Software Engineer, Security at Persona in San Francisco, CA

SOFTWARE ENGINEER, SECURITY Location: San Francisco About Persona Persona is the configurable identity platform built for businesses in a digital-first world. Verifying individuals and organizations is harder — but more important — than ever, with AI enabling fraudsters to launch sophisticated accounts at scale and regulations evolving rapidly. We’ve built Persona to support practically every use case and industry — that’s why we’re able to serve a wide range of leading companies. For example, Reddit relies on Persona for age assurance and verification to comply with online safety regulations, protecting younger users while maintaining a seamless experience. Meanwhile, OpenAI relies on Persona to keep bad actors out, protecting one of the world’s most powerful AI platforms from large-scale abuse in a time when AI is reshaping the way we work and live. We’re growing rapidly and looking for exceptional people to join us! About the Role Persona builds identity verification infrastructure. Security isn't a layer we add later. It's core to everything we ship. At most companies, a security failure means downtime. Here, it means a real person's identity is compromised. The stakes at Persona are different. AI is raising the bar on both sides: it's making breaches more common and more damaging, and it's letting us build systems in-house that used to be out of reach, changing how we think about build vs. buy in real time. The engineers who can move fast on both are the ones this role is for. This is a software engineering role first. Security curiosity matters while a dedicated security background doesn't. The team runs more like infrastructure than a typical security org: not in a silo, a lot of what we ship is core product code, and you'll be building alongside other engineering teams, not just configuring what they've already built. What you'll work on • Designing and building IAM systems that enterprise customers use to manage PII across global teams • Internal IAM solutions for least-privilege access across the entire company • The framework that encrypts hundreds of distinct columns with sensitive data • Supply chain security as Persona's AI tooling and integrations expand • Building secure, convenient internal tooling for engineers as we scale AI usage Must-haves • 3+ years of software engineering experience • You've built and shipped systems at scale, not just advised on them • You own implementation end-to-end, from design to delivery to operation • Clear communicator who can work across teams without losing technical depth • Willingness to operate in multiple languages, infrastructures Nice to haves • Proficient in Ruby on Rails • Experience with IAM, authn/authz frameworks, or identity protocols (OAuth, SAML, OIDC) • Familiarity with software supply chain security, secure SDLC, or AI/ML security risks • You've worked somewhere where PII or sensitive data was the core product The team Small and high trust by design. High ownership from day one. This isn't a team where your work disappears into a large org, and it isn't a team where you just configure what someone else built. The team's seniority means you'll be talking every day with experienced engineers who genuinely want to collaborate and teach, both within security and across the product and platform teams we partner with. Everyone on the team got into security through a different path, and you don't need a security background to be a strong fit here. Based in San Francisco, CA. Relocation assistance available. Benefits and Perks For full-time US-based employees (excluding internship and contractor opportunities), Persona offers a wide range of benefits, including medical, dental, and vision, 3% 401(k) contribution, unlimited PTO, quarterly mental health days, family planning benefits, professional development stipend, wellness benefits, among others. For full-time UK employees, Persona offers a wide range of benefits, including private medical insurance, dental insurance, a 6% employer pension contribution, unlimited PTO, a monthly wellness stipend, professional development stipend, co-working stipend, and more. As part of our interview process, all candidates will be asked to verify their identity with Persona. This step is used solely to confirm that candidates are who they say they are, and will have no impact on hiring decisions.