Payment Infrastructure Secrets Management
Dynamic database credentials, API key management, and certificate lifecycle management for PCI-compliant payment processing infrastructure handling millions of transactions.
Microservices Secrets Platform
Secrets management for thousands of microservices with Kubernetes secret injection, database credential rotation, and third-party API key management across multiple environments.
Financial Platform Security
Secrets rotation, dynamic AWS credentials, PKI management, and transit encryption for PCI-compliant financial data access across multi-region infrastructure.
Platform Secrets Infrastructure
Application secrets management for GitHub Actions, database credential rotation, certificate management for internal services, and secrets injection into CI/CD pipelines.
What Vault Developers Actually Build
Before writing your job description, understand what Vault work looks like at real companies. Here are examples from industry leaders:
Financial Services & Payments
Stripe uses Vault to secure their payment processing infrastructure:
- Dynamic database credentials for payment data access
- API key management for third-party payment processors
- Certificate lifecycle management for PCI compliance
- Encryption key management for sensitive customer data
- Audit logging for financial regulations
Square implements Vault across their financial platform:
- Secrets rotation for database and service credentials
- Dynamic AWS credentials for cloud resource access
- PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) for certificate management
- Transit encryption for data at rest and in transit
- Multi-region replication for high availability
E-Commerce & Retail
Shopify leverages Vault for their merchant platform:
- Secrets management for thousands of microservices
- Database credential rotation across multiple environments
- Third-party API key management (payment gateways, shipping providers)
- Kubernetes secret injection via Vault Agent
- Compliance audit trails for SOC 2 and PCI-DSS
Etsy uses Vault to secure their marketplace infrastructure:
- Dynamic secrets for database connections
- AWS IAM credential generation for S3 and RDS access
- Certificate management for TLS termination
- Encryption key rotation for customer data protection
- Secrets synchronization across multiple data centers
Platform Engineering & Developer Tools
GitHub implements Vault for their platform security:
- Application secrets management for GitHub Actions
- Database credential rotation for GitHub.com infrastructure
- Certificate management for internal services
- Secrets injection into CI/CD pipelines
- Audit logging for security compliance
Datadog uses Vault across their observability platform:
- API key management for third-party integrations
- Dynamic credentials for database and cache access
- Encryption key management for customer data
- Kubernetes secret management via Vault CSI provider
- Multi-cloud secrets synchronization
Vault vs. Alternatives: What Recruiters Need to Know
Understanding the secrets management landscape helps you assess candidates and write accurate job descriptions.
Vault vs. AWS Secrets Manager
| Aspect | Vault | AWS Secrets Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud support | Multi-cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP) | AWS only |
| Dynamic secrets | Native support | Limited |
| Encryption as a service | Transit engine | No |
| PKI management | Built-in | No |
| Cost model | Open-source + Enterprise | Pay per secret |
| Best for | Multi-cloud, complex needs | AWS-only shops |
Recruiter insight: AWS Secrets Manager is simpler but AWS-locked. Vault offers more features and cloud portability. Many companies use both—Secrets Manager for AWS-native services, Vault for application secrets and multi-cloud needs.
Vault vs. Azure Key Vault
| Aspect | Vault | Azure Key Vault |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud support | Multi-cloud | Azure only |
| Dynamic secrets | Strong support | Limited |
| Identity integration | Multiple auth methods | Azure AD only |
| Pricing | Open-source + Enterprise | Pay per operation |
| Best for | Multi-cloud, complex workflows | Azure-native applications |
Recruiter insight: Similar to AWS Secrets Manager—Azure Key Vault is great for Azure-only environments, but Vault provides more flexibility and features for complex, multi-cloud setups.
Vault vs. Kubernetes Secrets
| Aspect | Vault | Kubernetes Secrets |
|---|---|---|
| Encryption | Encrypted at rest (with setup) | Base64 encoded (not encrypted) |
| Rotation | Automatic | Manual |
| Audit logging | Comprehensive | Limited |
| Access control | Fine-grained policies | RBAC only |
| Best for | Production secrets | Development/testing |
Recruiter insight: Kubernetes Secrets are not secure for production—they're base64 encoded, not encrypted. Vault is the industry standard for Kubernetes secret management, often via Vault Agent or CSI provider.
Vault vs. 1Password / Bitwarden
These serve different purposes:
- Vault: Machine-to-machine secrets, dynamic credentials, encryption services
- 1Password/Bitwarden: Human password management, team password sharing
Recruiter insight: Don't confuse them. Vault is for applications and infrastructure; password managers are for humans. They complement each other but don't compete.
When Vault Experience Actually Matters
Situations Where Vault-Specific Knowledge Helps
1. Complex Secrets Architecture
If you're building a multi-cloud secrets management system with dynamic credentials, PKI, and encryption-as-a-service, Vault expertise accelerates delivery. Engineers familiar with Vault's auth methods, policies, and secret engines can architect solutions faster.
2. Compliance and Audit Requirements
Financial services, healthcare, and other regulated industries need comprehensive audit logging and compliance features. Vault Enterprise provides features like Sentinel policies, namespaces, and audit device configuration that require specialized knowledge.
3. High-Scale Production Deployments
Managing Vault clusters with replication, performance tuning, and disaster recovery requires deep Vault knowledge. Engineers who've operated Vault at scale understand operational challenges.
4. Custom Secret Engines
Building custom secret engines or auth methods requires Vault API knowledge and Go development skills. This is specialized work that benefits from Vault expertise.
Situations Where General Security Skills Transfer
1. Secrets Management Principles
Understanding secrets rotation, least privilege, and zero-trust architecture transfers across platforms. An engineer who designed secrets management with AWS Secrets Manager can learn Vault quickly.
2. Identity and Access Management
Vault's auth methods (AWS IAM, Kubernetes service accounts, OIDC) use standard identity concepts. Engineers with IAM experience understand Vault authentication patterns.
3. Encryption and Key Management
Encryption concepts (symmetric vs. asymmetric, key rotation, key derivation) are platform-agnostic. Vault's Transit engine uses standard cryptographic principles.
Modern Vault Practices (2024-2026)
Vault Agent and Auto-Auth
Applications authenticate to Vault automatically using identity:
- AWS IAM auth: Applications running on EC2 use IAM roles
- Kubernetes auth: Pods authenticate using service accounts
- Azure auth: Applications use Azure Managed Identity
- JWT/OIDC auth: Applications authenticate via identity providers
Industry standard: Manual token management is deprecated. Auto-auth is the modern approach.
Kubernetes Integration
Vault integrates deeply with Kubernetes:
- Vault Agent Injector: Automatically injects secrets into pods via sidecar
- Vault CSI Provider: Mounts secrets as volumes in pods
- Vault Secrets Operator: Kubernetes-native secrets management
Growing adoption: Most Kubernetes deployments use Vault for secret management, replacing insecure Kubernetes Secrets.
Dynamic Secrets
Short-lived credentials that auto-expire:
- Database credentials: Applications get unique database users that expire
- AWS credentials: Temporary IAM credentials for cloud access
- SSH certificates: Short-lived SSH keys for server access
Security benefit: Even if credentials leak, they expire quickly, limiting blast radius.
Vault Enterprise Features
Enterprise features becoming standard:
- Namespaces: Multi-tenancy for large organizations
- Sentinel policies: Policy-as-code for governance
- Replication: Multi-region and disaster recovery
- Seal wrapping: Additional encryption layer
Adoption trend: Large organizations standardize on Vault Enterprise for governance and compliance.
Recruiter's Cheat Sheet: Vault Edition
Technical Terms Decoded
| Term | What It Means | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Secret engine | Vault plugin that manages secrets (database, AWS, PKI) | Shows breadth—basic vs. advanced usage |
| Auth method | How applications authenticate to Vault (AWS IAM, Kubernetes, OIDC) | Critical for production—manual tokens don't scale |
| Dynamic secrets | Credentials generated on-demand that auto-expire | Security best practice—reduces attack surface |
| Transit engine | Encryption-as-a-service for data encryption | Advanced feature—shows deep Vault knowledge |
| Policy | Rules defining what secrets/services an identity can access | Core security model—must understand for production |
| Seal/Unseal | Vault's encryption key protection mechanism | Operational knowledge—critical for disaster recovery |
| Replication | Multi-region Vault deployment for HA | Enterprise feature—shows scale experience |
Resume Green Flags
✅ Strong signals:
- Specific scale: "Managed Vault cluster serving 500+ microservices"
- Dynamic secrets: "Implemented dynamic database credentials reducing credential exposure by 90%"
- Auth methods: "Configured Kubernetes auth for 200+ services"
- Compliance: "Set up audit logging for SOC 2 compliance"
- Automation: "Built Vault Agent auto-auth for AWS ECS workloads"
- Disaster recovery: "Designed Vault replication across 3 regions"
- Custom work: "Built custom secret engine for internal PKI"
Resume Red Flags
🚫 Be skeptical of:
- "Vault experience" with only tutorial projects
- No mention of auth methods (likely only used manual tokens)
- Lists Vault without specific use cases or scale
- "Expert" but can't explain dynamic secrets
- Only mentions reading secrets, never rotation or management
- No mention of production operations (seal/unseal, HA, DR)
Conversation Starters That Reveal Skill Level
| Question | Junior Answer | Senior Answer |
|---|---|---|
| "How do applications authenticate to Vault?" | "They use tokens" | "We use auto-auth with AWS IAM roles/Kubernetes service accounts. Tokens are short-lived and rotated automatically" |
| "How do you handle secrets rotation?" | "We rotate them manually" | "We use dynamic secrets that auto-expire, plus scheduled rotation for static secrets via Vault's rotation API" |
| "What's the difference between static and dynamic secrets?" | Confused or uncertain | "Static secrets are stored credentials. Dynamic secrets are generated on-demand with TTLs—much more secure" |
| "How do you ensure Vault is highly available?" | "We run multiple instances" | "Vault cluster with active-standby replication, automated unsealing, and disaster recovery procedures" |
Common Hiring Mistakes
1. Testing for Syntax, Not Architecture
Anyone can learn Vault CLI commands. The real skill is designing secure secrets management systems.
Better approach: Ask them to design a secrets management architecture. "How would you secure database credentials for 100 microservices?" Their approach reveals security thinking.
2. Ignoring Auth Methods
Manual token management doesn't scale. Production Vault deployments use auto-auth.
What to ask: "How do applications authenticate to Vault in your setup? Walk me through the auth method configuration."
3. Overlooking Dynamic Secrets
Static secrets are a security risk. Dynamic secrets are the modern standard.
What to verify: "Have you implemented dynamic secrets? Walk me through a database credential rotation setup."
4. Assuming Vault Knowledge = Security Expertise
Vault is a tool. Security engineering is a discipline. Don't assume Vault operators understand security principles.
What to verify: Ask about threat models, attack surfaces, and security best practices beyond Vault configuration.
5. Forgetting About Operations
Vault requires operational expertise—seal/unseal, backup/restore, performance tuning, disaster recovery.
What to ask: "Tell me about operating Vault in production. How do you handle unsealing, backups, and performance issues?"
Why Vault Roles Are Usually Combined
Unlike React or Python, "Vault Engineer" is rarely a standalone job title. Vault is a tool used by:
- Security Engineers — Vault + security architecture + compliance
- DevOps Engineers — Vault + CI/CD + infrastructure automation
- Platform Engineers — Vault + Kubernetes + developer tooling
- SRE — Vault + observability + incident response
- Cloud Engineers — Vault + cloud infrastructure + IAM
What this means for hiring: Don't post "Vault Engineer" as a job title. Post "Security Engineer" or "Platform Engineer" with Vault as a key skill. The JD template below reflects this reality.