I'll second this. So few organisations have dedicated security people at the time they need it most! Since we're on HN, it is maybe worth looking at startups,

I'll second this. So few organisations have dedicated security people at the time they need it most! Since we're on HN, it is maybe worth looking at startups, and how few early stage ones build with security in mind at the time. In regulated sectors or ones where reputation is key, it seems a no-brainer to have a security minded joint CTO/CSO to ensure the house is in order from the start. I understand the pressure and focus on an MVP, but equally I've seen first hand the cost of undoing (avoidably) bad engineering and security ignorance that had real financial cost. After MVP is validated and there are paying customers, it's really time to get security right, in my view. I also see little demand for "real" security engineers. Most security roles I see are pretty non-technical, often doing the whole "let's turn security into a generic risk so we can hand it off to a non-expert". I don't really see how you can lead or drive security when you can't pop your way into a typical business webapp yourself, yet most of the security people I know what to learn these skills (but they're too busy firefighting for me to get time to teach them some of the tricks). I've seen little demand or appetite for bringing together what seems to me to be a real security engineer - experienced technical developer lead, deep and broad security knowledge across the full stack, and the ability to make strategic business decisions (exec skills). Is this a missed opportunity, as the value of it seems clear to me? Or is the demand really just not there for this?