Cloud Security Engineer Jobs in California
Cloud Security Engineer jobs in California are among the most active in the country, concentrated in enterprise technology, financial services, defense contracting, and healthcare, with openings at every level from associate to principal engineer. The heaviest hiring is in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego, where employers like Google, Salesforce, and Northrop Grumman maintain large security engineering teams. The most in-demand specialties are cloud identity and access management, zero trust architecture, and DevSecOps pipeline security. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
Find Cloud Security Engineer JobsOverview
Showing 5 of 40+ Cloud Security Engineer jobs
Location
San Francisco, CA
Employment Type
Full time
Location Type
Hybrid
Department
Engineering
Compensation
- Security Engineering - IC4 - SF / NY / SEAAnnual Base Salary $200,479 – $263,129
About Quizlet:
At Quizlet, our mission is to help every learner achieve their outcomes in the most effective and delightful way. We’re a $1B+ learning platform used by two-thirds of U.S. high school students and half of college students, powering over 1 billion learning interactions each week.
We blend cognitive science with machine learning to personalize and enhance the learning experience for students, professionals, and lifelong learners alike. We’re energized by the potential to power more learners through multiple approaches and various tools.
Let’s Build the Future of Learning
Join us to design and deliver AI-powered learning tools that scale across the world and unlock human potential.
Why Join Quizlet?
Massive reach: 60M+ users, 1B+ interactions per week
Cutting-edge tech: Generative AI, adaptive learning, cognitive science
Strong momentum: Top-tier investors, sustainable business, real traction
Mission-first: Work that makes a difference in people’s lives
Inclusive culture: Committed to equity, diversity, and belonging
About the Team:
Security Engineering protects Quizlet's learners, employees, and systems. We build practical safeguards that help teams deliver products securely and confidently. We partner with engineering, infrastructure, trust & safety, and other teams to reduce risk while supporting a reliable experience for learners.
About the Role:
As a Staff Cloud Security Engineer, you will set technical direction and deliver security improvements across our cloud infrastructure and public-facing services. Your primary focus will be Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), workload identity, infrastructure as code, and remediation. You will also improve edge defenses and turn data-protection requirements into technical controls, automated checks, and evidence that those controls work.
In this role, you will:
Lead cloud and Kubernetes security improvements, including workload identity, organization policies, and network protections. Partner with Infrastructure and identity colleagues on design, implementation, and tested rollouts.
Operate cloud security tooling, prioritize findings by risk, and work with engineers to remediate vulnerabilities and harden container images.
Improve WAF rules, rate limits, bot defenses, and anomaly detection to catch malicious traffic while reducing disruption for legitimate users.
Build maintainable security automation and review infrastructure as code so secure configurations are easier to adopt and sustain.
Create self-service patterns for securely exposing new services and connecting AI tools and Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations to approved data.
Partner with engineering to implement agreed data-protection requirements through enforceable controls, CI checks, regression tests, and reliable evidence.
Guide cross-team security decisions, mentor engineers, and support incident response and security on-call responsibilities.
What you bring to the table:
As a rough guide, we’re looking for 8+ years working with public-cloud infrastructure, including 5+ years in cloud security engineering. These are guidelines rather than hard cutoffs; equivalent experience demonstrating the depth and Staff-level impact described here is welcome.
Experience securing GCP and GKE environments.
Deep hands-on experience securing production cloud infrastructure and Kubernetes workloads, including identity and access, networking, Linux, and containers.
Experience using infrastructure as code, such as Terraform, and programming languages such as Python or Go to build security controls and automation.
Ability to translate security requirements into practical controls, automated tests, and evidence of effectiveness.
A record of leading complex technical work across teams, making and explaining sound risk tradeoffs, and communicating clearly and respectfully.
Bonus points if you have:
Experience designing and tuning WAF rules, rate limits, or bot defenses, with attention to detection quality and customer impact.
Experience with Cloudflare and HUMAN/PerimeterX or comparable edge and bot-defense platforms.
Experience operating Wiz or similar cloud security platforms and improving workload and container-image security.
Experience securing AI or MCP integrations, or automating controls that support data-protection commitments and assurance frameworks.
Work Location
We’re happy to share that this is a hybrid position in our San Francisco office. To support collaboration, we ask employees to be in the office at least two days a week: Wednesday and Thursday.
Compensation, Benefits & Perks:
Collaborate with your manager and team to create a healthy work-life balance
20 vacation days that we expect you to take!
Competitive health, dental, and vision insurance (100% employee and 75% dependent PPO, Dental, VSP Choice)
Employer-sponsored 401k plan with company match
Access to LinkedIn Learning and other resources to support professional growth
Paid Family Leave, FSA, HSA, Commuter benefits, and Wellness benefits
40 hours of annual paid time off to participate in volunteer programs of choice
We strive to make everyone feel comfortable and welcome!
We work to create a holistic interview process, where both Quizlet and candidates have an opportunity to view what it would be like to work together, in exploring a mutually beneficial partnership. We provide a transparent setting that gives a comprehensive view of who we are!
In Closing:
At Quizlet, we’re excited about passionate people joining our team—even if you don’t check every box on the requirements list. We value unique perspectives and believe everyone has something meaningful to contribute. Our culture is all about taking initiative, learning through challenges, and striving for high-quality work while staying curious and open to new ideas. We believe in honest, respectful communication, thoughtful collaboration, and creating a supportive space where everyone can grow and succeed together.”
Quizlet’s success as an online learning community depends on a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
As an equal opportunity employer and a tech company committed to societal change, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds. Women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply.
#LI-Onsite
To All Recruiters and Placement Agencies
At this time Quizlet does not accept unsolicited agency resumes and/or profiles.
Please do not forward unsolicited agency resumes to our website or to any Quizlet employee. Quizlet will not pay fees to any third-party agency or firm nor will it be responsible for any agency fees associated with unsolicited resumes. All unsolicited resumes received will be considered the property of Quizlet.
Compensation Range: $200,479 - $263,129Location
San Francisco, CA
Employment Type
Full time
Location Type
Hybrid
Department
Engineering
Compensation
- Security Engineering - IC4 - SF / NY / SEAAnnual Base Salary $200,479 – $263,129
About Quizlet:
At Quizlet, our mission is to help every learner achieve their outcomes in the most effective and delightful way. We’re a $1B+ learning platform used by two-thirds of U.S. high school students and half of college students, powering over 1 billion learning interactions each week.
We blend cognitive science with machine learning to personalize and enhance the learning experience for students, professionals, and lifelong learners alike. We’re energized by the potential to power more learners through multiple approaches and various tools.
Let’s Build the Future of Learning
Join us to design and deliver AI-powered learning tools that scale across the world and unlock human potential.
Why Join Quizlet?
Massive reach: 60M+ users, 1B+ interactions per week
Cutting-edge tech: Generative AI, adaptive learning, cognitive science
Strong momentum: Top-tier investors, sustainable business, real traction
Mission-first: Work that makes a difference in people’s lives
Inclusive culture: Committed to equity, diversity, and belonging
About the Team:
Security Engineering protects Quizlet's learners, employees, and systems. We build practical safeguards that help teams deliver products securely and confidently. We partner with engineering, infrastructure, trust & safety, and other teams to reduce risk while supporting a reliable experience for learners.
About the Role:
As a Staff Cloud Security Engineer, you will set technical direction and deliver security improvements across our cloud infrastructure and public-facing services. Your primary focus will be Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), workload identity, infrastructure as code, and remediation. You will also improve edge defenses and turn data-protection requirements into technical controls, automated checks, and evidence that those controls work.
In this role, you will:
Lead cloud and Kubernetes security improvements, including workload identity, organization policies, and network protections. Partner with Infrastructure and identity colleagues on design, implementation, and tested rollouts.
Operate cloud security tooling, prioritize findings by risk, and work with engineers to remediate vulnerabilities and harden container images.
Improve WAF rules, rate limits, bot defenses, and anomaly detection to catch malicious traffic while reducing disruption for legitimate users.
Build maintainable security automation and review infrastructure as code so secure configurations are easier to adopt and sustain.
Create self-service patterns for securely exposing new services and connecting AI tools and Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations to approved data.
Partner with engineering to implement agreed data-protection requirements through enforceable controls, CI checks, regression tests, and reliable evidence.
Guide cross-team security decisions, mentor engineers, and support incident response and security on-call responsibilities.
What you bring to the table:
As a rough guide, we’re looking for 8+ years working with public-cloud infrastructure, including 5+ years in cloud security engineering. These are guidelines rather than hard cutoffs; equivalent experience demonstrating the depth and Staff-level impact described here is welcome.
Experience securing GCP and GKE environments.
Deep hands-on experience securing production cloud infrastructure and Kubernetes workloads, including identity and access, networking, Linux, and containers.
Experience using infrastructure as code, such as Terraform, and programming languages such as Python or Go to build security controls and automation.
Ability to translate security requirements into practical controls, automated tests, and evidence of effectiveness.
A record of leading complex technical work across teams, making and explaining sound risk tradeoffs, and communicating clearly and respectfully.
Bonus points if you have:
Experience designing and tuning WAF rules, rate limits, or bot defenses, with attention to detection quality and customer impact.
Experience with Cloudflare and HUMAN/PerimeterX or comparable edge and bot-defense platforms.
Experience operating Wiz or similar cloud security platforms and improving workload and container-image security.
Experience securing AI or MCP integrations, or automating controls that support data-protection commitments and assurance frameworks.
Work Location
We’re happy to share that this is a hybrid position in our San Francisco office. To support collaboration, we ask employees to be in the office at least two days a week: Wednesday and Thursday.
Compensation, Benefits & Perks:
Collaborate with your manager and team to create a healthy work-life balance
20 vacation days that we expect you to take!
Competitive health, dental, and vision insurance (100% employee and 75% dependent PPO, Dental, VSP Choice)
Employer-sponsored 401k plan with company match
Access to LinkedIn Learning and other resources to support professional growth
Paid Family Leave, FSA, HSA, Commuter benefits, and Wellness benefits
40 hours of annual paid time off to participate in volunteer programs of choice
We strive to make everyone feel comfortable and welcome!
We work to create a holistic interview process, where both Quizlet and candidates have an opportunity to view what it would be like to work together, in exploring a mutually beneficial partnership. We provide a transparent setting that gives a comprehensive view of who we are!
In Closing:
At Quizlet, we’re excited about passionate people joining our team—even if you don’t check every box on the requirements list. We value unique perspectives and believe everyone has something meaningful to contribute. Our culture is all about taking initiative, learning through challenges, and striving for high-quality work while staying curious and open to new ideas. We believe in honest, respectful communication, thoughtful collaboration, and creating a supportive space where everyone can grow and succeed together.”
Quizlet’s success as an online learning community depends on a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
As an equal opportunity employer and a tech company committed to societal change, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds. Women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply.
#LI-Onsite
To All Recruiters and Placement Agencies
At this time Quizlet does not accept unsolicited agency resumes and/or profiles.
Please do not forward unsolicited agency resumes to our website or to any Quizlet employee. Quizlet will not pay fees to any third-party agency or firm nor will it be responsible for any agency fees associated with unsolicited resumes. All unsolicited resumes received will be considered the property of Quizlet.
Compensation Range: $200,479 - $263,129See All 40 Cloud Security Engineer Jobs in California
Find roles in California that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Cloud Security Engineer JobsCloud Security Engineer Jobs by City in California
Where California roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Cloud Security Engineer Job Market in California
A snapshot from current California openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software
- Marketing & Advertising
What California Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in cloud security engineer jobs across California.
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, cybersecurity, or a related technical field
- Industry certification such as CCSP, CISSP, or AWS Certified Security Specialty
- Hands-on experience securing cloud environments on AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform
- Proficiency with infrastructure-as-code and security tooling such as Terraform and Prisma Cloud
- Knowledge of NIST, CIS, and SOC 2 compliance frameworks relevant to California enterprise environments
- Experience with threat detection, SIEM platforms, and cloud-native security monitoring tools
Cloud Security Engineer Jobs in California: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a cloud security engineer in California?
There is no California state license required to work as a cloud security engineer. The typical path starts with a bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, or cybersecurity, followed by hands-on experience in IT or systems administration. Earning a recognized industry certification such as the CCSP or CISSP is the most reliable way to meet California employer requirements. Many candidates build cloud-specific skills through vendor training programs before applying.
How much do cloud security engineers make in California?
Cloud security engineers in California earn a median of about $138,570 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $66,070 for the lowest 10% to over $221,000 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire cloud security engineers in California?
Employers hiring cloud security engineers in California right now include Google, ALTRUIST, and Hyundai AutoEver America, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. California's concentration of cloud-native technology companies, defense contractors, and large financial institutions makes it one of the deepest markets in the country for this role.
Which California cities have the most cloud security engineer jobs?
San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles have the most cloud security engineer openings in California. The Bay Area leads because of its dense concentration of cloud platform providers and enterprise software companies, while Los Angeles draws heavily from media, fintech, and aerospace employers, and San Diego's market is driven largely by defense contractors and biotech firms with significant cloud infrastructure.
Are there remote cloud security engineer jobs in California?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 82% of cloud security engineer openings tied to California are remote or hybrid as of November 2026, reflecting how much of the work involves securing cloud platforms and reviewing configurations rather than maintaining physical infrastructure. Roles focused on cloud architecture review, policy enforcement, and security automation tend to be the most consistently remote.
How can I get hired as a cloud security engineer in California with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is moving laterally from a cloud administrator, IT analyst, or systems engineer role, where you already handle infrastructure and can build security skills on top of that foundation. Large California technology employers and government contractors often post associate security engineer or security analyst roles that serve as entry points. Earning a cloud security certification such as the AWS Certified Security Specialty or CompTIA Security+ before applying gives candidates a measurable edge, and contributing to open-source security tooling or completing hands-on labs in a personal cloud environment rounds out a portfolio that compensates for limited formal experience.
Where can I find and apply to cloud security engineer jobs in California?
You can find and apply to cloud security engineer jobs in California on Migrate Mate, which lists current California openings. Find roles that fit your background and apply directly.
See All 40 Cloud Security Engineer Jobs in California
Find roles in California that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
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