At Unum, a leading provider of employee benefits and financial protection plans, the Security Engineer role is a critical defender of customer trust. Because Unum handles highly sensitive personal, medical, and financial data for millions of policyholders, security is not just a technical requirement—it is a core business driver. As a Security Engineer or Identity & Access Management Security Analyst II, you will design, implement, and maintain the robust protective barriers that shield Unum's enterprise infrastructure, cloud environments, and internal platforms from emerging threats.

Your work directly impacts the daily operations of thousands of employees and the security of millions of global users. You will be tasked with solving complex security challenges at scale, ensuring that access controls are seamless yet uncompromisingly secure. Whether you are specializing in Identity and Access Management (IAM), cloud infrastructure security, or vulnerability mitigation, you will collaborate closely with software engineers, product managers, and compliance teams to embed security into every phase of the development lifecycle.

This role requires a unique balance of deep technical expertise and strong strategic influence. You will not work in a silo; instead, you will act as a consultative partner across the organization, helping teams navigate complex risk environments while enabling business agility. For a professional who thrives on solving high-stakes architectural puzzles and protecting critical infrastructure, Unum offers a collaborative, mission-driven environment where your contributions have immediate, real-world impact.

The interview questions you will encounter at Unum are designed to evaluate both your technical depth and your behavioral alignment with the company's collaborative culture. These questions are drawn from real candidate experiences and are structured to assess how you think, solve problems, and communicate under pressure. Rather than memorizing specific answers, focus on understanding the core security principles behind these questions.

Identity & Access Management (IAM) & Technical Domain

These questions evaluate your knowledge of authentication protocols, access control frameworks, and your ability to manage digital identities securely across an enterprise infrastructure.

• Explain the difference between Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC). When would you implement one over the other?
• How do you secure a federated identity flow using SAML or OAuth 2.0/OIDC?

To succeed in the Unum hiring process, you must approach your preparation systematically, focusing on both technical mastery and interpersonal communication. Unum values engineers who are not only technically sound but also highly collaborative and capable of translating complex security risks into clear business terms.

Technical Domain Mastery – You must demonstrate a deep understanding of core security principles, particularly in identity lifecycle management, network security, and cloud architecture. Be ready to explain the "why" behind your technical choices, not just the "how."

Problem-Solving & Scenario Analysis – Interviewers will present you with open-ended technical challenges and real-world scenarios. They want to see how you structure your thoughts, gather requirements, identify constraints, and propose scalable, secure solutions under pressure.

Stakeholder Communication – Security at Unum is a collaborative effort. You will be evaluated on your ability to articulate security concepts clearly to both highly technical engineers and non-technical business partners, showing empathy for their operational goals.

Cultural Alignment – Unum looks for candidates who exhibit a growth mindset, accountability, and a collaborative spirit. Be prepared to share concrete examples of how you have supported your peers, navigated professional challenges, and contributed to a positive team environment.

The interview process for a Security Engineer at Unum is designed to be thorough yet respectful of your time, typically progressing rapidly once initiated. The company focuses on evaluating your practical engineering skills, behavioral alignment, and strategic thinking through a series of structured conversations. Candidates generally experience a process that ranges from two to three rounds, depending on the specific team requirements and location.

The journey begins with a standard recruiter screen to align on basic qualifications, compensation expectations, and role fit. Following this, the formal interview rounds commence. In some cases, especially within US-based teams, you may experience a highly consolidated process consisting of two primary rounds within the same week: one focused on hiring manager alignment and the second with the broader engineering team. In other locations or for more specialized roles, the process may span three distinct rounds, separating the purely technical evaluations from the strategic and leadership assessments.

The visual timeline above outlines the typical progression from your initial application to the final decision. It highlights the transition from high-level behavioral screening to deep technical evaluation and scenario-based architecture assessments. Use this timeline to pace your preparation, ensuring you allocate sufficient time to practice both technical walk-throughs and structured behavioral stories.

Identity and Access Management (IAM)

As a Security Engineer or Identity & Access Management Security Analyst II, IAM will be a cornerstone of your evaluation. Unum relies heavily on robust IAM frameworks to protect sensitive health and financial data. You must demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of how to govern identities, manage access lifecycles, and enforce security policies without introducing unnecessary friction for employees or customers.

Be ready to go over:

• Identity Lifecycle Management – How to securely manage provisioning, de-provisioning, and role transitions across an enterprise.
• Modern Authentication Protocols – Deep understanding of SAML, OIDC, OAuth 2.0, and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) mechanisms.
• Directory Services & Federation – Managing Active Directory, Azure AD/Entra ID, and integrating third-party identity providers (IdPs).
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) implementation, Privileged Access Management (PAM) tooling, and API security auditing.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk us through how you would configure a secure, cross-domain identity management (SCIM) integration for a new enterprise application."
• "How would you design an automated process to detect and revoke stale or unused permissions across our cloud infrastructure?"

Technical Security Engineering & Infrastructure

Beyond identity, you must prove your ability to secure the broader infrastructure, platforms, and networks that support Unum's global operations. This includes understanding cloud security poster management, network segmentation, and secure development practices.

Be ready to go over:

• Cloud Security Fundamentals – Securing resources in hybrid cloud environments (such as AWS or Azure).
• Vulnerability Management – How to identify, prioritize, and remediate technical vulnerabilities across infrastructure and application layers.
• Network Security – Firewalls, intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS), and secure micro-segmentation.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Infrastructure as Code (IaC) security scanning, container security (Kubernetes/Docker), and threat modeling methodologies.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Describe your approach to securing a public-facing web application that handles sensitive customer medical records."
• "How do you integrate automated security checks into a CI/CD pipeline without causing significant delays for the development team?"

Scenario-Based Problem Solving & Strategy

In the final stages of the interview, particularly when speaking with directors or senior leadership, you will face scenario-based questions. These are designed to evaluate your architectural decision-making, crisis management capabilities, and strategic thinking under ambiguous conditions.

Be ready to go over:

• Incident Response & Containment – How you systematically isolate, investigate, and recover from a simulated security breach.
• Risk-Based Prioritization – Deciding which security initiatives or patches deserve immediate attention when resources are constrained.
• Vendor & Third-Party Assessment – Evaluating the security posture of external SaaS vendors before integrating them into Unum's ecosystem.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Imagine a critical zero-day vulnerability is announced in a library used by multiple business units. How do you coordinate the response across different engineering teams?"
• "A business unit wants to bypass a standard security policy to meet an urgent client deadline. How do you handle this request?"