Defuse Labs - Head of Security

• A proven security leader from an environment where getting it wrong was not an option — a major on-chain protocol, a top-tier exchange or custodian, critical infrastructure, or a peer ecosystem operating at serious scale. You've built programs, not just maintained them. • Deeply technical. You can read a Terraform module, challenge a threat model, and set budget priorities in the same afternoon — and you're comfortable arguing with engineers on the merits. • Think from first principles. You understand how ROI on an audit is calculated and how much of the cost is attributable to the auditing company brand alone. You understand what formal verification is, what risks it protects against and how and why it fails. • You are excellent at system design. You understand how to isolate risks and limit blast radius. You’ve designed circuit breakers before. You understand how to divide and conquer projects quickly where getting results would normally take years. • Fluent in crypto risk, or demonstrably capable of becoming so quickly. Smart contracts, on-chain forensics, MPC, key management, and validator security are core to this role. If you treat crypto as "just another vertical," this isn't the right fit. You know what https://rekt.news/ is and you know the most common hacks of the lending protocols. • Clear authority, used well. You have a direct mandate from the Security Committee and real authority over security for the entities in your remit. You know when to enforce and when to persuade — and you're not afraid of either. • Composed in public. Incident disclosures, partner calls, committee and board reporting — this role lives in the open. • Recruitment Disclaimer • All personal data submitted by you as part of a job application, whether through our website, will be processed exclusively for recruitment and selection purposes. By submitting such data, you acknowledge and consent to its use for assessing your qualifications, contacting you regarding relevant opportunities, and maintaining a candidate profile for potential future openings. • For more detailed information about how your data is processed in the context of recruitment, including your rights under applicable data protection laws, please refer to our Privacy Policy, or contact us at [email protected]