Product Security Engineer
Part of the Cybersecurity Career Guide — This article is one deep-dive in our complete guide series.
By HADESS Team | February 28, 2026 | Updated: February 28, 2026 | 5 min read
You own the security of the products your company builds and sells. Not the internal IT network, not compliance paperwork — the actual product that customers use. You work directly with engineering teams to make sure security is part of the product from design through release.
What You Will Do
Product security engineering is embedded security work. You sit within or alongside product engineering teams and influence how features get designed, built, and shipped.
Your work includes:
- Performing threat modeling on new features and architectural changes before development starts
- Conducting security design reviews on proposed system architectures
- Running or coordinating penetration tests on the product — web, API, mobile, infrastructure
- Reviewing code for security vulnerabilities alongside engineering teams
- Defining security requirements for product features and integrations
- Managing the product’s vulnerability disclosure program
- Triaging and tracking externally reported vulnerabilities (from researchers, customers, bug bounty)
- Building security automation — CI/CD security scanning, pre-commit hooks, security linting
- Advising on authentication and authorization design — OAuth, SAML, API key management
- Working with customers and sales teams on security questionnaires and certifications
- Maintaining the product security roadmap aligned with business priorities
- Defining secure defaults — making the safe choice the easy choice for users
This role requires you to influence without authority. You do not control the release schedule. You need to make security advice so practical and well-timed that engineering teams want to follow it.
Skills You Need
Product security demands a rare combination of deep technical skills and product thinking.
Core capabilities:
- Threat modeling — STRIDE, attack trees, data flow diagrams
- Secure architecture design — building systems that resist attack by design
- Application security testing — web, API, mobile testing methodologies
- Secure code review — reading code across multiple languages and frameworks
- Security automation — integrating security tools into CI/CD
- Authentication and authorization protocols — OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, RBAC design
- Cloud-native security — securing SaaS, microservices, and serverless products
- Product management basics — understanding roadmaps, prioritization, and trade-offs
Track these in the skills library and see how product security fits in the broader landscape via the career path explorer.
Certifications
Product security engineers benefit from certifications that demonstrate both software security and strategic thinking:
- CSSLP — focused on secure software lifecycle, directly relevant
- CISSP — broad security credibility, useful for customer-facing interactions
- SABSA — security architecture methodology, valuable for design reviews
Plan your certification strategy with the certification roadmap planner.
Salary Range
Product security engineers earn between $90K and $180K. This is among the highest-paying security roles because it requires both deep technical skills and the soft skills to work effectively with product teams. Senior product security engineers at tech companies frequently exceed this range.
Benchmark your compensation using the salary calculator.
How to Get Started
1. Build both development and security skills — you need to be credible with engineering teams 2. Learn threat modeling — it is the single most valuable skill in product security 3. Take the skills assessment to evaluate your readiness for product security 4. Practice secure design reviews in the labs 5. Get comfortable with application security testing — web, API, and mobile 6. Study how popular products handle security — authentication flows, permission models, data protection 7. Get CSSLP as your primary cert — plan it with the certification planner 8. Build your resume showing both engineering and security achievements 9. Search for product security roles on the job board
Product security is a senior role that typically requires 3-5 years of combined development and security experience. If you are building toward it, the career coach can help you map out the steps.
Related Guides in This Series
Take the Next Step
Start your career assessment. Go to the start your career assessment on HADESS.
Explore career paths. Check out the explore career paths.
Get started free — Create your HADESS account and access all career tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
What certifications do I need for this role?
Certification requirements vary by employer and seniority level. Use the certification roadmap planner to build a sequence based on your target role and current qualifications.
What is the salary range for this role?
Salaries vary significantly by location, experience, and employer type. Use the salary calculator for your specific market rate.
How do I transition into this career path?
Take the skills assessment to identify your current strengths and gaps relative to this role. The assessment generates a personalized learning plan to close the gap.
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HADESS Team consists of cybersecurity practitioners, hiring managers, and career strategists who have collectively spent 50+ years in the field.
