DevSecOps engineer

What does a devSecOps engineer do?

A DevSecOps engineer builds security into the way software is built and released.

You work on pipelines, cloud accounts and containers so that security checks run automatically from the first commit.

The job sits in an engineering, platform or cloud team. You find it in banks, government agencies, technology firms and consultancies. Singapore's job classification places this work close to cloud specialists, who deploy and automate cloud solutions.

You work with software developers, cloud engineers, the security team and risk or audit staff. Your task is to turn security rules into code and tooling that developers can follow without slowing down releases.

What the work involves

• Add security scans to build and release pipelines, then tune them so developers see useful results and little noise.
• Write infrastructure code to set up cloud networks, access rules and clusters in a repeatable, reviewed way.
• Check scan reports for code, container images and cloud settings, and agree fixes and deadlines with development teams.
• Review access rights, secrets handling and logging for new services before they go live.
• Respond to security alerts from running systems and help teams find the cause and fix it.

Pay in Singapore

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Skills a devSecOps engineer needs

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DevSecOps engineer job description

We are hiring a DevSecOps engineer to build and run secure delivery pipelines and cloud platforms for our engineering teams.

You will automate security checks, manage vulnerabilities and help developers ship safely. You will work with developers, cloud engineers and the security team in a Singapore-based organisation.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines with automated security checks for code, dependencies and container images.
• Write and review infrastructure as code to deploy cloud resources with safe default settings.
• Harden container platforms, including Docker images and Kubernetes clusters.
• Track vulnerabilities from detection to fix, and report progress to engineering and security leads.
• Manage secrets, certificates and access rights for applications and pipelines.
• Set up logging and alerting so the security team can spot and investigate suspicious activity.
• Support audits and compliance work, such as the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) technology risk guidelines for financial clients.
• Coach developers on secure coding and run short reviews of new designs.
• Join incident response when a pipeline, cloud account or application is affected.

Requirements

• A diploma or degree in computer science, information technology, cybersecurity or a related field, or equal hands-on experience.
• Typically 2 to 5 years in DevOps, cloud engineering, software development or security operations.
• Working knowledge of a major cloud platform, plus Docker, Kubernetes and Terraform or a similar infrastructure tool.
• Experience with CI/CD tools and with scanning tools for code, dependencies and containers.
• Scripting skills in Python, Bash or a similar language. Security certifications such as CompTIA Security+, CISSP or OSCP are often a plus.

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DevSecOps engineer career path

Most DevSecOps engineers start in DevOps, cloud or software roles and add security depth over time.

From there you can move towards senior technical work or team leadership.

1. Junior DevOps or cloud engineer

   Entry

   You support pipelines and cloud environments, run routine scans and fix simple issues under guidance.

2. DevSecOps engineer

   Mid

   You own pipeline security checks, infrastructure code and vulnerability tracking for several teams.

3. Senior DevSecOps engineer

   Senior

   You design secure platform patterns, lead incident work and guide engineers across the organisation.

4. DevSecOps or platform security lead

   Lead

   You lead a team, set security standards for delivery and agree priorities with engineering and risk heads.

The titles are ones commonly used in Singapore; employers may name the levels differently.

Related jobs and their pay

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DevSecOps engineer interview questions

We wrote these questions from the skills this job needs. They are not an official question bank.

1. Which security checks would you add to a CI/CD pipeline, and in what order?

   What a good answer covers

   • Starts with secret scanning and static code analysis on each commit
   • Adds dependency and container image scanning at build stage
   • Runs dynamic tests against a staging environment before release
   • Sets pass or fail rules by severity so minor findings do not block builds
   • Keeps scan results visible to developers in the tools they already use

2. What does shift left mean in DevSecOps, and where does it stop working?

   What a good answer covers

   • Explains that security checks move earlier in the build process
   • Gives examples such as IDE checks, pre-commit hooks and pull request scans
   • Notes that early checks cannot find runtime or configuration issues
   • Adds runtime monitoring and cloud posture checks as a second layer

3. How do you make a Docker image safer before it reaches production?

   What a good answer covers

   • Uses small, trusted base images and pins versions
   • Runs the process as a non-root user
   • Removes build tools and unused packages with multi-stage builds
   • Scans images for known vulnerabilities and signs approved images
   • Keeps secrets out of image layers

4. How would you secure a Kubernetes cluster that several teams share?

   What a good answer covers

   • Separates teams with namespaces and role-based access control
   • Applies network policies so pods only talk to what they need
   • Enforces pod security rules, such as blocking privileged containers
   • Protects secrets and limits access to the cluster API
   • Turns on audit logs and sends them to central monitoring

5. How do you stop Terraform code from creating insecure cloud resources?

   What a good answer covers

   • Reviews changes through pull requests and plan output
   • Uses policy-as-code or static checks to block open storage and wide network rules
   • Keeps state files in a protected, access-controlled location
   • Uses shared, approved modules with safe defaults
   • Limits the permissions of the pipeline that applies changes

6. How do you decide which vulnerabilities to fix first?

   What a good answer covers

   • Looks at severity, and also at whether the system is exposed to the internet
   • Considers whether a known exploit exists and whether the data involved is sensitive
   • Agrees deadlines by risk level with the owning team
   • Tracks exceptions with an owner and an expiry date
   • Reports trends so leaders see whether the backlog is shrinking

7. What are the most common cloud misconfigurations you check for?

   What a good answer covers

   • Public storage buckets and open management ports
   • Overly broad identity and access permissions
   • Missing encryption for data at rest and in transit
   • Disabled or incomplete logging
   • Describes how automated posture checks catch these early

8. You use an AI coding tool such as Claude Code to draft Terraform or pipeline scripts. How do you check its output?

   What a good answer covers

   • Treats the output as untrusted code that needs the same review as any other
   • Reads the plan and diff line by line, especially for permissions and network rules
   • Runs the normal security scans and tests before merging
   • Keeps secrets and real customer data out of prompts
   • Follows the organisation's rules on approved AI tools

1. A scan finds a critical vulnerability in a library used by ten services, and a release is due tomorrow. What do you do?

   What a good answer covers

   • Confirms whether the vulnerable code is actually reachable and exploitable
   • Assesses exposure and decides with the product owner whether to delay, patch or add a temporary control
   • Finds all affected services from the dependency inventory
   • Applies the fix through the pipeline and re-scans
   • Records the decision and follows up on any open exceptions

2. Developers say your security scan makes builds slow and they want it removed. How do you respond?

   What a good answer covers

   • Asks for data on scan time and false positives
   • Moves heavy scans to run in parallel or on a schedule, keeping quick checks on every commit
   • Tunes rules to cut noise and agrees which findings block a build
   • Shows developers the risk the scan covers
   • Reviews the result with the team after a few weeks

3. An access key for your cloud account is found in a public code repository. Walk us through your response.

   What a good answer covers

   • Revokes and rotates the key at once
   • Checks cloud logs for use of the key and looks for any new resources or data access
   • Removes the key from the repository and its history, and informs the security team
   • Finds out how it got there and adds secret scanning to stop a repeat
   • Writes up the incident and lessons learned

1. Tell us about a time you persuaded a team to adopt a security change they did not want.

   What a good answer covers

   • Describes the risk and the team's concern clearly
   • Shows how they listened and changed the approach
   • Offers a practical way to make the change easy, such as templates or automation
   • Explains the result and how it was measured

2. Describe a security mistake you made or found in your own work. What did you do?

   What a good answer covers

   • Owns the mistake and does not blame others
   • Explains how they limited the damage and informed the right people
   • Describes the fix and the check added to prevent it happening again
   • Shows a habit of learning from incidents

1. Your pipeline creates test environments from copies of production data that include NRIC numbers. What is the issue and what would you change?

   What a good answer covers

   • Identifies that this puts personal data at risk and may conflict with PDPA obligations
   • Replaces real data with masked or synthetic data in test environments
   • Limits access to any production data and logs who uses it
   • Checks that logs and backups do not hold personal data longer than needed
   • Involves the data protection officer when the rules are unclear

2. You join a bank that follows MAS technology risk guidelines. How would that change the way you run pipelines and cloud access?

   What a good answer covers

   • Expects stricter change control, approvals and separation of duties
   • Keeps audit trails for deployments, access changes and security exceptions
   • Applies strong controls over privileged access and production changes
   • Works with risk and audit teams to provide evidence from pipeline records
   • Says they would read the current MAS guidance and the bank's own policies before designing controls

Common questions about a devSecOps engineer job

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