Freelance Security Risk Assessment Jobs in California

Company Description

Sandisk understands how people and businesses consume data and we relentlessly innovate to deliver solutions that enable today’s needs and tomorrow’s next big ideas. With a rich history of groundbreaking innovations in Flash and advanced memory technologies, our solutions have become the beating heart of the digital world we’re living in and that we have the power to shape.

Sandisk meets people and businesses at the intersection of their aspirations and the moment, enabling them to keep moving and pushing possibility forward. We do this through the balance of our powerhouse manufacturing capabilities and our industry-leading portfolio of products that are recognized globally for innovation, performance and quality.

Sandisk has two facilities recognized by the World Economic Forum as part of the Global Lighthouse Network for advanced 4IR innovations. These facilities were also recognized as Sustainability Lighthouses for breakthroughs in efficient operations. With our global reach, we ensure the global supply chain has access to the Flash memory it needs to keep our world moving forward.

Job Description

Sandisk’s Product Security Engineering & Assurance (PSEA) organization is seeking highly motivated Product Security Engineers – Hardware/Firmware specializing in security considerations for Client and Enterprise storage products (SSDs) that incorporate hardware and firmware components.

This role will partner closely with firmware, hardware, Platform Security, validation, and product teams to strengthen security across Sandisk products through product security assessments, security readiness assurance, PSIRT support, technical risk mitigation guidance, and product security enablement.

The ideal candidate combines strong technical depth in embedded systems and firmware with practical product security experience and the ability to influence engineering teams toward scalable, risk-informed security outcomes. This role requires strong technical judgment, hands-on engagement, and the ability to communicate complex cybersecurity topics to engineering, business, and customer stakeholders.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Product Security Engineering & Enablement

• Partner with firmware, hardware, and product teams to strengthen cybersecurity considerations across product lifecycles.
• Provide technical guidance on implementation of security requirements and security controls for hardware and firmware-based products.
• Evaluate product security posture and implementation effectiveness with a security lens, identifying potential attack paths, control gaps, and risk areas.
• Help product teams prioritize practical mitigations based on product risk, exploitability, and business objectives.
• Support product teams in balancing cybersecurity rigor with product delivery objectives and business priorities.

Security Risk Assessment & Threat Modeling

• Facilitate product security risk assessments and support threat modeling activities across firmware-driven products.
• Assess product security risks across:
  • authentication and authorization mechanisms,
  • firmware update protections,
  • secure boot and trust anchors,
  • cryptographic protections,
  • debug and manufacturing access controls,
  • provisioning and lifecycle security mechanisms.
• Participate in technical reviews to evaluate security implementation effectiveness and identify opportunities for risk reduction.

Security Readiness & Assurance

• Support product security readiness activities by evaluating implementation effectiveness, security evidence, and residual product risk from an assurance perspective.
• Assess security posture and implementation effectiveness related to:
  • authentication and authorization mechanisms,
  • firmware update protections,
  • secure boot and trust anchors,
  • cryptographic protections,
  • debug and manufacturing access controls,
  • provisioning and lifecycle security mechanisms.
• Evaluate security artifacts and technical evidence including:
  • threat modeling outputs,
  • SAST and static analysis findings,
  • SBOM and dependency risk visibility,
  • fuzzing and penetration testing outcomes,
  • vulnerability remediation activities,
  • security validation evidence.
• Support customer, regulatory, and internal security assurance activities through technical assessment, documentation, and security evidence review.
• Provide technically grounded recommendations to strengthen product security posture, reduce risk, and improve confidence in product readiness.
• Identify recurring security gaps, lessons learned, and opportunities for scalable product security improvement across programs.

PSIRT & Vulnerability Management

• Support Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) activities, including vulnerability triage, technical assessment, remediation coordination, and product security risk evaluation.
• Conduct technical vulnerability assessments and support CVSS scoring activities based on exploitability, deployment context, product exposure, and customer impact.
• Partner with firmware and product teams to assess reported vulnerabilities, identify root causes, and recommend practical remediation strategies.
• Help translate vulnerability learnings into durable product security improvements and security best practices.
• Support coordination and technical analysis for external vulnerability disclosures, customer-reported issues, and security research findings.

Security White Papers & Technical Guidance

• Author technical security white papers, technical guidance, and customer-facing security content related to product security posture, secure design practices, and emerging cybersecurity topics.
• Support customer security inquiries, product assurance requests, and technical cybersecurity discussions.
• Contribute to internal security guidance, reusable security patterns, and best practices to improve consistency across product teams.

Cross-functional Collaboration

• Collaborate closely with:
  • Platform Security Architects,
  • Firmware Engineering,
  • Hardware/ASIC teams,
  • Product Engineering,
  • Validation teams,
  • PSIRT,
  • Product Security Assurance,
  • External security assessment partners.
• Provide clear technical direction and risk-informed guidance to engineering and business stakeholders.

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree or greater in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Cybersecurity, or related technical field.
• 5+ years of experience in product security, embedded systems, firmware engineering, hardware/software security, or related disciplines.
• Strong understanding of:
  • hardware and firmware security principles,
  • embedded systems security,
  • security threat modeling,
  • security risk assessments,
  • vulnerability management,
  • security risk mitigation.
• Familiarity with:
  • secure boot,
  • authentication and authorization,
  • cryptographic protocols and libraries,
  • firmware update security,
  • hardware-software interactions,
  • Flash storage, RAM, and cache systems.
• Working knowledge of cybersecurity standards, best practices, and secure development principles.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively across technical and non-technical audiences.

Preferred:

• Experience with SSDs, storage controllers, flash technologies, or storage system architectures strongly preferred.
• 3+ years of embedded hardware/software development or design experience.
• Familiarity with:
  • FIPS 140,
  • Common Criteria,
  • CVSS,
  • Vulnerability management,
  • Incident response,
  • Penetration testing.
• Experience supporting PSIRT or vulnerability response activities is a plus.
• Experience with embedded software development is a plus.
• Strong analytical, technical problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.
• Strong technical communication and documentation capabilities.
• Ability to influence engineering teams through technical credibility and collaboration.
• Strong judgment in balancing product risk, customer commitments, and business priorities.
• Passion for cybersecurity, emerging threats, and secure product development.

Additional Information

Sandisk is committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees and will not discriminate against any applicant or employee based on their race, color, ancestry, religion (including religious dress and grooming standards), sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), gender (including a person’s gender identity, gender expression, and gender-related appearance and behavior, whether or not stereotypically associated with the person’s assigned sex at birth), age, national origin, sexual orientation, medical condition, marital status (including domestic partnership status), physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, protected medical and family care leave, Civil Air Patrol status, military and veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. We also prohibit harassment of any individual on any of the characteristics listed above. Our non-discrimination policy applies to all aspects of employment. We comply with the laws and regulations set forth in the "Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal” poster. Our pay transparency policy is available here.

Sandisk thrives on the power and potential of diversity. As a global company, we believe the most effective way to embrace the diversity of our customers and communities is to mirror it from within. We believe the fusion of various perspectives results in the best outcomes for our employees, our company, our customers, and the world around us. We are committed to an inclusive environment where every individual can thrive through a sense of belonging, respect and contribution.

Sandisk is committed to offering opportunities to applicants with disabilities and ensuring all candidates can successfully navigate our careers website and our hiring process. Please contact us at jobs.accommodations@sandisk.com to advise us of your accommodation request. In your email, please include a description of the specific accommodation you are requesting as well as the job title and requisition number of the position for which you are applying.

Based on our experience, we anticipate that the application deadline will be 09/022/2026 (3 months from posting), although we reserve the right to close the application process sooner if we hire an applicant for this position before the application deadline. If we are not able to hire someone from this role before the application deadline, we will update this posting with a new anticipated application deadline.

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Compensation & Benefits Details

• An employee’s pay position within the salary range may be based on several factors including but not limited to (1) relevant education; qualifications; certifications; and experience; (2) skills, ability, knowledge of the job; (3) performance, contribution and results; (4) geographic location; (5) shift; (6) internal and external equity; and (7) business and organizational needs.
• The salary range is what we believe to be the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting.  We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and this range is only applicable for jobs to be performed in California, Colorado, New York or remote jobs that can be performed in California, Colorado and New York.  This range may be modified in the future.
• You will be eligible to participate in Sandisk's Short-Term Incentive (STI) Plan, which provides incentive awards based on Company and individual performance.  Depending on your role and your performance, you may be eligible to participate in our annual Long-Term Incentive (LTI) program, which consists of restricted stock units (RSUs) or cash equivalents, pursuant to the terms of the LTI plan. Please note that not all roles are eligible to participate in the LTI program, and not all roles are eligible for equity under the LTI plan. RSU awards are also available to eligible new hires, subject to Sandisk's Standard Terms and Conditions for Restricted Stock Unit Awards.
• We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid vacation time; paid sick leave; medical/dental/vision insurance; life, accident and disability insurance; tax-advantaged flexible spending and health savings accounts; employee assistance program; other voluntary benefit programs such as supplemental life and AD&D, legal plan, pet insurance, critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity; tuition reimbursement; transit; the Applause Program, employee stock purchase plan, and the Sandisk's Savings 401(k) Plan.
• Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, benefits, or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole discretion, consistent with the law.