Jul 8, 20212 min read

How Klarna will benefit from a strategic security role.

klarna

by Klarna

There’s nothing smoooth about disruptions, lag, data leakage, fraud, nor about faulty information. Especially not for a licensed bank that handles billions of dollars and sensitive personal information. It’s not a coincidence that Klarna spends rigorous amounts of time and resources to improve our security, as our customers’ trust and safety are our top priority. In our never-ending quest to deliver industry-leading security practices and achieve awesome security awareness in a decentralized organization, here’s a glimpse into the strategic role: the Domain Security Lead.

Klarna’s unique operating model gives teams complete ownership of a specific problem space. A team generally consists of 4-8 people, and teams addressing similar problem spaces belong to a domain. Klarna has approximately 4000 employees, split into 450 teams across 30 domains.

The Engineering Assurance domain operates as a control function and second line of defense, acting as the core of Klarna’s security capabilities.

As our business revolves around the products our domains and team produce and we promote ownership, it only makes sense to have security expertise embedded throughout the organization. This provides the ability to align the goals and objectives of a domain and team with the specific context, focus and understanding of security. Security comes by design, embedded into everything we do, not as something added late into the plans. The Domain Security Lead is at the heart of this.

The Domain Security Lead is a security expert dedicated to improving the security within one of Klarna’s 30 domains. We envision that this role will strengthen the domains’ security capabilities and risk awareness while keeping a tight alignment with their business objectives. The Security Lead will operate as a bridge between the Engineering Assurance domain and their own domain. They will act as the first line of defence, leading security programs and initiatives within their domain working closely with relevant leadership. In more common terms, this role will act as a Security Officer for their domain.

The Domain Security Lead role will have a powerful impact on Klarna’s security journey, as it will align the domain’s ownership of business outcomes with the ownership of the security risks they entail. This will support Klarna’s rapid growth while ensuring secure and trusted services for our customers.
We have already introduced this role in several domains with great success, and more domains are now looking to have their own Domain Security leads. This role is an amazing opportunity to work as a leader, develop and run security programs as well as senior stakeholder management in a hyper growth space.
We are always looking for great talent. If you want to be part of this mission and put your touch on delivering industry-leading security, check out our open positions here.