SC Media Editorial Intelligence, reviewed by Kirk Strauser

Kirk Strauser is Head of Security at Factory, where he builds and runs the security program for an AI software engineering company. A hands-on software and infrastructure engineer with more than 20 years of experience spanning early-stage startups to mid-sized companies, he specializes in solving complex, loosely defined problems in ways that keep both engineering and compliance teams happy.

Over his career, Kirk has designed sensitive cloud backends handling HIPAA-covered healthcare data and built security programs that meet demanding enterprise, regulatory, and compliance requirements, including SOC 2, HITRUST, and HIPAA. As Lead Security Architect and CISO at Amino Health, he led the cross-functional work that landed the company’s first multimillion-dollar enterprise customers and passed rigorous technical audits. Later, as a Staff Security Engineer at Coda (acquired by Grammarly), he automated auditing and infrastructure controls, reached a perfect CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark score, ran penetration testing and a HackerOne bug bounty program, and joined sales calls to help close deals.

Kirk works fluently across Python, Rust, SQL, and TypeScript, with deep AWS, Terraform, and Linux experience. He is an active open-source contributor: he created Wonk, an AWS policy-compilation tool, and built a demonstration app for Veilid, the privacy-focused peer-to-peer framework he presented at DEF CON 31 and discussed with The Washington Post.

He holds a B.S. in Computer Science with a Physics minor from Missouri State University, where he serves on the Computer Science Department Advisory Board. He is also an amateur radio operator and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and kids.