Lead Platform Consultant (Hybrid) in Belfast

At Allstate, great things happen when our people work together to protect families and their belongings from life’s uncertainties. For more than 90 years, our innovative drive has kept us a step ahead of our customers’ evolving needs. Your role in the team Product Security is growing. We are engineering enterprise-wide security solutions that start left instead of just shifting left. Our focus spans AI Security, SaaS Security, API Security, Threat Modeling Agents, Apex Threat Modeling, Code Security in the IDE/Pipelines, and more.

We are seeking a visionary Platform Consultant with deep engineering expertise and strong security architecture experience. In this senior-level role, you will act as a strategic advisor to our engineering teams and organizations, guiding them through complex technical challenges and shaping platform strategies in line with Allstate’s outcome-based delivery culture. You will embed secure-by-design principles, including rigorous threat modeling from the outset of development, to fortify our platforms from the ground up. You will make clear, well-informed architectural decisions and articulate our security posture and recommendations to senior leadership, ensuring clarity and confidence in the integrity of our solutions.

As a security-focused engineering leader, you will collaborate with teams from Security Operations to implement proactive defenses and risk mitigations, consulting with data scientists to leverage analytics and AI for enhanced platform capabilities. This cross-functional engagement provides continuous opportunities to influence Allstate’s engineering community. You will mentor teams in modern engineering practices, champion system-wide best practices (such as Zero Trust architecture and reusable design), and drive the adoption of emerging technologies to improve reliability, performance, and efficiency.

The ideal candidate is a forward-thinking technical leader who seamlessly blends engineering know-how with security vision, inspiring change and driving strategic progress in a dynamic technology landscape. You are unwilling to accept solutions that compromise either developer experience or security integrity.

• Serve as a trusted consultant to engineering teams and organizations, guiding secure platform design and implementation across diverse product domains.
• Communicate clearly and effectively ensuring business and engineering needs are met.
• Foster effective collaborative sessions with teams from different disciplines and leadership levels.
• Embed secure-by-design principles and deep threat modeling practices into the development lifecycle, ensuring security is foundational—not bolted on.
• Define and communicate Allstate’s security posture clearly to technical and business leadership, enabling informed decision-making.
• Lead the ideation and implementation of innovative security controls that challenge the status quo and elevate Allstate’s embedded security maturity.
• Drive forward engineering practices that adapt to evolving technologies, enabling scalable, resilient, and efficient platforms.
• Mentor engineers and platform consultants in systems thinking, reusable design, and outcome-based delivery.
• Influence cross-functional teams through Discovery & Framing sessions, architectural reviews, and strategic planning.
• Promote and enforce architectural standards, simplification, and reuse across the enterprise.
• Actively participate in agile ceremonies and foster a culture of continuous learning and iterative delivery.

• A minimum of 5 years software engineering experience in at least 3 programming paradigms including Object-oriented (Java & Javascript required and at least one other language), Procedural/systems (e.g. Go, Rust, C), Functional (e.g. F#, Elixir, Clojure, Haskell) and experience using modern development tools (e.g., IntelliJ or VS Code, Git/GitHub, Spring Boot) and designing robust RESTful APIs.
• A minimum of 3 years hands-on expertise in architecting and delivering large scale distributed systems, such as cloud native microservices on Docker/Kubernetes, deployed on modern cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or equivalent), ensuring scalability, high availability, and performance.
• Demonstrated success as a high impact technical advisor to multiple engineering teams, with proven ability to influence architecture direction and mentor engineers in best practices with proven leadership responsibilities.
• Expert level knowledge of Agile/XP and DevOps methodologies, including paired programming, test driven development (TDD), and CI/CD automation, with a track record of using these practices to accelerate delivery and improve quality.

• In-depth knowledge of industry security frameworks and web/API security standards e.g., OWASP Top 10, MITRE ATT&CK, OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SAML – to guide secure design and development practices.
• Deep expertise in security architecture and secure-by-design practices, including advanced threat modeling, robust identity and access management (IAM) strategies, and Zero Trust architectures with a proven ability to embed these controls at all stages of the development lifecycle.
• Technical proficiency with AI tools such as running local models, developing MCP servers, using AI powered development tools like cursor/copilot/claude code/codex/etc to help drive your work more efficiently and test for effective model deployment strategies.
• Demonstrated expertise in API-first design and specification-driven development (e.g., OpenAPI, Swagger), enabling scalable, discoverable, and reusable services.
• Proven ability to shape developer experience and accelerate delivery through contract-first approaches, while laying the foundation for AI-assisted development and automated API governance.
• Deep understanding of modern cryptographic principles and protocols (e.g., AES, TLS, Argon2, elliptic curve cryptography), with the ability to evaluate, implement, and advise on secure data protection strategies.
• Skilled in applying cryptographic techniques to strengthen trust boundaries, safeguard sensitive data, and ensure compliance with enterprise and regulatory security standards.
• Experience with advanced development and testing practices, such as behavior-driven development (BDD) and integrating automated security checks into CI/CD pipelines.
• Familiarity with emerging technologies (e.g., AI/ML, knowledge graph solutions, advanced analytics) and their application to improve developer velocity, platform reliability, and security capabilities.
• Exposure to specialized security domains like AI Security, SaaS Security, and API Security, with an understanding of the unique challenges and tools in these areas.

This job does not have supervisory duties.

Allstate NI is proud to be Allstate’s European Digital Centre of Excellence—recent winners of ‘Best Use of Cloud Services’ at the Belfast Telegraph IT Awards 2024, and recognised for our community and sustainability impact at the 2024 Business in the Community Awards and Gold accreditation for Environmental Responsibility.

We’re a product-driven, cloud-first organisation delivering real outcomes through modern technology, a digital product-centric talent model, and a culture rooted in engineering excellence. Our teams work in cross-functional structures, guided by an outcome-based delivery approach that accelerates speed, agility, and value.

We offer a generous, flexible benefits package including annual leave, healthcare and dental cover, pension, and lifestyle discounts; access to world-class learning platforms and award-winning L&D; clear career paths, internal mobility, and a strong focus on growth; and a people-first culture with flexible working options.

Be part of a high-performing, socially responsible organisation where your work has purpose, and your growth is supported every step of the way.

Allstate NI wishes to ensure equal opportunity is given to all job applicants. This company will not discriminate on the grounds of race, gender (including gender reassignment status), sexual orientation, religious belief, political opinion, marital status, age or disability. We are an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons. However, as women are currently under-represented in our workforce, we would particularly welcome applications from women. All appointments will be made on merit. Applicants should note Allstate NI complete AccessNI background checks on all candidates offered a position.