OPT Principal Cybersecurity Engineer Jobs
Principal Cybersecurity Engineer roles require deep technical expertise and often involve leading security architecture, threat modeling, and incident response programs. Many employers in defense, finance, and tech actively sponsor OPT students in this field. Your 12-month OPT window, or 24-month STEM extension if your degree qualifies, is your sponsorship runway.
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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 Principal Cybersecurity Engineer Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new OPT Principal Cybersecurity Engineer Jobs.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding OPT Sponsorship as a Principal Cybersecurity Engineer
Target employers with active security clearance pipelines
Defense contractors and federal IT firms regularly sponsor OPT students for Principal Cybersecurity Engineer roles. These employers understand visa timelines and often have dedicated immigration counsel. Look for companies with DoD or federal agency contracts as a proxy for sponsorship willingness.
Align your degree to the specialty occupation standard
USCIS requires a direct connection between your degree field and the role. A degree in computer science, information security, or electrical engineering maps cleanly. If your degree is in a related but adjacent field, document how your coursework directly supports cybersecurity engineering work.
Prioritize STEM OPT extension eligibility from day one
A 24-month STEM extension gives you far more time to secure H-1B visa sponsorship. Confirm your degree program is on the USCIS STEM designated degree program list before accepting a role. File your extension application at least 90 days before your initial OPT expires.
Lead with certifications that signal senior-level credibility
CISSP, CISM, and OSCP are credentials employers associate with principal-level engineers. Holding one or more demonstrates you can operate independently and lead security programs, which strengthens both your candidacy and the employer's case for sponsoring your visa.
Negotiate H-1B sponsorship terms before accepting an offer
Confirm the employer will sponsor H-1B before your OPT expires, not just in principle. Ask whether they cover filing fees, use premium processing, and have done this before. Vague commitments become problems at the worst possible time.
Frame your job search around employers with prior H-1B filings
Employers who have sponsored H-1B petitions before are far more likely to do it again. They have established relationships with immigration attorneys and internal processes. This significantly reduces the risk that a sponsorship commitment falls apart when it matters most.
Principal Cybersecurity Engineer OPT: Frequently Asked Questions
Do Principal Cybersecurity Engineer roles qualify for OPT work authorization?
Yes. Principal Cybersecurity Engineer is a specialty occupation under USCIS standards, requiring at least a bachelor's degree in computer science, information security, or a closely related field. Most employers treat it as a senior individual contributor or technical lead role, which strengthens the specialty occupation argument. Your OPT EAD card is all the work authorization you need during the authorized period.
Does a Principal Cybersecurity Engineer role qualify for the 24-month STEM OPT extension?
It depends on your degree, not the job title. If your bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree is in a STEM-designated field such as computer science, cybersecurity, or electrical engineering, you likely qualify. The employer must also be enrolled in E-Verify. If both conditions are met, you can apply for the 24-month extension, giving you up to three years of total OPT.
How do I find Principal Cybersecurity Engineer employers that sponsor OPT students?
Migrate Mate is built specifically for this search. It filters for employers actively willing to sponsor F-1 OPT and H-1B candidates, so you can focus on companies that have already committed to sponsorship rather than spending time on applications that will never go anywhere. Principal Cybersecurity Engineer roles are listed across defense, finance, and enterprise tech sectors.
Can I work as a Principal Cybersecurity Engineer if my role requires a security clearance?
This is a real constraint. Most U.S. security clearances require U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status, which OPT students typically don't hold. However, not all principal-level cybersecurity roles require clearances. Many positions in commercial finance, healthcare, and private sector tech do not. Filter your search toward non-cleared roles, and confirm clearance requirements before applying.
What visa options should I plan for after my OPT expires?
H-1B is the most common next step for Principal Cybersecurity Engineer roles. The annual lottery runs in March for an October 1 start date, so timing matters. If your employer misses a lottery cycle, your STEM OPT extension buys additional time. O-1A is also worth exploring if you have publications, conference presentations, industry awards, or other evidence of distinction in the cybersecurity field.