Global Director of Application Security

About Northern Trust:

Northern Trust a Fortune 500 company is a globally recognized award-winning financial institution that has been in continuous operation since 1889.

Northern Trust is proud to provide innovative financial services and guidance to the worlds most successful individuals families and institutions by remaining true to our enduring principles of service expertise and integrity. With more than 130 years of financial experience and over 22000 partners we serve the worlds most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.

About the Role
Northern Trust is seeking a Global Director of Application Security to lead the enterprise strategy governance and modernization of application security. This leader will define policies and standards embed security into modern development practices and drive the transition from traditional (pre-AI) application security models to AI-enabled post-AI security capabilities.

This is a highly visible leadership role requiring a hands-on technically credible leader who can partner with engineering and security teams to deliver secure software at scale in a complex global financial environment.

What Youll Do
Own the Application Security Strategy
Define and execute the enterprise Application Security vision roadmap and operating model aligned to business and technology priorities.
Establish Governance & Standards
Develop and enforce application security policies standards and controls across the software development lifecycle (SDLC) including APIs CI/CD pipelines and software supply chain.
Lead the AI Security Transformation
Shape how the organization evolves from traditional development security to AI-assisted and AI-generated development models including guardrails validation and governance.
Drive Secure DevSecOps Practices
Partner with engineering and platform teams to embed security into CI/CD pipelines using scalable automated developer-friendly approaches (SAST DAST SCA IaC secrets etc.).
Lead and Scale a High-Impact Team
Manage an initial team of 4 direct reports (North America) and 10 contractors building a high-performing technically strong organization.
Engage and Influence Leadership
Act as a senior advisor to cybersecurity and technology leadership communicating risk strategy and progress to executive stakeholders.
Deliver Measurable Risk Reduction
Define KPIs and drive improvements in vulnerability management remediation velocity and overall application security posture.

What Were Looking For

Required
10 years in application security cybersecurity or software engineering
5 years leading application security or DevSecOps programs at enterprise scale
Experience defining and enforcing security policies standards and governance
Strong technical depth in secure software development and modern SDLC practices
Proven ability to influence engineering teams and senior stakeholders
Experience leading small high-impact teams including contractors
Preferred
Hands-on experience developing software in large enterprises with mature DevOps / CI/CD pipelines
Background in software engineering architecture or platform engineering
Experience with:
SAST DAST SCA
Software supply chain security
API and cloud-native application security
CI/CD pipeline security and automation
Familiarity with AI-assisted development and its security implications
Financial services or regulated industry experience

Why This Role Matters
You will define the future of Application Security at Northern Trustmodernizing how secure software is built and governed while positioning the organization for the next generation of AI-driven development and risk management.

Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future. Northern Trust will not sponsor applicants for U.S. work visa status for this opportunity (no sponsorship is available for H-1B L-1 TN O-1 E-3 H-1B1 F-1 J-1 OPT CPT or any other employment-based visa)

Salary Range:

Salary range is a good faith estimate of base pay. Northern Trust provides a comprehensive benefits package including retirement benefits (401k and pension) health and welfare benefits (medical dental vision spending accounts and disability) paid time off parental and caregiver leave life & accident insurance and other voluntary and well-being benefits. Northern Trust also provides a discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component.

Working with Us:

As a Northern Trust partner greater achievements await. You will be part of a flexible and collaborative work culture in an organization where financial strength and stability is an asset that emboldens us to explore new ideas.

Movement within the organization is encouraged senior leaders are accessible and you can take pride in working for a company committed to assisting the communities we serve!Join a workplace with a greater purpose.

Wed love to learn more about how your interests and experience could be a fit with one of the worlds most admired and sustainable companies! Build your career with us andapply today.#MadeForGreater

Reasonable accommodation

Northern Trust is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process please email our HR Service Center at .

We hope youre excited about the role and the opportunity to work with us. We value an inclusive workplace and understand flexibility means different things to different people.

Apply today and talk to us about your flexible working requirements and together we can achieve greater.