Sr. Engineer, Machine Identity & Agentic AI Governance (Remote)

Title: Sr. Engineer, Machine Identity & Agentic AI Governance (Remote)Location: Charlotte NC

Duration: 6 months

Pay Rate - $120/hr - $140/hr on W-2 (No 1099 or C2C)

As our client is hiring a Sr. Engineer to adopt AI agents at an accelerating pace, every connection those agents make to internal systems — APIs, cloud services, collaboration tools, data stores — generates a machine identity that must be provisioned, monitored, and governed. These credentials proliferate fast, operate autonomously, and fall entirely outside the governance models built for human users.

This is a newly created, high-visibility role that sits at the intersection of Identity, Cloud, Enterprise Applications, and Cybersecurity. You'll lead the rollout and operationalization of HTS's non-human identity (NHI) governance platform, build the workflows that lets lines of business move fast with appropriate guardrails, and establish the operational foundation that makes the broader AI governance program function.

Summary

This is not a policy-writing role — it's an engineering and operations role with real cross [1] functional ownership and material impact on how Hearst secures its AI-enabled future.

What You'll Do - NHI Governance Platform Rollout & OperationalizationLead the end-to-end deployment of NHI governance platform across environment, including integration with cloud platforms, identity providers, SaaS tools, and internal systemsPartner with the Identity Management team to define and build the operational model for NHI discovery, classification, ownership assignment, and lifecycle managementDevelop dashboards, alerting, and reporting that give HTS and business stakeholders real-time visibility into machine identity posture Machine Identity Governance

Establish intake, assessment, and approval workflows for new machine identities and agent credentials across lines of business

Partner with Identity on lifecycle management processes — provisioning, rotation, access reviews, and decommissioning — for secrets, service accounts, API keys, and OAuth tokens

Identify ungoverned or orphaned credentials and drive remediation in collaboration with Cloud, Identity, and Engineering teams Cross-Functional PartnershipServe as the operational connective tissue between Identity Management, Cloud Operations, Enterprise Applications, and the Cybersecurity teamPartner with Cyber to translate policy into enforceable, automated controls

Collaborate with the AI team and lines of business to enable governed adoption of agentic AI — governance as an enabler, not a bottleneck

Represent HTS in cross-functional forums on AI governance and machine identity strategy Program Development

Build and maintain runbooks, standards, and documentation for machine identity operations

Track metrics that demonstrate risk reduction and operational maturity over time

Stay current on the evolving NHI and agentic AI threat landscape and bring relevant practices back to HTS

What You Bring5+ years in an infrastructure, identity, or security engineering role with demonstrated ownership of complex, cross-functional initiativesHands-on experience with secrets management platforms (e.g., HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault) and/or non-human identity toolingStrong working knowledge of cloud environments (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and how machine identities are created and used within themFamiliarity with OAuth, OIDC, SAML, and API key-based authentication patterns

Experience integrating security or identity tooling across enterprise environments — you know what it takes to go from a new platform license to an operational program

Ability to work across organizational boundaries: you're as comfortable in a technical deep-dive with engineers as you are presenting risk posture to stakeholders

Clear, structured communicator — written and verbal

Nice to HaveExperience with NHI governance or secrets security platforms (e.g., Entro Security, Astrix, Elimity, or similar)Background in or exposure to agentic AI frameworks and how AI agents authenticate to servicesRelevant certifications (CISSP, CCSP, cloud provider security certs)

Experience in media, publishing, or other data-sensitive industries

Why This Role

Greenfield ownership — you're building the program, not inheriting a backlog

Organizational support — this role was created with executive backing and dedicated tooling investment; the mandate is real

High-impact surface area — machine identity governance touches every AI initiative across Client’s portfolio of media brands

Collaborative environment — you'll work closely with experienced teams across Cloud, Identity, and Cyber, with clear lanes and shared goal