Senior Principal Engineer - Agentic Security (all genders)

Title: Senior Principal Engineer - Agentic Security (all genders) Location: Berlin

Location: Berlin Employment: Full time

THE ROLE & THE TEAM As a Senior Principal Security Engineer for Agentic Security, you will be at the forefront of securing how Zalando builds, deploys, and operates AI agents at scale. As autonomous and agentic systems take on more of our engineering and business workflows, you will define what safe, trustworthy, and well-governed agentic AI looks like at Zalando — operating on the line between the engineering teams building these systems and the security organization that safeguards them.

You will not only ensure a security-by-design approach for agentic systems, but also make sure that security and governance are taken into account throughout their lifecycle — from model and tool selection, through agent identity and authorization, to runtime controls, guardrails, monitoring, and the accountability and auditability that let us operate these systems responsibly. As part of Application Security's leadership team, you will influence the security architecture of Zalando and a larger engineering organization through collaboration, translate emerging AI regulation and internal policy into practical technical controls, set the technical direction for one of the fastest-moving areas in our technology landscape.

We are looking for an experienced technical leader who is energized by ambiguity, who can bring strategic clarity to an emerging field, and who is equally comfortable shaping company-wide direction and going hands-on with the teams doing the work.

WHAT WE'D LOVE YOU TO DO (AND LOVE DOING)

• Drive the security architecture, standards, and guardrails for agentic and AI-powered systems across our engineering teams — covering agent identity, authorization, tool and function-call usage, and the boundaries of autonomous action.
• Lead the design and conceptual work on our agentic identity broker — defining how humans, services, and agents authenticate, are authorized, and are scoped when accessing AI models and capabilities, so that access is least-privilege, auditable, and safe by default.
• Continuously evolve threat modeling and risk assessment for agentic systems — addressing prompt injection, excessive agency, data exfiltration, and model and tool supply-chain risks — and make security reviews for AI scalable and impactful.
• Partner with Legal, Privacy, Compliance, and Risk to shape acceptable-use policies, model and agent approval processes, and AI review/governance forums — bringing the security engineering perspective that keeps them grounded in what is technically enforceable.
• Mentor and guide (principal) engineers in best practices for AI and application security. Share knowledge and expertise within our talented engineering and security community.
• Consult for and collaborate with cross-functional teams and other Principal Engineers across the company to integrate security considerations into every step of building and operating agentic systems.
• Dive deep and go hands-on with engineering teams in their code and technical designs, and fly high in discussions with other principal engineers on system design and security architecture trade-offs.
• Scan the horizon — track developments in agentic AI, LLM security, AI regulation and the evolving threat landscape, and feed them into our standards, guardrails, governance and the Zalando Tech Radar.

WE'D LOVE TO MEET YOU IF...

• You have expert knowledge of security architecture, industry trends, and scaling yourself to a large organization.
• You have a strong understanding of AI/ML and agentic systems security — LLMs and their integration patterns, tool use and function calling, prompt injection, agent identity and authorization, and guardrails — or a strong security architecture background paired with the eagerness and ability to go deep in this domain.
• You have a solid understanding of IAM, cloud security, containerization technologies, and secure software development practices, and can dive deep with software engineers where needed.
• You have excellent communication skills and experience in leading organization-wide collaborations on security. You have the ability and eagerness to understand the business context where the teams operate and the customer problems being solved.
• You have broad experience in software engineering, or you have worked in adjacent fields that have exposed you to large-scale engineering projects.

OUR OFFER Zalando provides a range of benefits, here’s an overview of what you can expect. Ask your Talent Acquisition Partner to learn more about what we offer.

• 27 days of holiday a year to start for full-time employees (+1 day for every calendar year up to 30 days)
• 40% off fashion and beauty products sold and shipped by Zalando, 30% off Lounge by Zalando, discounts from external partners
• Family support, including counselling and dedicated services for parents and carers
• Company pension scheme
• Employee shares programme
• Health and wellbeing options, including Wellhub
• Mental health support and coaching
• Development through our training platform and biannual peer-to-peer review
• 2 paid volunteering days a year
• Relocation assistance (subject to prior agreement)

INCLUSIVE BY DESIGN If you think you have what it takes, we encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every single requirement. You may just be the right candidate for this or other roles!

At Zalando, our vision is to be the leading European technology platform for fashion and lifestyle – one that thrives on diversity and is truly inclusive by design. We believe that diverse teams fuel innovation and creativity, and we actively seek out talent from all backgrounds.

We actively seek to reduce bias in our hiring and employment processes, focusing on your qualifications, skills, and contributions. To support this, we kindly ask that you refrain from including personal details such as your photo, age, or marital status in your CV, ensuring a fair and equitable evaluation based solely on your abilities and potential.

We are committed to providing an exceptional and accessible candidate experience for everyone. If you require any accommodations to support you throughout the hiring process, please let us know – we are here to assist you.

Discover more about our commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace: Discover more about our commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace.