Cryptography Expert

About Us

We’re the world’s leading provider of secure financial messaging services, headquartered in Belgium. We are the way the world moves value – across borders, through cities and overseas. No other organisation can address the scale, precision, pace and trust that this demands, and we’re proud to support the global economy. 

We’re unique too. We were established to find a better way for the global financial community to move value – a reliable, safe and secure approach that the community can trust, completely. We’re always striving to be better and are constantly evolving in an ever-changing landscape, without undermining that trust. Five decades on, our vibrant community reflects the complexity and diversity of the financial ecosystem. We innovate diligently, test exhaustively, then implement fast. In a connected and exciting era, our mission has never been more relevant. Swift now has a presence in 200+ countries and legal territories to serve a community of more than 12,000 banks and financial institutions.   

Cryptography lies at the core of cybersecurity, providing the foundational pillars of confidentiality, integrity, and authentication. Over the years, cryptographic techniques have been continuously evolving, to meet stronger security controls and address vulnerabilities. However, as the technology landscape shifts, cryptography is about to face an unprecedented challenge with the rise of quantum computing, calling for a transformative approach to cryptography.

We are looking for a highly skilled and experienced Cryptography Expert to join our Cryptography Centre of Excellence and play a pivotal role in shaping the cryptographic strategy and spearheading a critical transformation. You will lead our cryptographic roadmap, drive innovation, and work at the cutting edge of cryptographic advancements while fostering a strong focus on cryptographic excellence. In this critical role, you will be at the forefront of a major cryptographic evolution, guiding the organization in transitioning to a quantum-safe future.  

If you are passionate about cryptography, excited about strategic innovation, and eager to help shape the future of cyber security, we’d love to hear from you.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the Cryptography Strategy: Drive the development, execution, and continuous improvement of the overall cryptographic strategy, ensuring cryptography roadmap alignment with overall cybersecurity objectives.
• Stay Abreast of Cryptographic Advances: Continuously monitor and analyze the latest developments in cryptography, threats and vulnerabilities, industry standards and regulations, to keep at the forefront of cryptographic innovations, leveraging academic and industry expertise where needed.
• Evolve the Cryptography Standards: Develop and maintain the global cryptography standards to ensure a proper use of cryptographic primitives, algorithms, and security protocols. Ensure alignment with global industry standards and regulations, working closely with compliance, audit, and risk teams.
• Serve as Centre of Expertise: Provide expert guidance and leadership in applied cryptography to engineering teams and stakeholders across the organization.
• Champion Cryptographic Agility: Foster cryptographic agility and contribute to the development of crypto-agile reference architectures, enabling efficient change management within a fast-evolving technological landscape.
• Demonstrate Thought Leadership: Monitor the quantum computing risks, analyzing advancements in quantum technologies. Track the latest development in the standardization of post-quantum cryptography and their implementation in protocols. Lead organization and community awareness campaigns and foster industry collaboration to advance the broader focus on post-quantum readiness.
• Drive the Post-Quantum Security Strategy: Oversee the readiness strategy, including research, design, hands-on experimentation and implementation efforts. Track the alignment of third-parties readiness with the global transition roadmap.
• Research Technology Innovation: Research emerging cryptographic trends, initiate and lead proof-of-concept projects, explore and assess new technological evolution and promote early adoption.

Required Skills & Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in information technology, computer science, cryptography, cybersecurity, or a related field.
• Over 10 years of professional experience in cyber security, IT development or architecture, of which at least 3 years with proven track records in applied cryptography.
• Expertise in classic and post-quantum cryptography, hashing, encryption, key agreement and digital signature algorithms and security protocols, and their implementation.
• Deep understanding of global cryptographic standards and regulations such as NIST, PCI-DSS, and other industry-specific compliance frameworks.
• Proficiency with cryptographic software libraries and APIs, public key infrastructure, hardware security modules, and key management systems. Familiarity with cryptographic asset inventory tooling and cryptography bill of material (CBOM).
• A solid understanding of cryptographic threats, vulnerabilities, and cryptoanalysis.
• Proven leadership experience in managing cryptographic projects, driving innovation, and overseeing enterprise strategy.
• Excellent communication skills to articulate complex cryptographic concepts to a wide range of audiences, and a proactive approach to innovation and problem-solving.
• Strategic mindset with the ability to think long-term, align cryptographic goals with the broader security strategy and contribute to the organization's technological evolution.

What We Offer

We put you in control of career

We give you a competitive package

We help you perform at your best

We help you make a difference

We give you the freedom to be yourself

We give you the freedom to be yourself. We are creating an environment of unique individuals – like you – with different perspectives on the financial industry and the world. A diverse and inclusive environment in which everyone’s voice counts and where you can reach your full potential.

If you believe you require a reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, please contact us to request accommodation.

Don’t meet every single requirement? At Swift, we are dedicated to building a workplace where people can bring their full selves and ideas to the team, so if you are excited about this role, we encourage you to apply even if you do not meet every single qualification.