Head of Security Visa Sponsorship Jobs in California
Head of security jobs in California span Silicon Valley's tech campuses, Los Angeles entertainment studios, San Francisco financial institutions, and San Diego defense contractors. Major employers including Apple, Google, Meta, and Wells Fargo regularly sponsor qualified international candidates for these senior roles overseeing physical and information security programs statewide.
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About The Team
Enterprise Security builds and operates the security capabilities that protect USDS JV's enterprise environments and enable Cyber Defense teams to prevent, detect, investigate, and respond to threats. We bring together software engineering, security engineering, and production operations to turn security requirements into reliable, scalable services. Our work spans security telemetry and analytics, host and network defense, threat-intelligence integration, response automation, and the platforms supporting investigations. We partner with security operations, threat detection and response, infrastructure, identity, gateway, and data teams to strengthen defenses across the enterprise. Our focus is not simply deploying security tools: it is engineering an integrated defense capability with dependable coverage, actionable data, and sustainable operations.
Key Responsibilities
- Own the End-to-End Lifecycle: Direct the design, development, integration, deployment, and operation of the Cyber Defense platform portfolio. Scope includes security information and event management (SIEM), security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR), case management, threat-intelligence integrations, host and network security tooling, and supporting capabilities.
- Define an Integrated Security Platforms: Establish how telemetry, analytics, security controls, and response workflows work together. Set technical standards, resolve architectural gaps, and make build-versus-buy decisions that balance defensive effectiveness, reliability, cost, and long-term maintainability.
- Engineer Reliable Security Data and Automation: Build and improve telemetry ingestion, normalization, enrichment, and service integrations. Partner with detection engineers, threat hunters, and incident responders to translate operational needs into tested platform features and safe, auditable automation.
- Own Production Reliability and Operations: Establish service-level objectives, monitoring, capacity planning, on-call coverage, runbooks, recovery procedures, and disciplined change management. Lead restoration of owned services during production incidents and drive post-incident improvements that eliminate recurring failures and reduce operational toil.
- Continuously Improve Defensive Effectiveness: Use threat intelligence, adversary techniques, control testing, and incident findings to prioritize engineering improvements. Close persistent coverage and control gaps with durable solutions rather than repeated manual remediation.
- Orchestrate Cross-Functional Delivery: Coordinate dependencies and shared control boundaries with Cyber Defense, infrastructure, identity, gateway, privacy, and compliance partners. Establish clear service ownership and support expectations, and provide evidence of control effectiveness for the systems your team owns.
- Build a High-Performing Team. Set the Technical Vision and Roadmap
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Security, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- Demonstrated experience leading software or security engineering teams, including hiring, performance management, developing technical leaders, and delivering complex initiatives across multiple teams.
- A track record of defining security architecture and department-level technical plans, or plans of comparable scope, and owning the delivery and ongoing production operation of enterprise-scale security platforms.
- Strong technical depth in security data platforms or defensive tooling, with experience integrating capabilities such as SIEM, SOAR, host or network defense, threat intelligence, or investigation workflows.
- Strong software engineering judgment across distributed systems, APIs, data pipelines, secure development practices, and automated testing, with the ability to guide architecture and implementation decisions.
- Experience establishing reliable service operations, including observability, incident management, on-call practices, recovery planning, and measurable service objectives.
- Ability to translate security risks and business requirements into prioritized engineering plans, influence partners across organizational boundaries, and communicate technical trade-offs clearly.
Preferred Experience:
- Experience leading a portfolio of interconnected security services and developing technical leads or front-line engineering managers.
- Experience with high-volume security telemetry, event correlation, detection-platform enablement, automated response workflows, and investigation or case-management systems.
- Experience engineering or operating host intrusion detection, network traffic analysis, web application firewall, or data-loss-prevention capabilities.
- Experience operating security services in large-scale cloud or hybrid environments, including Oracle Cloud Infrastructure or AWS.
- Experience using adversary-informed testing, threat modeling, and incident findings to improve security architecture and validate defensive coverage.
- Experience consolidating fragmented tools, reducing operational toil, managing technology dependencies, and improving the cost and maintainability of security services.
- Experience supporting privacy-sensitive environments and maintaining auditable controls and operational evidence.
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 $257400 - $616000 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:
1. Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;
2. Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and
3. Exercising sound judgment.
Responsibilities
About The Team
Enterprise Security builds and operates the security capabilities that protect USDS JV's enterprise environments and enable Cyber Defense teams to prevent, detect, investigate, and respond to threats. We bring together software engineering, security engineering, and production operations to turn security requirements into reliable, scalable services. Our work spans security telemetry and analytics, host and network defense, threat-intelligence integration, response automation, and the platforms supporting investigations. We partner with security operations, threat detection and response, infrastructure, identity, gateway, and data teams to strengthen defenses across the enterprise. Our focus is not simply deploying security tools: it is engineering an integrated defense capability with dependable coverage, actionable data, and sustainable operations.
Key Responsibilities
- Own the End-to-End Lifecycle: Direct the design, development, integration, deployment, and operation of the Cyber Defense platform portfolio. Scope includes security information and event management (SIEM), security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR), case management, threat-intelligence integrations, host and network security tooling, and supporting capabilities.
- Define an Integrated Security Platforms: Establish how telemetry, analytics, security controls, and response workflows work together. Set technical standards, resolve architectural gaps, and make build-versus-buy decisions that balance defensive effectiveness, reliability, cost, and long-term maintainability.
- Engineer Reliable Security Data and Automation: Build and improve telemetry ingestion, normalization, enrichment, and service integrations. Partner with detection engineers, threat hunters, and incident responders to translate operational needs into tested platform features and safe, auditable automation.
- Own Production Reliability and Operations: Establish service-level objectives, monitoring, capacity planning, on-call coverage, runbooks, recovery procedures, and disciplined change management. Lead restoration of owned services during production incidents and drive post-incident improvements that eliminate recurring failures and reduce operational toil.
- Continuously Improve Defensive Effectiveness: Use threat intelligence, adversary techniques, control testing, and incident findings to prioritize engineering improvements. Close persistent coverage and control gaps with durable solutions rather than repeated manual remediation.
- Orchestrate Cross-Functional Delivery: Coordinate dependencies and shared control boundaries with Cyber Defense, infrastructure, identity, gateway, privacy, and compliance partners. Establish clear service ownership and support expectations, and provide evidence of control effectiveness for the systems your team owns.
- Build a High-Performing Team. Set the Technical Vision and Roadmap
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Security, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- Demonstrated experience leading software or security engineering teams, including hiring, performance management, developing technical leaders, and delivering complex initiatives across multiple teams.
- A track record of defining security architecture and department-level technical plans, or plans of comparable scope, and owning the delivery and ongoing production operation of enterprise-scale security platforms.
- Strong technical depth in security data platforms or defensive tooling, with experience integrating capabilities such as SIEM, SOAR, host or network defense, threat intelligence, or investigation workflows.
- Strong software engineering judgment across distributed systems, APIs, data pipelines, secure development practices, and automated testing, with the ability to guide architecture and implementation decisions.
- Experience establishing reliable service operations, including observability, incident management, on-call practices, recovery planning, and measurable service objectives.
- Ability to translate security risks and business requirements into prioritized engineering plans, influence partners across organizational boundaries, and communicate technical trade-offs clearly.
Preferred Experience:
- Experience leading a portfolio of interconnected security services and developing technical leads or front-line engineering managers.
- Experience with high-volume security telemetry, event correlation, detection-platform enablement, automated response workflows, and investigation or case-management systems.
- Experience engineering or operating host intrusion detection, network traffic analysis, web application firewall, or data-loss-prevention capabilities.
- Experience operating security services in large-scale cloud or hybrid environments, including Oracle Cloud Infrastructure or AWS.
- Experience using adversary-informed testing, threat modeling, and incident findings to improve security architecture and validate defensive coverage.
- Experience consolidating fragmented tools, reducing operational toil, managing technology dependencies, and improving the cost and maintainability of security services.
- Experience supporting privacy-sensitive environments and maintaining auditable controls and operational evidence.
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 $257400 - $616000 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:
1. Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;
2. Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and
3. Exercising sound judgment.
Head of Security Job Roles in California
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Search Head of Security Jobs in CaliforniaHead of Security Jobs in California: Frequently Asked Questions
Which visa types realistically fit head of security roles in California?
Head of security positions typically qualify as specialty occupations requiring a bachelor's degree in information security, computer science, criminal justice, or a related field, making H-1B visa the most common path. Australian nationals may qualify for the E-3 visa, and Chilean and Singaporean nationals may qualify for the H-1B1 visa. Candidates with extraordinary ability in cybersecurity leadership may also explore the O-1A. A green card via EB-2 or EB-3 is a longer-term option for sponsored employees.
Which companies sponsor visas for head of security roles in California?
California's largest tech employers, including Apple, Google, Meta, Cisco, and Oracle, have documented H-1B filing histories for senior security leadership positions. Financial institutions such as Wells Fargo and Bank of America, defense contractors concentrated in San Diego, and large healthcare networks in Los Angeles also sponsor head of security roles. Employers in regulated industries tend to file most actively because security leadership is a compliance-driven function requiring specialized expertise.
Which cities in California have the most head of security sponsorship jobs?
San Jose and the broader Silicon Valley corridor generate the highest concentration of head of security sponsorship activity, driven by the density of major tech campuses requiring large-scale security programs. San Francisco is a secondary hub, particularly within financial services and enterprise software firms. Los Angeles sees demand from entertainment studios, aerospace companies, and healthcare networks. San Diego adds volume through its defense and biotech sectors, where security clearance and program protection roles are common.
How to find head of security visa sponsorship jobs in California?
Migrate Mate lists head of security roles from California employers with verified visa sponsorship histories, letting you focus your search on companies that have filed for similar positions before. Because these are senior roles, filtering by industry sector, such as technology, finance, or defense, helps narrow results to employers whose security programs match your background. Migrate Mate is the most direct way to connect head of security experience with California employers actively open to sponsoring international candidates.
Are there state-specific or role-specific considerations for head of security sponsorship in California?
California's size and industry mix mean head of security roles vary significantly in scope. Tech-sector positions in Silicon Valley often blend physical and information security under a single leadership function, which strengthens specialty occupation arguments for H-1B purposes because a directly related degree is easier to establish. California's strict privacy laws under the California Consumer Privacy Act also increase demand for security leaders with compliance expertise, making candidates with that background particularly attractive to California-based sponsors.
What is the prevailing wage for sponsored head of security jobs in California?
U.S. employers sponsoring a visa must pay at least the prevailing wage, which is what workers in the same role, area, and experience level typically earn. The Department of Labor sets this rate to make sure companies aren't hiring foreign workers simply because they'd accept lower pay than a U.S. worker. It varies by job title, location, and experience. You can look up current prevailing wage rates for any occupation and location using the OFLC Wage Search page.