Why You Need Security Champions on Your Team

PUBLISHED:

October 23, 2025

BY:

Anushika Babu

Ideal for

Security Leaders

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Anushika Babu

Blog Author

Anushika Babu is the Chief Growth Officer at AppSecEngineer, where she turns scrappy ideas into scalable revenue. Former CMO, forever curious, and mildly obsessed with feedback loops, she builds high-performing GTM engines fueled by AI, storytelling, and zero patience for fluff. If it drives growth, she’s already testing it.

Learn more about this author ➜

What is a Security Champion in software development?

A Security Champion is a developer or engineer within your team who takes on additional responsibility for promoting secure development practices. They act as a bridge between your security and development teams, helping translate complex security policies into practical actions during daily workflows. Security Champions review code, raise awareness of threats, and advocate for secure design decisions throughout the SDLC.

Why do organizations need Security Champions?

Organizations need Security Champions because traditional security teams can’t scale at the same pace as development. Most enterprises have a 1:100 AppSec-to-developer ratio, which makes it impossible to review every change or feature. Security Champions extend the reach of your security team, ensuring security is considered at every stage of development without slowing delivery.

What does a Security Champion actually do day-to-day?

Security Champions perform several practical tasks: participate in sprint planning to ensure stories include security criteria, review pull requests for issues like injection flaws or weak authentication logic, help triage vulnerability scan results, support threat modeling and incident response discussions, and communicate new security guidelines to their teams. They serve as the first line of defense within their development squad.

How do you start a Security Champion program?

Start small and scale gradually: identify motivated developers who show interest in security, provide structured, hands-on training using platforms such as AppSecEngineer.com, define clear roles and expectations, integrate champions into your DevSecOps workflows, and recognize and reward their contributions. A formal charter or lightweight governance model ensures the program stays consistent as it grows.

How many Security Champions should a company have?

A practical guideline is one champion for every 10 developers. This ratio ensures each product team has a security-aware representative who can consult with the AppSec group when needed. Larger organizations may also appoint “lead champions” to coordinate across business units or technology stacks.

What skills should a Security Champion have?

An ideal Security Champion combines technical skill with communication ability. Core competencies include understanding of secure coding principles and OWASP Top 10 risks, familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and code review tools, ability to explain security tradeoffs in business and technical terms, and willingness to learn and stay updated with evolving threat models. Champions don’t need to be security experts initially — training and mentorship help them grow into that role.

How does a Security Champion improve DevSecOps?

Security Champions make DevSecOps sustainable by embedding security directly into development pipelines. They ensure secure configurations, dependency scanning, and static analysis are part of everyday processes rather than last-minute checks. With champions, security becomes proactive and collaborative instead of reactive and siloed.

What kind of training do Security Champions need?

Champions need hands-on, practical training that’s relevant to their technology stack. The most effective programs include threat modeling workshops for design-level understanding, secure coding labs for real-world attack prevention, and cloud and container security exercises for DevOps contexts. Platforms like AppSecEngineer.com provide role-based learning paths that simulate real attack and defense scenarios, helping champions apply theory to practice.

How do you measure the success of a Security Champion program?

You can measure success through quantifiable metrics such as reduction in vulnerability count or time to remediation, increase in secure code review coverage, participation rates in training programs, number of security issues identified during design phases, and positive audit and compliance outcomes. Tracking these KPIs helps justify investment and demonstrate tangible ROI.

What are the biggest challenges when implementing a Security Champion program?

Common challenges include inconsistent participation, unclear responsibilities, and lack of management support. Some programs fail because champions aren’t given dedicated time or recognition. To avoid this, secure executive sponsorship early, define measurable goals, and integrate security work into team priorities rather than treating it as a side task.

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