Head of Cryptography, MD
Who we are looking for
The Managing Director, Head of Cryptography is a senior leadership role responsible for defining, governing, and advancing the firm's enterprise cryptography, key management, secrets management, and cryptographic modernization strategy.
This leader will be accountable for ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, authenticity, and resilience of the firm's critical systems, applications, data, and digital transactions through industry-leading cryptographic controls and services.
Why this role is important to us
The role requires a forward-thinking technical executive capable of driving enterprise-scale transformation across cloud, hybrid, and emerging technology environments. The successful candidate will lead the evolution of cryptographic capabilities to support modern architectures, AI-enabled platforms, cloud-native services, machine identities, and future threats, including quantum computing risks.
This executive will partner closely with Infrastructure, Cloud Engineering, Application Development, Data, Security Architecture, IAM, and Enterprise Architecture teams to ensure cryptography is embedded by design across the organization's technology ecosystem.
What you will be responsible for
Enterprise Cryptography Strategy
Define and execute the firm's comprehensive cryptography strategy, roadmap, and governance framework.
Establish enterprise standards and policies covering:
Encryption at rest
Encryption in transit
Key management
Secrets management
Certificate management
Digital signatures
Tokenization
Hardware Security Modules (HSMs)
Cryptographic agility
Ensure cryptographic capabilities support business growth, regulatory expectations, cloud transformation, and emerging technology adoption.
Develop executive-level metrics and reporting that provide visibility into cryptographic maturity, risk exposure, and modernization progress.
Cryptographic Modernization
Lead enterprise initiatives to modernize the firm's cryptographic infrastructure and services.
Drive programs focused on:
Cryptographic inventory and visibility
Legacy algorithm remediation
Deprecation of weak cryptographic standards
Secure migration strategies
Cryptographic agility
Automated cryptographic lifecycle management
Develop a roadmap that reduces operational complexity while improving security resilience across all environments.
Partner with engineering teams to ensure cryptographic controls remain scalable, performant, and developer-friendly.
Key Management & Secrets Management
Establish and operate enterprise-class key management services supporting the firm's most critical systems and data.
Lead strategy and execution across:
Enterprise Key Management Systems (KMS)
Hardware Security Modules (HSM)
Secrets vaults
Machine identity management
Certificate lifecycle management
Service-to-service authentication
Drive adoption of automated key lifecycle capabilities, including:
Automated provisioning
Automated rotation
Revocation
Expiration management
Recovery procedures
Reduce operational risk through consistent, centralized, and automated cryptographic controls.
Cloud & Platform Security Enablement
Partner with Cloud Engineering, Infrastructure, and Application teams to embed cryptographic controls into enterprise platforms.
Establish secure-by-default cryptographic services that support:
Multi-cloud environments
SaaS platforms
Containerized workloads
Kubernetes environments
Modern application architectures
Data platforms
AI and machine learning environments
Enable engineering teams through reusable services, APIs, automation, and paved-road security patterns.
Machine Identity & Certificate Security
Develop and modernize the firm's machine identity strategy.
Lead efforts to secure and manage:
Certificates
APIs
Service accounts
Workload identities
Non-human identities
Infrastructure identities
Improve visibility and governance across machine identity ecosystems while reducing risks associated with expired, misconfigured, or unmanaged credentials.
Drive automation to eliminate manual certificate and identity management processes wherever possible.
Post-Quantum Cryptography Readiness
Lead the firm's post-quantum cryptography strategy.
Develop capabilities to:
Inventory cryptographic dependencies
Assess quantum risk exposure
Prioritize remediation efforts
Establish migration roadmaps
Implement cryptographic agility standards
Partner with Enterprise Architecture and Technology leadership to ensure long-term resilience against emerging cryptographic threats.
Provide executive guidance on evolving industry standards and regulatory expectations related to quantum readiness.
Risk Management & Control Governance
Establish enterprise-wide processes for assessing cryptographic risks and control effectiveness.
Drive initiatives to:
Identify cryptographic gaps
Evaluate implementation quality
Assess key management maturity
Measure cryptographic coverage
Prioritize remediation by risk
Develop governance mechanisms that ensure adherence to enterprise cryptographic standards across all technology domains.
Regulatory & Audit Engagement
Ensure cryptographic controls align with regulatory, client, and industry expectations.
Support compliance with frameworks including:
FFIEC
NIST
ISO 27001
PCI DSS
NYDFS
GDPR
SEC requirements
Serve as the senior cryptography subject matter expert during regulatory examinations, internal audits, client assessments, and control reviews.
Provide clear and defensible narratives regarding cryptographic controls, key management practices, and risk mitigation strategies.
Executive Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement
Serve as a trusted advisor to the CISO, CIO, CTO, Chief Data Officer, and senior technology leadership.
Translate highly technical cryptographic concepts into practical business decisions and investment priorities.
Influence enterprise architecture, platform strategy, cloud adoption, and modernization efforts through cryptographic expertise.
Build strong partnerships across Security, Technology, Infrastructure, Data, Risk, and Compliance organizations.
Team Leadership & Development
Build and lead a world-class Cryptography organization responsible for:
Cryptography Engineering
Key Management Services
Secrets Management
PKI Operations
Machine Identity Security
Cryptographic Modernization
Post-Quantum Readiness
Develop technical talent and create a culture focused on engineering excellence, automation, innovation, and operational resilience.
Act as the firm's senior cryptographic authority and mentor for engineering and security leaders.
What we value
These skills will help you succeed in this role
15+ years of experience in cybersecurity, cryptography, security engineering, or infrastructure security leadership roles.
Demonstrated success leading enterprise cryptography or key management programs within large, highly regulated organizations.
Deep expertise in:
Applied cryptography
PKI
Key management
HSM technologies
Secrets management
Certificate lifecycle management
Cloud security architectures
Experience designing cryptographic controls across cloud-native, hybrid, and distributed environments.
Strong understanding of post-quantum cryptography strategies and emerging cryptographic standards.
Proven track record leading large-scale modernization and transformation initiatives.
Experience engaging with executive leadership, regulators, auditors, and major clients.
Additional requirements
Recognized industry expert in cryptography and cryptographic security services.
Strong technical depth combined with executive-level communication skills.
Strategic thinker capable of balancing innovation, resilience, and operational effectiveness.
Passion for automation, simplification, and engineering excellence.
Strong understanding of cloud, identity, infrastructure, and modern application architectures.
Ability to influence enterprise-wide technology decisions.
Risk-focused mindset with strong governance and control discipline.
Trusted leader with a track record of building and scaling high-performing technical organizations.
Education & Preferred Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Security, Mathematics, or related discipline.
Advanced degree preferred.
Relevant certifications such as CISSP, CCSP, CISM, GCFA, or specialized cryptography/security certifications are highly desirable.
What We Offer
Opportunity to lead cryptographic strategy and modernization for a global systemically important financial institution.
Executive-level influence over cloud, AI, platform, and infrastructure transformation initiatives.
Ability to shape the firm's future cryptographic and post-quantum security posture.
Competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits.
Collaborative culture focused on innovation, trust, resilience, and engineering excellence.
Salary Range:
$175,000 - $287,500 AnnualThe range quoted above applies to the role in the primary location specified. If the candidate would ultimately work outside of the primary location above, the applicable range could differ.
Employees are eligible to participate in State Street’s comprehensive benefits program, which includes: our retirement savings plan (401K) with company match; insurance coverage including basic life, medical, dental, vision, long-term disability, and other optional additional coverages; paid-time off including vacation, sick leave, short term disability, and family care responsibilities; access to our Employee Assistance Program; incentive compensation including eligibility for annual performance-based awards (excluding certain sales roles subject to sales incentive plans); and, eligibility for certain tax advantaged savings plans.
For a full overview, visit https://hrportal.ehr.com/statestreet/Home.
About State Street
Across the globe, institutional investors rely on us to help them manage risk, respond to challenges, and drive performance and profitability. We keep our clients at the heart of everything we do, and smart, engaged employees are essential to our continued success.
We are committed to fostering an environment where every employee feels valued and empowered to reach their full potential. As an essential partner in our shared success, you’ll benefit from inclusive development opportunities, flexible work-life support, paid volunteer days, and vibrant employee networks that keep you connected to what matters most. Join us in shaping the future.
As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we consider all qualified applicants for all positions without regard to race, creed, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, ethnicity, age, disability, genetic information, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, citizenship, marital status, domestic partnership or civil union status, familial status, military and veteran status, and other characteristics protected by applicable law.
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