Jobs › Akuna Capital

Security Engineer II

Akuna Capital · Chicago, IL · Information Security

Posted Jul 22, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Sep 20, 2026

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Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

Behavioral

Walk me through a security incident you handled from the first alert to closing it out. What tipped you off, and how did you decide it was real?

whether they have actually run an end-to-end incident lifecycle, not just watched alerts

Describe a threat hunt you ran that wasn't triggered by an alert. What made you go looking, and what did you find or not find?

proactive mindset versus purely reactive incident handling

Tell me about a tabletop or red/blue exercise you were part of. What gap in the incident response playbook did it expose?

experience stress-testing IR processes rather than just following them

Describe a time you had to convince a system owner or another team to fix something they didn't think was urgent. How did that conversation go?

cross-team influence and communication without direct authority

What's your approach to writing documentation or running a training session so that non-technical employees actually change their behavior instead of just nodding along?

ability to translate security concepts for a non-security audience

Technical

How would you use the MITRE ATT&CK framework to figure out what a specific alert actually represents, and how would that change what detection rule you write afterward?

whether ATT&CK is a working tool for them or just a term they know

Tell me about a time you built or improved a detection rule in a SIEM. What log source were you working with, and how did you know your rule wasn't going to bury the team in false positives?

hands-on SIEM tuning experience and judgment about signal versus noise

We want to pull new telemetry out of a SaaS platform we don't currently monitor well. How would you go about figuring out what's available through its API and turning that into something useful for detection?

ability to extend visibility beyond out-of-the-box tooling

Give me an example of a repetitive security task you automated with a script. What language did you use, and what broke the first time you ran it in production?

real scripting experience including the failure modes, not just claimed proficiency

How would you think about securing an internal AI application or an agentic workflow that has access to sensitive trading or client data? What worries you most about that kind of system?

whether they've actually thought about AI-specific attack surface, since this posting leans on it heavily

Walk me through how you'd secure identity in an environment using Entra ID and MFA against a phishing campaign that's targeting employees right now.

depth of hands-on IAM knowledge versus surface familiarity with the tools listed

Situational

Say our MSSP escalates an alert about anomalous logins from a new geography for a trader's account. What do you do in the first ten minutes, and what do you check next?

triage instincts and prioritization under time pressure

Walk me through how you'd prioritize a batch of vulnerabilities from a scan when you can't patch everything this week.

understanding of risk-based prioritization versus just patching by severity score

Suppose you found evidence during an investigation that a compromised account belongs to someone senior at the firm. How do you handle the next steps, including who you tell and when?

judgment under political pressure and adherence to process over convenience

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The full job description

As published by Akuna Capital.

About Akuna:  Akuna Capital is an innovative trading firm with a strong focus on collaboration, cutting-edge technology, data driven solutions, and automation. We specialize in providing liquidity as an options market maker – meaning we are committed to providing competitive quotes that we are willing to both buy and sell. To do this successfully, we design and implement our own low latency technologies, trading strategies, and mathematical models.  Our Founding Partners first conceptualized Akuna in their hometown of Sydney. They opened the firm’s first office in 2011 in the heart of the derivatives industry and the options capital of the world – Chicago. Today, Akuna is proud to operate from additional offices in Sydney, Shanghai, London, and Singapore.  What you’ll do as a Security Engineer II at Akuna:  Akuna is seeking a driven Security Engineer II to safeguard our systems, data, and assets against a threat landscape increasingly shaped by AI on both sides of the fight. In this role, you'll proactively identify vulnerabilities, hunt for threats, automate and orchestrate security workflows, and drive incident response while leveraging AI and agentic tooling as force multipliers.   You'll also help secure the firm's growing AI ecosystem, including internal AI applications, agentic workflows, and the emerging attack surfaces they introduce as AI becomes an increasingly important part of how we build and operate technology.   By continuously improving our ability to prevent, detect, investigate, respond to, and recover from cyber threats, you'll play a key role in advancing Akuna's security posture. In this role, you will:  <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="10" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Perform analysis of security incidents and threat actors utilizing the MITRE ATT&CK framework to enhance detection capabilities </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="10" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Investigate and respond to security incidents reported by the Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP), security controls, and end users, while developing effective triage processes to ensure prompt and thorough incident handling</li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="10" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Assist in managing enterprise security infrastructure, including Intrusion Detection/Prevention Systems, SIEM, EDR, Web Filtering, MFA, and Email Security </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="10" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Develop threat hunting activities by analyzing anomalous log data, intelligence, and conducting brainstorming sessions to detect and eliminate potential adversaries in our network </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="10" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Leverage APIs across enterprise technology, SaaS/IaaS/PaaS and business applications to create new sources of telemetry signals for threat Detection and Response </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="10" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Engineer orchestration and automation to streamline the incident analysis and response process  </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="10" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Engineer war-gaming and tabletop activities as part of red/blue team exercises to strengthen and test incident response playbooks, evaluating and improving the firm's incident response capabilities  </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="10" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Conduct vulnerability management assessments, recommend remediation actions, and collaborate with system owners to ensure timely patching </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="10" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Collaborate with Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) to implement threat detection rules and event correlation using SIEM platforms to identify malicious, suspicious, and anomalous activities </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="10" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Collaborate with different departments within the firm to identify security monitoring blind spots and opportunities for threat detection </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="10" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Provide support in implementing and maintaining the information security infrastructure ensuring its effective operation and ongoing maintenance </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="10" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Educate users on security best practices and implement initiatives to promote cybersecurity awareness and risk reduction, including conducting training sessions and developing user-friendly documentation </li> </ul> Qualities that make great candidates:  <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="7" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">3-5 years of experience in cybersecurity, security engineering, or cyber defense with a demonstrated ability to protect enterprise systems, infrastructure, and data </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="7" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Passion for cybersecurity and a strong understanding of security operations, threat detection, incident response, and enterprise security principles  </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="7" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Experience administering and supporting enterprise security technologies such as SIEM, EDR, firewalls, IDS/IPS, vulnerability management platforms, identity and access management (Active Directory, Entra ID/Azure AD, SSO, MFA), and Microsoft 365 security </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="7" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Experience investigating security events through log analysis, identifying indicators of compromise, and assisting with incident investigation and response  </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="7" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Understanding of vulnerability management processes, including vulnerability identification, prioritization, remediation, and validation </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="7" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Experience securing cloud environments and SaaS platforms, with familiarity in Azure, AWS, or GCP security concepts and cloud-native security controls  </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="7" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Working knowledge of Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems from a security perspective  </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="7" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Experience writing PowerShell, Python, or similar scripts to automate repetitive tasks or improve security operations  </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="7" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Strong understanding of networking fundamentals, including TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP/S, VPNs, and common enterprise network security concepts</li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="7" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Experience implementing or supporting endpoint protection technologies such as EDR, Next-Generation Antivirus, or endpoint security platforms</li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="7" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Excellent communication skills with the ability to collaborate across technical and business teams and explain security concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences  </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="7" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Strong documentation skills with the ability to create and maintain technical procedures, standards, and operational documentation </li> </ul> Preferred Qualifications   <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="35" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559683":0,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Experience with security orchestration and automation (SOAR) platforms such as Cortex XSOAR, Splunk SOAR (Phantom), Tines, or Torq. </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="35" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559683":0,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Familiarity with Microsoft Defender XDR, Microsoft Sentinel, CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, or similar enterprise EDR security platforms. </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="35" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559683":0,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Knowledge of regulatory and security frameworks such as NIST Cybersecurity Framework, CIS Controls, MITRE ATT&CK, or ISO 27001.  </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="35" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559683":0,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Experience with Data Loss Prevention (DLP), CASB, email security, or Zero Trust architectures.  </li> </ul> AI & Emerging Technologies   <ul> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="36" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559683":0,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Experience using AI and LLM tools to improve security investigations, automation, scripting, documentation, and operational efficiency while validating outputs and exercising sound judgment.  </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="36" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559683":0,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Curiosity and willingness to leverage emerging AI technologies to enhance security operations and engineering workflows.  </li> <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="36" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559683":0,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Awareness of AI security risks and responsible AI practices, with familiarity with frameworks such as OWASP LLM Top 10, MITRE ATLAS, or similar guidance. </li> </ul> In addition to technical skillsets, Akuna values the unique perspectives people can bring to the table to collaboratively solve complex problems and drive Akuna forward. We want everyone to feel empowered to apply. We welcome your application and encourage you to take the first steps toward your future with us! In accordance with Illinois Equal Pay Act, the minimum base salary starts at $145,000. Exact compensation offered may vary based on many factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s experience, qualifications, and skill set. This role is also eligible for a discretionary performance bonus as part of the total compensation package and includes a comprehensive benefits package that may encompass employer-paid medical, dental, vision, retirement contributions, paid time off, and other benefits. The minimum base salary herein was determined in good faith by Akuna Capital LLC.

Apply at Akuna Capital

Security Engineer II

Likely interview questions for this role

Practice this interview out loud.

The full job description

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