Here at Appian, our values of Intensity and Excellence define who we are. We set high standards and live up to them, ensuring that everything we do is done with care and quality. We approach every challenge with ambition and commitment, holding ourselves and each other accountable to achieve the best results. When you join Appian, you’ll be part of a passionate team dedicated to accomplishing hard things, together.

Information Security Engineer I

Location: McLean, VA | Work Model: On-site (5 days/week)

About the Team

The Appian Information Security department continuously evaluates the global threat landscape to protect Appian operations and service offerings. Our mission is to build, monitor, and scale robust security tools and processes that shield critical corporate and customer assets from emerging threats, international security concerns, and vulnerabilities, ensuring our AI-Powered Process Automation platform remains resilient and secure.

The Opportunity

At Appian, we believe our greatest innovations spring from in-person collaboration. Joining our team at our McLean headquarters means you will work alongside elite security architects in a high-velocity environment that prioritizes your professional growth. This role offers an unparalleled launchpad to transition academic knowledge into real-world impact, giving you direct ownership over intrusion detection capabilities and cloud-based defense strategies for our Enterprise-Grade Orchestration ecosystem.

What You’ll Do

Build and scale internal security systems to enable Appian InfoSec to quickly adapt, monitor, and defend against modern attacker techniques.
Analyze and investigate complex security-related data pulled from a wide range of security products, logging devices, and endpoint monitors.
Design and implement enhanced detection technologies across various Appian systems to proactively surface potential anomalies and vulnerabilities.
Conduct comprehensive risk analysis on infrastructure assets and provide actionable recommendations for remediation or mitigation.
Execute dedicated security engineering projects that directly improve Appian’s overarching intrusion detection, scanning, testing, and response capabilities.

Required Qualifications

Education: Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Cyber Security, Computer Engineering, or a closely related STEM field of study.
Experience: Progressive internship, co-op, or academic project experience centered on cyber security engineering or threat analysis.
Technical Mastery: Hands-on programming or scripting experience in one or more languages, specifically Java, Python, or C/C++.
Core Fundamentals: A strong, foundational understanding of network fundamentals and internet protocols, including TCP/IP networking, DNS, and DHCP.

Preferred Qualifications

Familiarity with administration and security best practices for both Windows and Linux/Unix operating systems.
Fundamental knowledge of cloud-based infrastructures (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS) and modern network security architectures.
We value experience with enterprise platforms such as Salesforce or ServiceNow, as these skills translate well into our Enterprise-Grade Orchestration environment.

The base salary range represents a good faith and reasonable estimate of the range at the time of posting. Actual compensation will be dependent on a number of factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s relevant work experience, qualifications, internal peer equity, and market and business conditions that exist when extending an offer. A discretionary bonus may be awarded in recognition of individual and company performance.

In addition, Appian provides generous benefits offerings that include a 401(k) plan with company match, flexible time off, paid parental leave, medical, dental, and vision plans, life insurance, disability insurance, wellness programs, flexible spending accounts, health savings account contributions, an employee referral bonus program, and learning and development resources. Certain positions may be eligible for equity awards.