

The Principal Security Awareness & Human Risk Engineer is a strategic individual contributor role within GitLab's Security Assurance team. The role owns GitLab's global security awareness and education program and drives measurable reduction in human-related security risk — moving the program beyond completion-rate compliance toward sustained behavior change and embedded security culture.

What You’ll Do

Own and evolve the global security awareness and education program, spanning annual, new-hire, role-based, targeted, executive, and microlearning content.

Lead the phishing simulation program end to end — design, deployment, analysis, and targeted follow-up.

Apply behavior change principles to reinforce secure habits and address priority risk behaviors.

Build and sustain security culture through learning campaigns, Security Awareness Month, and ongoing engagement.

Produce multimedia awareness and education content, including video.

Administer the training and phishing platforms, owning program data and reporting end to end.

Define and report performance indicators to Security Assurance leadership.

Own vendor relationships for phishing, secure coding (OWASP) training, and video production.

Lead market and competitor evaluations, renewal decisions, and cost negotiation, recommending in-house builds where commercial options underperform.

Collaborate on and maintain security policies, standards, and procedures.

Coordinate audit evidence and demonstrate control effectiveness.

Track remediation of identified gaps to closure.

What You’ll Bring

A minimum of 10 years' experience building or scaling global awareness and human-risk programs in a large, globally distributed enterprise, with measurable outcomes; regulated-industry experience preferred.

SANS Security Awareness Professional (SSAP) certification, or equivalent demonstrated expertise in building, maintaining, and measuring a mature awareness program.

Demonstrated experience running enterprise-scale phishing programs and organization-wide awareness campaigns.

Track record of evaluating, selecting, consolidating, or replacing security training vendors, including cost and value analysis.

Instructional design capability

Working knowledge of security policy development, audit support, and control evidence.

Ability to influence enterprise strategy across technical and non-technical teams without formal authority.

Ability to make complex security topics practical and engaging in an all-remote organization.

Track record of onboarding, managing, and negotiating with third party vendors.

About the team