Physical Security Lead

ABOUT US Sierra is the leading platform for customer-facing AI agents, working with many of the world's biggest brands — including The GAP, Rocket Mortgage, SoFi, Sutter Health, and SoftBank — to transform how they serve customers and grow their businesses. We are primarily an in-person company based in San Francisco, with growing offices across North America, Europe, and Asia. We are guided by a set of values that are at the core of our actions and define our culture: Trust, Customer Obsession, Craftsmanship, Intensity, and a commitment to balancing Family along the way. These values are the foundation of our work, and we are committed to upholding them in everything we do. Our co-founders are Bret Taylor https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettaylor/ and Clay Bavor https://www.linkedin.com/in/claybavor/. Bret currently serves as Board Chair of OpenAI. Previously, he was co-CEO of Salesforce (which had acquired the company he founded, Quip) and CTO of Facebook. Bret was also one of Google's earliest product managers and co-creator of Google Maps. Before founding Sierra, Clay spent 18 years at Google, where he most recently led Google Labs. Earlier, he started and led Google’s AR/VR effort, Project Starline, and Google Lens. Before that, Clay led the product and design teams for Google Workspace. WHAT YOU'LL DO - As Sierra's first Physical Security Lead, you will build and own our global physical security program from the ground up, protecting our people, offices, events, and information as we grow across North America, Europe, and Asia. You'll partner closely with Workplace Technology, IT Engineering, Workplace, Security Engineering, People, and Legal, and set the strategy, standards, and operating model for the function as it scales. - Program strategy and standards: Assess risk across every Sierra site and set a global baseline for physical security, including policies, standards, and site-tier requirements, prioritized into a practical roadmap with a budget and clear metrics. - Access control and security systems: Own the strategy and governance for badge access, video, intrusion detection, and visitor management, in partnership with Workplace Technology, who operate our office access and network systems. Make sure access follows least privilege, is reviewed regularly, and is removed promptly when people leave. Make sure these systems are monitored and have backup power. - Office openings and build-outs: Define security requirements for new offices and build-outs as we open new sites, and partner with Workplace, landlords, architects, and integrators from design through commissioning. - Sensitive spaces, insider risk, and threat assessment: Secure executive areas, boardrooms, and conference rooms where confidential customer and company discussions happen, including technical surveillance countermeasures (TSCM) sweeps, recording-device policies, and controls for hosting visitors and guests. Build a workplace violence prevention and behavioral threat assessment program with People and Legal, and partner with Security Engineering and IT Engineering on insider risk so that physical and digital signals are reviewed together. - Policy, compliance, and customer trust: Own Sierra's Physical Security Policy and the physical controls behind our compliance programs. Represent physical security in customer security assessments and audits, and drive findings to closure. - Incident response and emergency preparedness: Own physical security incident response, investigations, and emergency plans for every office. Run drills and tabletop exercises, and set up monitoring and escalation through an in-house function or a GSOC partner. Issue safety advisories and coordinate with building security and local authorities when employees are at risk near our offices. - Events, executives, and travel: Plan security for all-hands meetings, customer events, and off-sites. Coordinate executive protection and travel risk management with trusted vendors, and own guard and security services contracts across our sites, including post orders, staffing, and performance. WHAT YOU'LL BRING - Experience: 8+ years in corporate physical security, global security, or security operations, including building or substantially scaling a program at a fast-growing technology company. Law enforcement, military, or government experience is valued alongside corporate experience. - Program building: A track record of standing up a physical security function at an early stage, including policies, vendors, budget, metrics, and team, with sound judgment about what to tackle first. - Security systems: Hands-on experience with modern, cloud-based access control, video, and visitor management platforms (for example Verkada, Brivo, Avigilon Alta, Genetec, or Envoy), and how they integrate with identity systems such as Okta. - Risk and threat assessment: Experience conducting site risk assessments, threat assessments, and investigations, and handling sensitive matters with discretion alongside People and Legal teams. - Incident leadership: Calm, decisive leadership during incidents and emergencies, including serving as incident lead and running after-action reviews. - Multi-site and international: Experience securing offices across multiple regions, including Europe and Asia, and managing guard, integrator, and executive protection vendors. - Partnership and communication: Able to build security programs that employees welcome rather than work around, and to explain risk clearly to executives, engineers, and building partners. - Work model: This role is based in our San Francisco office, with regular travel to our other offices. EVEN BETTER… - Professional certifications such as ASIS PSP or CPP. - Experience running TSCM programs or protecting sensitive R&D or AI research environments. - Experience with GSOC operations, mass notification, or travel risk management platforms. OUR VALUES - Trust: We build trust with our customers w