OPT Cybersecurity Engineer Jobs
Cybersecurity Engineer roles are among the most OPT-friendly positions in tech. Most require a degree in computer science, information security, or a related field, and many employers already hold active security clearances or government contracts that make them familiar with work authorization requirements, including the 12-month standard OPT period and the 24-month STEM extension.
Find OPT Cybersecurity Engineer JobsOverview
Showing 5 of 276+ Cybersecurity Engineer jobs
See all 276+ Cybersecurity Engineer Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new Cybersecurity Engineer roles.
Get Access To All JobsResponsibilities
About the Team
TikTok is seeking a GRC Cybersecurity Controls Analyst to join the TikTok USDS Joint Venture (JV) GRC Controls & Certifications team. This role will support the operation, testing, and continuous improvement of the controls framework and will help drive audit readiness across key security, compliance, privacy, and regulatory obligations. The candidate will work closely with control owners, product teams, security teams, privacy, legal, internal audit, external auditors, and GRC leadership to evaluate control design, implementation, and operating effectiveness.
About the Role
The role will support control testing, evidence review, audit response coordination, control narrative development, and issue identification across frameworks and obligations such as ISO 27001, SOC 2, NIST CSF, PCI, control validation, and other certification or assessment activities. The candidate will also help mature the team’s approach to GRC automation and engineering. This includes improving how controls are mapped, tested, monitored, and reported through tooling, dashboards, structured data, workflow automation, evidence recommendations, and scalable testing. The ideal candidate is comfortable working at the intersection of GRC, security controls, audit readiness, and process automation.
Key responsibilities include:
- Support the maintenance and continuous improvement of the controls framework, including control descriptions, mappings, owners, evidence expectations, testing procedures, and control narratives.
- Perform control testing and validation activities, including design, implementation, and operating effectiveness testing.
- Review evidence submitted by control owners and product teams to determine whether it sufficiently demonstrates control performance and meets audit or assessment expectations.
- Coordinate with control owners, evidence owners, product teams, and GRC stakeholders to resolve evidence gaps, clarify control intent, and improve testing quality.
- Support internal and external audits, certifications, and assessments, including ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI, NIST CSF, and other GRC obligations.
- Support GRC automation initiatives by helping define requirements for workflow automation, control monitoring, and scalable control testing processes.
- Work with technical and engineering teams to understand security tools, data sources, system-generated evidence, and opportunities to automate or improve control validation.
- Contribute to a culture of high-quality documentation, defensible controls testing, and continuous improvement across the Controls & Certifications function.
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Information Security, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, Risk Management, Compliance, Engineering, Data Analytics, or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
- 3+ years of experience in GRC, IT risk, security controls, audit readiness, control testing, compliance, security assurance, or a related field. Experience performing or supporting control testing, including evaluating control design, implementation, and operating effectiveness.
- Experience gathering, reviewing, and assessing technical control evidence from stakeholders, systems, tools, dashboards, or documentation repositories. Working knowledge of security and compliance frameworks such as ISO 27001, NIST CSF, SOC 2, PCI-DSS, or similar control frameworks.
- Familiarity with security domains such as Identity and Access Management, Vulnerability Management, Incident Management, Asset Management, Logging and Monitoring, Data Security, SDLC, Third-Party Risk Management, Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery, or Privacy.
- Strong writing and documentation skills, with the ability to create clear control narratives, evidence and testing summaries, and status updates. Strong analytical skills and ability to assess whether evidence meets the intent of a control, requirement, or audit request.
- Experience working with control owners, technical teams, auditors, legal, privacy, compliance, or cross-functional stakeholders. Ability to manage multiple workstreams, follow up on open items, identify blockers, and communicate risks clearly. Demonstrated teamwork and collaboration skills, especially in fast-moving, cross-functional environments.
Preferred Qualifications
- Professional certification such as CISA, CISSP, CISM, CRISC, CDPSE, ISO 27001 Lead Auditor / Lead Implementer, or equivalent.
- Experience supporting external audits, security certifications, or regulatory assessments such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI, NIST CSF, or national security / data protection obligations.
- Experience with GRC automation, control monitoring, evidence automation, dashboarding, workflow design, or data-driven control testing. Experience working with engineering, security, infrastructure, product, or data teams to translate technical processes into control evidence and audit-ready narratives.
- Familiarity with automation, scripting, SQL, APIs, or data workflows used to improve GRC operations.
- Experience maintaining or improving a control library, control framework, control mapping, or integrated compliance framework. Experience identifying evidence quality issues, control design gaps, operating effectiveness concerns, or audit readiness risks.
About USDS
TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is dedicated to the safety and security of millions of Americans who create, discover, and connect with what they love on the apps we operate. The Joint Venture has been established in compliance with the Executive Order signed by President Trump on September 25, 2025. Our foundation is a comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity program we operate under defined safeguards to protect national security and secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm. We safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem, holding decision-making authority for trust and safety policies and moderation. USDS Joint Venture helps ensure Americans can continue to express their creativity, discover new hobbies and interests, and build thriving communities and businesses on a global scale.
On-site presence across teams allows the company to operate with greater speed, alignment, and agility — especially in areas like real-time decision-making, team development, and integrated execution. As such, the company is shifting from a hybrid work model to a fully in-person schedule up to 5 days a week.
Why Join Us
Inspiring creativity is at the core of TikTok's mission. Our innovative product is built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and bring joy – a mission we work towards every day.
We strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and innovate as one team. We're resilient and embrace challenges as they come. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.
Diversity & Inclusion
TikTok is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.
USDS Reasonable Accommodation
USDS is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at https://tinyurl.com/USDS-RA
Job Information
【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Annually)
The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $98,800 - $196,000 annually. Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work, and this role may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives, and restricted stock units.
Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Employees have day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, among others. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year and 17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).
The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.
For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates:
Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:
- Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;
- Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and
- Exercising sound judgment.
Responsibilities
About the Team
TikTok is seeking a GRC Cybersecurity Controls Analyst to join the TikTok USDS Joint Venture (JV) GRC Controls & Certifications team. This role will support the operation, testing, and continuous improvement of the controls framework and will help drive audit readiness across key security, compliance, privacy, and regulatory obligations. The candidate will work closely with control owners, product teams, security teams, privacy, legal, internal audit, external auditors, and GRC leadership to evaluate control design, implementation, and operating effectiveness.
About the Role
The role will support control testing, evidence review, audit response coordination, control narrative development, and issue identification across frameworks and obligations such as ISO 27001, SOC 2, NIST CSF, PCI, control validation, and other certification or assessment activities. The candidate will also help mature the team’s approach to GRC automation and engineering. This includes improving how controls are mapped, tested, monitored, and reported through tooling, dashboards, structured data, workflow automation, evidence recommendations, and scalable testing. The ideal candidate is comfortable working at the intersection of GRC, security controls, audit readiness, and process automation.
Key responsibilities include:
- Support the maintenance and continuous improvement of the controls framework, including control descriptions, mappings, owners, evidence expectations, testing procedures, and control narratives.
- Perform control testing and validation activities, including design, implementation, and operating effectiveness testing.
- Review evidence submitted by control owners and product teams to determine whether it sufficiently demonstrates control performance and meets audit or assessment expectations.
- Coordinate with control owners, evidence owners, product teams, and GRC stakeholders to resolve evidence gaps, clarify control intent, and improve testing quality.
- Support internal and external audits, certifications, and assessments, including ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI, NIST CSF, and other GRC obligations.
- Support GRC automation initiatives by helping define requirements for workflow automation, control monitoring, and scalable control testing processes.
- Work with technical and engineering teams to understand security tools, data sources, system-generated evidence, and opportunities to automate or improve control validation.
- Contribute to a culture of high-quality documentation, defensible controls testing, and continuous improvement across the Controls & Certifications function.
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Information Security, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, Risk Management, Compliance, Engineering, Data Analytics, or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
- 3+ years of experience in GRC, IT risk, security controls, audit readiness, control testing, compliance, security assurance, or a related field. Experience performing or supporting control testing, including evaluating control design, implementation, and operating effectiveness.
- Experience gathering, reviewing, and assessing technical control evidence from stakeholders, systems, tools, dashboards, or documentation repositories. Working knowledge of security and compliance frameworks such as ISO 27001, NIST CSF, SOC 2, PCI-DSS, or similar control frameworks.
- Familiarity with security domains such as Identity and Access Management, Vulnerability Management, Incident Management, Asset Management, Logging and Monitoring, Data Security, SDLC, Third-Party Risk Management, Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery, or Privacy.
- Strong writing and documentation skills, with the ability to create clear control narratives, evidence and testing summaries, and status updates. Strong analytical skills and ability to assess whether evidence meets the intent of a control, requirement, or audit request.
- Experience working with control owners, technical teams, auditors, legal, privacy, compliance, or cross-functional stakeholders. Ability to manage multiple workstreams, follow up on open items, identify blockers, and communicate risks clearly. Demonstrated teamwork and collaboration skills, especially in fast-moving, cross-functional environments.
Preferred Qualifications
- Professional certification such as CISA, CISSP, CISM, CRISC, CDPSE, ISO 27001 Lead Auditor / Lead Implementer, or equivalent.
- Experience supporting external audits, security certifications, or regulatory assessments such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI, NIST CSF, or national security / data protection obligations.
- Experience with GRC automation, control monitoring, evidence automation, dashboarding, workflow design, or data-driven control testing. Experience working with engineering, security, infrastructure, product, or data teams to translate technical processes into control evidence and audit-ready narratives.
- Familiarity with automation, scripting, SQL, APIs, or data workflows used to improve GRC operations.
- Experience maintaining or improving a control library, control framework, control mapping, or integrated compliance framework. Experience identifying evidence quality issues, control design gaps, operating effectiveness concerns, or audit readiness risks.
About USDS
TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is dedicated to the safety and security of millions of Americans who create, discover, and connect with what they love on the apps we operate. The Joint Venture has been established in compliance with the Executive Order signed by President Trump on September 25, 2025. Our foundation is a comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity program we operate under defined safeguards to protect national security and secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm. We safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem, holding decision-making authority for trust and safety policies and moderation. USDS Joint Venture helps ensure Americans can continue to express their creativity, discover new hobbies and interests, and build thriving communities and businesses on a global scale.
On-site presence across teams allows the company to operate with greater speed, alignment, and agility — especially in areas like real-time decision-making, team development, and integrated execution. As such, the company is shifting from a hybrid work model to a fully in-person schedule up to 5 days a week.
Why Join Us
Inspiring creativity is at the core of TikTok's mission. Our innovative product is built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and bring joy – a mission we work towards every day.
We strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and innovate as one team. We're resilient and embrace challenges as they come. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.
Diversity & Inclusion
TikTok is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.
USDS Reasonable Accommodation
USDS is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at https://tinyurl.com/USDS-RA
Job Information
【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Annually)
The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $98,800 - $196,000 annually. Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work, and this role may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives, and restricted stock units.
Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Employees have day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, among others. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year and 17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).
The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.
For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates:
Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:
- Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;
- Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and
- Exercising sound judgment.
See all 276+ OPT Cybersecurity Engineer Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new OPT Cybersecurity Engineer Jobs.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding OPT Sponsorship as a Cybersecurity Engineer
Lead with your STEM OPT eligibility
Cybersecurity qualifies for the 24-month STEM OPT extension under CIP codes like Computer Science and Information Assurance. Mention this upfront in applications so employers know your work authorization extends well beyond the standard 12 months.
Target employers with existing security infrastructure
Companies with dedicated security operations centers, compliance teams, or government contracts hire cybersecurity engineers regularly and tend to have established OPT sponsorship processes. Smaller firms without HR infrastructure often struggle with the paperwork requirements.
Address clearance requirements early
Many federal-adjacent cybersecurity roles require a U.S. security clearance, which OPT students are generally ineligible for. Filter for private-sector roles and confirm clearance requirements before applying to avoid wasting time on positions you cannot accept.
Highlight certifications alongside your degree
Credentials like CompTIA Security+, CEH, or AWS Security Specialty signal job-readiness to hiring managers. For OPT candidates, certifications help offset any hesitation employers have about the administrative overhead of work authorization paperwork.
Connect your coursework to real-world frameworks
Employers evaluate cybersecurity candidates against frameworks like NIST, MITRE ATT&CK, and ISO 27001. Referencing these in your resume and interviews demonstrates applied knowledge and positions you as a practitioner, not just a student.
Use your OPT start date strategically
USCIS recommends applying for OPT 90 days before your program end date. Align your job search timeline so your EAD arrives before you need to start. Employers are more willing to wait two to three weeks, not two to three months.
Cybersecurity Engineer OPT: Frequently Asked Questions
Can I work as a Cybersecurity Engineer on OPT without H-1B sponsorship?
Yes. OPT is standalone work authorization tied to your F-1 status, not to an employer petition. You can accept a Cybersecurity Engineer role with any eligible employer without needing them to file an H-1B visa on your behalf. Sponsorship only becomes relevant when your OPT period ends and you need a long-term visa to stay.
Does a Cybersecurity Engineer role qualify for the 24-month STEM OPT extension?
It depends on your degree, not your job title. If your degree is in a STEM-designated field such as Computer Science, Information Security, or Electrical Engineering, and your employer is enrolled in E-Verify, you qualify for the 24-month extension. The job itself does not need to be formally classified as STEM by your employer.
Do most cybersecurity employers require a U.S. security clearance?
Not all, but a meaningful share do. Roles tied to federal agencies, defense contractors, and certain financial institutions often require clearances that OPT students cannot obtain. Focus your search on private-sector companies, technology firms, and financial services organizations where clearance is not a requirement. Migrate Mate filters for OPT-compatible cybersecurity roles specifically.
What degree fields support an OPT application for Cybersecurity Engineer roles?
Computer Science, Information Systems, Electrical Engineering, and Cybersecurity or Information Assurance degrees are the most commonly accepted. Some employers will also consider degrees in Mathematics or Physics with relevant coursework or certifications. Your DSO can confirm whether your specific CIP code qualifies for STEM OPT before you apply.
How do I handle the E-Verify requirement during the STEM OPT extension?
Your employer must be enrolled in E-Verify before your STEM extension can be approved. Confirm this during the offer negotiation stage, not after you have accepted. If the employer is not yet enrolled, they can register, but the process takes time. Build at least two to three weeks of buffer into your timeline to avoid a gap in authorization.