[4] While earning her undergraduate degree in computer science, she became interested in cryptography and crypto-analysis[5] and began actively working on the topic of cybersecurity with the Boston hacker community in the 1990s, building her own tools and getting familiar with multi-user systems.

[7] She then pursued this career path as one of the first computer scientists to specialize in cybersecurity, and to proactively try to bridge the gap between corporations and the security researchers often termed 'hackers.

[14] Intel's Software and Services Group senior vice president and general manager, Doug Fisher, announced in July 2018 that Snyder would become the company's Platforms Security Division's chief security officer, vice president and general manager.

[15][16] She has since left Intel and in May 2019 joined Square, Inc.[2] On April 22, 2021, Snyder announced she had started a new company, Thistle Technologies, which describes itself as providing a "secure foundation for devices.

[20] In April 2018 she spoke at RSA Conference,[21] and in August 2018 Snyder was a keynote speaker at the Open Source Summit held by the Linux Foundation.