Application Security Research Team Leader

About the Position

Checkmarx is the AI-powered application security leader helping the world’s most security-conscious enterprises secure the software that powers modern life. We are looking for an experienced Application Security Research Team Leader to head our Application Security Research team. You will lead a distributed group of researchers based across Portugal (PT) and Israel (IL), setting direction, growing people, and driving the research that powers Checkmarx products.

This is a hands-on leadership role: you will own the team's roadmap, KPIs, and ways of working while staying close enough to the technical material to mentor researchers and shape solutions.

Responsibilities

Team Leadership & People Management

• Lead, mentor, and grow a distributed team of security researchers working across multiple locations (PT and IL) and time zones.
• Own the team's operating model: effort estimation, resource allocation, prioritization, and capacity planning.
• Define and track team and individual KPIs and OKRs; turn them into clear, measurable goals and review progress on a regular cadence.
• Build and maintain the team's research roadmap in alignment with the broader Security Research group and product strategy.
• Run effective async-first rituals (written updates, documented decisions, structured handoffs) so the team stays aligned across time zones without depending on real-time overlap.
• Drive a culture of continuous improvement with retrospectives, feedback loops, and iterative refinement of how the team works.
• Own each team member's growth: regular 1:1s, career-path planning, skills development, and performance reviews.
• Foster an inclusive, high-trust environment that unites team members across locations into one cohesive team.

Research & Technical Leadership

• Lead research initiatives across application security, AI security, and emerging technologies. Assessing risks and identifying opportunities to enhance Checkmarx products and security capabilities.
• Collaborate and coordinate work with other teams across the Security Research group.
• Support Product Managers across the different product units and consult developers on application security topics.
• Review and research the security facets of multiple programming languages, technologies, and ecosystems.
• Review and analyze vulnerable code across multiple languages and frameworks.
• Devise and design solutions and features grounded in application security expertise to bring Checkmarx products to the next level.

Requirements

Core Skills

• 3+ years of proven experience as a Team Leader / Engineering or Research Manager.
• Demonstrated experience leading teams with asynchronous working methods.
• Track record of continuous improvement and people development: growing team members, supporting career paths, and raising the bar over time.
• Experience defining and managing KPIs/OKRs, roadmaps, and prioritization in a research or engineering context.
• Highly organized, with the ability to structure work, manage dependencies, and keep a distributed team aligned.
• Cultural awareness and the ability to build cohesion across geographically and culturally diverse team members.
• Professional security experience (Security research, web application penetration testing, secure development, secure code review, or similar fields).
• Familiarity with software development and associated methodologies.
• Solid programming knowledge across both interpreted and compiled languages.
• Ability to learn new programming languages and technologies independently.
• Strong organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills, with the ability to drive collaboration and innovation.
• Ability to handle multiple priorities and thrive in a fast-paced environment.
• Proficient in English, both written and oral presentation skills.

Secondary Skills

• Continuous Improvement
• Cultural Awareness
• Software Development Methodologies
• Application Security
• AI Security
• Emerging Technologies

We Offer

Checkmarx offers a great work environment, professional development, challenging careers, competitive compensation, great work-life balance, as well as great benefits and perks throughout the year.

Checkmarx is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, or other characteristics protected by law.

About the Company

Checkmarx is the enterprise application security leader and the host of Checkmarx One™ - the industry-leading cloud-native AppSec platform that helps enterprises build #DevSecTrust. We’re trusted by 1,600+ customers in 70+ countries, including some of the largest enterprises and governments in the world. Guided by research-led innovation and a developer-first mindset, we help every developer, security team, and enterprise build software that is risk-free by design.