Block is one company built from many blocks, all united by the same purpose of economic empowerment. The blocks that form our foundational teams — People, Finance, Counsel, Hardware, Information Security, Platform Infrastructure Engineering, and more — provide support and guidance at the corporate level. They work across business groups and around the globe, spanning time zones and disciplines to develop inclusive People policies, forecast finances, give legal counsel, safeguard systems, nurture new initiatives, and more. Every challenge creates possibilities, and we need different perspectives to see them all. Bring yours to Block.

Information Security culture is focused on enabling our engineering teams to build and ship secure products. We achieve this by designing, building, and deploying state-of-the-art security alongside our product and infrastructure teams.

As a Principal Engineer at Block, you will be responsible for oversight and security hardening of our Linux environments used on-prem and in the cloud.

Block is undergoing multiple exciting transformations. First is on-prem to the cloud (primarily AWS). Linux distro and kernel security is the basis of all higher-level cloud constructs. Secondly, Block is beginning to plan a migration off of Centos 7 on-prem. The successor distro has not been chosen, but we do know that it will not be Centos.

This role is a combination of advisor, security architect, and hands-on implementer. You will be a bridge between Information Security and Production Infrastructure Engineering. You will represent InfoSec in critical decisions such as the successor to Centos. You will assist the infra team in implementing the successor securely: distro hardening, kernel hardening, patching automation and scanning, and so on.

This is the first dedicated Linux Security Engineer hired by Block; you will be expected to work independently and with strong judgment. We’re looking for someone who is driven to improve security, who can prioritize their own work, and who is able to work cross-functionally with multiple infrastructure and security teams.

This position is open to remote work anywhere in USA or Canada.

You will:

• Set the direction for Linux OS security for the entire company.

• Implement Linux security features and projects, both solo and in conjunction with infrastructure teams.

You have:

• 12+ years work experience in technology

• 5+ years of work building, debugging, shipping, maintaining, or hardening Linux distros.

• 5+ years of work performing security. This need not have been for an InfoSec team. For example, working on patching vulnerabilities while part of an infrastructure team would count.

• As the first hire on this team, you will need an established ability to work independently.

Even better:

• Specific experience hardening an off-the-shelf distro for high-security requirements.

• Familiarity with Kubernetes

• Experience with docker and containers

• Experience with AWS or GCP

We’re working to build a more inclusive economy where our customers have equal access to opportunity, and we strive to live by these same values in building our workplace. Block is a proud equal opportunity employer. We work hard to evaluate all employees and job applicants consistently, without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, pregnancy, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class. 

We believe in being fair, and are committed to an inclusive interview experience, including providing reasonable accommodations to disabled applicants throughout the recruitment process. We encourage applicants to share any needed accommodations with their recruiter, who will treat these requests as confidentially as possible. Want to learn more about what we’re doing to build a workplace that is fair and square? Check out our I+D page. 

Additionally, we consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment on our team, and always assess candidates on an individualized basis.

Perks

We want you to be well and thrive. Our global benefits package includes:

• Healthcare coverage
• Retirement Plans
• Employee Stock Purchase Program
• Wellness perks
• Paid parental leave
• Paid time off
• Learning and Development resources

Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) is a global technology company with a focus on financial services. Made up of Square, Cash App, Spiral, TIDAL, and TBD, we build tools to help more people access the economy. Square helps sellers run and grow their businesses with its integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions, business software, and banking services. With Cash App, anyone can easily send, spend, or invest their money in stocks or Bitcoin. Spiral (formerly Square Crypto) builds and funds free, open-source Bitcoin projects. Artists use TIDAL to help them succeed as entrepreneurs and connect more deeply with fans. TBD is building an open developer platform to make it easier to access Bitcoin and other blockchain technologies without having to go through an institution.