S

Sierra Nevada Corporation

Global aerospace and defense contractor

Director Security Operations

Security Operations & Incident ResponseConfirmed live in the last 24 hours
Full-timeSparks, NV, USA

About the Job

Requirements

  • A bachelor's degree in a related field is required; a higher-level relevant degree may substitute for experience.
  • At least 13 years of experience in a related role, including at least 6 years in a leadership role such as Director, Senior Manager, or equivalent.
  • At least 7 years of progressive cybersecurity experience.
  • Verifiable experience leading operations in an MSSP, government or defense intelligence agency SOC, or Fortune 500 enterprise SOC.
  • A proven track record leading incident response and crisis management in high-stress, mission-critical scenarios under strict time constraints.
  • Hands-on familiarity managing engineering initiatives involving cloud security architectures, automation/SOAR pipelines, and machine-learning/artificial-intelligence-driven detection tooling.
  • Ability to present technical threat analyses to executive committees and enterprise clients; exceptional written and verbal communication skills are required.
  • Strong knowledge of information security, industrial security, and regulatory compliance.
  • Ability to develop and implement policy, influence partners to incorporate security requirements into functional-area operations, and drive process improvement inside and outside the security organization.
  • Ability to interpret the intent of applicable guidelines and regulations and apply judgment to individual situations.
  • Ability to clearly state the bottom line up front, identify key information, simplify complex information, and make timely, well-reasoned decisions.
  • Ability to obtain and maintain a Secret U.S. security clearance; U.S. citizenship is required.
  • Must be able to lift up to 25 pounds occasionally and may need to sit and work at a computer for extended periods.

Responsibilities

  • Provide strategic leadership and oversight for the organization's security program, including information security, industrial security, special programs management, crisis management, and investigations.
  • Ensure effective implementation of security policies, standards, and procedures across domestic and international operations; partner with business units to align security solutions with organizational goals and plan for emerging threats.
  • Oversee continuous multi-tier SOC operations, setting operational cadence, shift handovers, escalation paths, and service-level agreements and objectives.
  • Direct response strategies for critical incidents and serve as senior escalation point and incident commander during active threats, breaches, and outages.
  • Establish standard operating procedures, playbooks, and runbooks aligned with MITRE ATT&CK, MITRE ATLAS, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, and ISO 27001.
  • Maintain analyst performance and operational rigor while mitigating alert fatigue and burnout; advance proactive threat hunting and active defense initiatives.
  • Manage SOC financial planning, analysis, and reporting.
  • Lead the security engineering team building, deploying, and maintaining cloud-native detection, response, and monitoring pipelines across AWS, Azure, and GCP.
  • Champion machine-learning models, predictive threat analytics, and autonomous AI agents for automated triage, alert enrichment, and remediation.
  • Oversee SIEM, SOAR, EDR/XDR, and cloud-native security platforms; refine detection engineering, rule tuning, and pipeline efficiency.
  • Serve as senior operational liaison for key client stakeholders, enterprise leadership, and regulatory bodies.
  • Lead client briefings during major security incidents, presenting root-cause analyses, containment actions, and remediation paths.
  • Partner with Product, Customer Success, and Sales Engineering teams to align SOC capabilities with client expectations and service offerings.
  • Oversee actionable cyber threat intelligence and operational reporting.
  • Author and review cyber activity reports, executive dashboards, and threat advisories for technical teams and executive and external customer leadership.
  • Lead strategic planning and execution of the security program; develop and implement security policies and strategy; advise executive leadership on security matters.
  • Conduct risk and compliance assessments and develop mitigation strategies.
  • Work in an office or hybrid environment and travel as needed.

Desired Qualifications

  • A bachelor's or master's degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Systems, or equivalent practical experience.
  • Certifications such as CISSP, CISM, or CCISO; advanced technical certifications such as GIAC GCIH, GCFA, GNFA, or GCDA are highly desirable.
  • Deep understanding of threat actor tactics, techniques, and procedures, malware analysis lifecycles, and forensic methodologies.
  • Practical exposure to LLMs, generative AI tools, or agentic frameworks in security workflows such as automated alert triage or natural-language threat hunting.
  • Mastery of detection and telemetry stacks such as Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, CrowdStrike Falcon, Palo Alto Cortex XSOAR, and Datadog.

About the Company

Sierra Nevada Corporation

Global aerospace and defense contractor

Sierra Nevada Corporation is a private, global aerospace and national security company serving the U.S. government and other customers with complex engineering projects. Its products include the Dream Chaser spaceplane, a reusable, runway-landing spacecraft developed after SpaceDev’s 2008 acquisition to carry cargo and later crew to low-Earth orbit under NASA contracts. The company differentiates itself through a long-term, acquisition-driven growth strategy, steady execution, and private ownership by the Ozmen family, with the Sierra Space spin-off in 2021 focusing on spaceflight and commercial ventures. Its goal is to solve tough engineering challenges for customers and become a leading partner in defense and space exploration.

Company size
1,001-5,000
Company stage
Not listed
Total funding
Not listed
Headquarters
Sparks, NV
Founded
1963

Recently Posted Jobs

Explore more opportunities at Sierra Nevada Corporation

See more jobs