Director of Security

Gauntlet leads the field in quantitative research and optimization of DeFi economics. We manage market risk, optimize growth, and ensure economic safety for protocols facilitating most spot trading, borrowing, and lending activity across all of DeFi, protecting and optimizing the largest protocols and networks in the industry. We build institutional-grade vaults for decentralized finance, delivering risk-adjusted onchain yields for capital at scale. Designed by the most vigilant, quantitative minds in crypto and informed by years of research.

As of November 2025, Gauntlet manages over $2B in vault TVL, and optimizes risk and incentives covering over $42 billion in customer TVL. We continually publish cutting-edge research that informs our risk models, alerts, and analysis, and is among the most cited institutions — including academic institutions — in terms of peer-reviewed papers addressing DeFi as a subject. We’re a Series B company with around 75 employees, operating remote-first with a home base in New York City.

As a company, we build institutional-grade vaults that deliver risk-adjusted DeFi yields at scale, powered by automated risk models and off-chain intelligence. Gauntlet curates strategies across Morpho, Drift, Symbiotic, Aera and more, with >$2B in vault TVL and a growing suite of Prime, Core and Frontier vaults.

Our mission is to drive adoption and understanding of the financial systems of the future. We operate with a trader’s discipline and a risk manager’s skepticism: size carefully, stress routinely, unwind decisively. The label equals the package equals the contents. No surprises, just predictable, reliable vaults.

To grow our impact in the DeFi space, we are looking for a proactive and experienced Director of Security to join our team. The successful candidate will define and implement security and operational security (op-sec) policies, manage risks, ensure compliance with legal standards, and oversee the company’s IT security infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Develop and enforce comprehensive security and op-sec policies tailored to the company’s needs and those of individual teams
• Establish policies for managing and securing custodial wallets, Aera guardian, and on-chain operations
• Implement key management, rotation, and data retention strategies to safeguard company assets
• Identify potential risk vectors and conduct regular risk assessments
• Lead the organization’s crisis management during security incidents
• Continuously review and ensure compliance with operational security policies
• Oversee internal and external Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) processes
• Manage and triage the company’s bug bounty programs and monitor designated security communication channels
• Oversee hardware management and provisioning, including devices like laptops using management software
• Manage password and access controls, coordinate technological onboarding and offboarding processes, and integrate and remove team members from systems like Slack and JIRA
• Handle vendor management to ensure all external service providers meet our security standards
• As needed, ensure we adhere to regulatory requirements like SOC2, GDPR, and similar standards

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a senior security management role
• Strong understanding of security protocols, crisis management, and risk management
• Experience with IT infrastructure and vendor management
• Familiarity with compliance and regulatory frameworks (e.g., SOC2, GDPR)
• Excellent communication and leadership skills

Our Ideal Candidate

• Has leadership experience in data science or software engineering, preferably with knowledge in optimization theory, mechanism design, or computational economics
• Possesses a solid mathematical and theoretical background, applicable in practical settings
• Can simplify complex concepts into understandable ideas
• Is effective at communicating clear goals and strategies, rallying the team, partners, and customers around shared objectives
• Is dedicated to mentoring and supporting team development
• Prioritizes impact and quality, aiming to make significant contributions to the DeFi landscape

Benefits & Perks

• Remote first – work from anywhere!
• Competitive packages with the added opportunity for incentive based compensation
• Regular in-person company retreats and cross-country “office visit” perk
• 100% paid medical, dental and vision premiums for employees
• Laptop, monitor, keyboard and mouse setup provided
• $1,000 WFH stipend upon joining
• $100 per month reimbursement for fitness-related expenses
• Monthly reimbursement for home internet, phone, and cellular data
• Unlimited vacation policy
• 100% paid parental leave of 12 weeks
• Fertility benefits

Please note at this time our hiring is reserved for potential employees who are able to work within the contiguous United States and Canada. Should you need alternative accommodations, please note that in your application.

The national pay range for this role is minimum $200,000 plus additional On Target Earnings potential by level and equity in the company. Our salary ranges are based on paying competitively for a company of our size and industry, and are one part of many compensation, benefits and other reward opportunities we provide. Individual pay rate decisions are based on a number of factors, including qualifications for the role, experience level, skill set, and balancing internal equity relative to peers at the company.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

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