Sr. Industry Specialist, AWS Security & Risk Compliance

Job description

from Amazon careers

At AWS, Security is priority zero. As part of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Security team, we are looking for an experienced Senior Security Industry Specialist who is passionate about transforming how AWS identifies, evaluates, and resolves security compliance risk. As part of the Risk and Compliance Remediation (RCR) team within AWS Compliance Security Assurance, you'll serve as a strategic compliance risk advisor, providing opinionated risk evaluations and driving proactive remediation strategies that eliminate systemic security compliance risks before they reach auditors, customers, or regulators.

This role requires deep expertise in security compliance frameworks (SOC, PCI, ISO, NIST, FedRAMP), audit standards, and the ability to translate complex regulatory requirements into actionable risk mitigation strategies. You'll work across AWS organizations to influence remediation priorities, own risk acceptance frameworks, and advise senior leadership on compliance posture.

Key job responsibilities
In this role, you will:
• Provide opinionated, defensible risk evaluations of security compliance findings in partnership with audit program managers, determining when to remediate, deflect, negotiate with auditors, or recommend risk acceptance
• Advise Directors and VPs on compliance risk posture, including how concerned leadership should be and how hard to push prioritization on remediation efforts
• Develop and maintain the risk acceptance framework, documenting rationale, escalation thresholds, and leadership communication for accepted risks, with structured tracking of outcomes over time
• Serve as theme owner for compliance framework and process root, identifying systemic patterns across recurring findings and driving interventions that eliminate root causes across AWS services simultaneously
• Lead cross-organizational initiatives to resolve endemic compliance gaps that generate repeated audit findings, working with Security Engineers and Technical Program Managers to synthesize technical, operational, and compliance perspectives into unified risk recommendations
• Develop deep understanding of highly regulated customer requirements across government, healthcare, financial services, and telecommunications sectors, translating audit findings and regulatory obligations into actionable compliance requirements for AWS service teams
• Track remediation method intelligence and build repeatable playbooks for successfully managing auditor expectations, maintaining structured records of management responses and mitigation outcomes to build institutional knowledge
• Contribute to triage systems and risk assessment frameworks that scale RCR's advisory capabilities, developing metrics and reporting that provide leadership with forward-looking compliance risk visibility
• Mentor and contribute to the development of junior team members across the organization

About the team
Diverse Experiences
Amazon Security values diverse experiences. Even if you do not meet all of the qualifications and skills listed in the job description, we encourage candidates to apply. If your career is just starting, hasn’t followed a traditional path, or includes alternative experiences, don’t let it stop you from applying.

Why Amazon Security?
At Amazon, security is central to maintaining customer trust and delivering delightful customer experiences. Our organization is responsible for creating and maintaining a high bar for security across all of Amazon’s products and services. We offer talented security professionals the chance to accelerate their careers with opportunities to build experience in a wide variety of areas including cloud, devices, retail, entertainment, healthcare, operations, and physical stores.

Inclusive Team Culture
In Amazon Security, it’s in our nature to learn and be curious. Ongoing DEI events and learning experiences inspire us to continue learning and to embrace our uniqueness. Addressing the toughest security challenges requires that we seek out and celebrate a diversity of ideas, perspectives, and voices.

Training & Career Growth
We’re continuously raising our performance bar as we strive to become Earth’s Best Employer. That’s why you’ll find endless knowledge-sharing, training, and other career-advancing resources here to help you develop into a better-rounded professional.

Work/Life Balance
We value work-life harmony. Achieving success at work should never come at the expense of sacrifices at home, which is why flexible work hours and arrangements are part of our culture. When we feel supported in the workplace and at home, there’s nothing we can’t achieve.

Basic Qualifications

- Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Information Security, Computer Science, Risk Management, Engineering, Math, Statistics, or a related discipline, or equivalent technology experience
- 7+ years of experience in security compliance, audit, or genernance roles with demonstrated expertise in technology risk, IT security audit, and regulatory compliance.
- Deep expertise with multiple compliance/audit frameworks (e.g., FedRAMP, SOC 2/3, HIPAA, HITRUST, PCI-DSS, ISO 27001, NIST 800-53) with demonstrated ability to apply expertise across different frameworks and regulated industry segments
- Demonstrated experience providing strategic risk advisory to senior leadership (Director level or above) on security compliance matters and proven track record of negotiating with external auditors or regulatory agencies on audit scope, findings, and remediation approaches.

Preferred Qualifications

- CISSP, CISA, CISM or other security certification
- Experience working in cloud computing environments (AWS, Azure, GCP) or with cloud service providers
- Detailed understanding of evaluating the design and effectiveness of IT controls and experience working with auditors/regulators for these types of assessments
- Experience identifying systemic compliance issues and driving cross-organizational remediation programs
- Knowledge of multiple regulated industry segments and their specific compliance requirements
- Experience with risk acceptance frameworks and management response documentation

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations for more information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.

The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.

USA, VA, Arlington - 119,300.00 - 208,900.00 USD annually