Information Security Compliance Engineer

(ID: 2024-6871)

Axle is a bioscience and information technology company that offers advancements in translational research, biomedical informatics, and data science applications to research centers and healthcare organizations nationally and abroad. With experts in biomedical science, software engineering, and program management, we focus on developing and applying research tools and techniques to empower decision-making and accelerate research discoveries. We work with some of the top research organizations and facilities in the country including multiple institutes at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Axle is seeking a Information Security Compliance Engineer to join our vibrant team at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) supporting the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) located in Rockville, MD.

Benefits We Offer:

• 100% Medical, Dental & Vision Coverage for Employees
• Paid Time Off and Paid Holidays
• 401K match up to 5%
• Educational Benefits for Career Growth
• Employee Referral Bonus
• Flexible Spending Accounts:
  • Healthcare (FSA)
  • Parking Reimbursement Account (PRK)
  • Dependent Care Assistant Program (DCAP)
  • Transportation Reimbursement Account (TRN)

The Information Security Compliance Engineer will support the NCATS Cybersecurity Services (CSS) team in implementing the NIST 800-53 security controls and assist the infrastructure, platform and application teams with technical security support. Oversee the security posture of NCATS systems, inventory, and applications. Provide Risk Management Framework (RMF) support. Assist in the remediation of Plan of action and miles stones (POA&M). Provide analysis and hands on support of day-to-day security activities, identify, and manage systems and applications security for cyber risks, prepare remediation plans, be able to effectively draft compliance documentation and SOPs. The Infosec Compliance Engineer will also use the expertise to manage security incident workflows and waivers. Provide technical design guidance to all the stakeholders to translate security and business requirements into technical designs; configure and validate secure complex systems; and help test security products and systems to detect security weakness.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES: 

• Manage daily Cybersecurity Operational activities.
• Proactively Manage Cybersecurity Operations projects and tasks and ensure on time delivery.
• Take initiatives to identify, analyze and remediate weaknesses and present reports to the management.
• Lead and mentor the NCATS CSS Cybersecurity Operations team with hands on security tools support.
• Must be able to represent NCATS CSS team and provide technical security guidance in troubleshooting calls.
• Must have hands on experience with firewalls, load balancers switches, routers, Windows and Linux/Unix servers.
• Must have expert understanding of TCP/IP and networking principles.
• Must be familiar with GitHub and container security techniques.
• Take the lead on securing NCATS system and applications through system hardening.
• Must be able to secure DevOps pipelines by providing technical security guidance and support to the application and infrastructure teams. 
• Lead the security operations in proactively managing threats, vulnerabilities and remediation efforts.
• Must be familiar with Risk Management Framework (RMF), NIST 800-53 and other Government mandates.
• Provide security controls implementation support for NCATS Cybersecurity ATO preparations efforts following Risk Management Framework (RMF).
• Have a solid understanding of the ATO preparation and security controls implementation process.
• Lead ATO technical guidance efforts and help write documents such as System Security Plans (SSPs).
• Schedule and coordinate operational activities, sessions, and meetings with the stakeholders.
• Provide effective guidance to the stakeholders on secure baseline configurations.
• Manage work through tools such as NIH incident response (IRT) portal, Splunk, ServiceNow, Jira, Confluence etc.
• Establish communications with vendors for the release of newly identified vulnerabilities and to ensure they understand the specialized requirements of the client’s information systems.
• Develop daily, weekly, and annual NCATS security landscape metrics.
• Help the Vulnerability Management team to Identify, analyze, and develop mitigation or remediation actions for system and network vulnerabilities. 
• Monitor the progress of internal and external organizations to ensure operational requirements are fulfilled for audits and reviews.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS: 

• Must Have hands on Linux/Unix experience and know how secure the systems. 
• Understand how to implement security controls based on NIST 800-53. 
• Must have hands on Linux/Unix administration experience and familiarity with Windows environments.
• Ethical hacking experience and (CEH) familiarity a big plus.
• Must have experience with Identity and Access Management (IAM) and tools.
• Must be able to conduct and lead technical reviews and analysis with infrastructure and application teams.
• Must be able to troubleshoot security incidents and lead the other technical teams to resolve incidents as well as remediate the threats and concerns.
• Must be able to provide guidance on security control implementation and perform technical tasks when needed for Windows, Linux/Unix environments.
• Must be familiar with networking and other infrastructure components such as traffic flow, access management and Active Directory etc. 
• Be able to manage cyber risks by providing guidance to secure system designs, baseline configuration assistance and administer ATO preparation activities. 
• Be able to manage and administer the security tools and have hands on working experience with Tenable Nessus, Netsparker,  Trellix suite, Palo Alto, BigFix, Splunk, etc. and cloud-based equivalents. 
• Must have experience with DevOps security controls implementation.
• Must be familiar with GitHub, Docker and in general with the CI/CD pipeline security.
• Assist in security incident response efforts.  
• Work with other teams to integrate the NCATS Threat and Vulnerability Management processes with the patching cycles, baseline configurations and CIS benchmarks. 
• Must be familiar with database server architecture and be able to provide security support to the database team. 
• Must be familiar with Cloud environments and tools.   
• Must be familiar with Risk Management Framework (RMF) and Government mandates such as continuous diagnostic mitigation (CDM) and Binding operations directives (BODs) 
• Identify, analyze, and develop mitigation or remediation actions for POA&Ms 
• Assist with a reliable patch and compliance management mechanism for all on-premises and cloud systems. 
• Recommend, configure, and install advanced firewalls and centrally manage other security tools in multiple cloud environments. 

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: 

• BS degree in computer science, computer engineering, information systems, privacy engineering or related field of study. 
• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant technical discipline and 4+ years of overall related IT security compliance experience. 5+ years of additional related years of experience is accepted in lieu of a degree.  
• Experience working with NIST 800-53 series guidance. 
• Hands on working experience with Unix/Linux and Windows platforms. 
• Familiarity with DevOps pipelines, code scanning, penetration testing etc. 
• Experience in security compliance documentations such as SARS[MB1][IJ2], Waivers, Contingency and Incident Response plans, etc. 

Disclaimer:The above description is meant to illustrate the general nature of work and level of effort being performed by individuals assigned to this position or job description. This is not restricted as a complete list of all skills, responsibilities, duties, and/or assignments required. Individuals may be required to perform duties outside of their position, job description or responsibilities as needed.

The diversity of Axle’s employees is a tremendous asset. We are firmly committed to providing equal opportunity in all aspects of employment and will not tolerate any illegal discrimination or harassment based on age, race, gender, religion, national origin, disability, marital status, covered veteran status, sexual orientation, status with respect to public assistance, and other characteristics protected under state, federal, or local law and to deter those who aid, abet, or induce discrimination or coerce others to discriminate.

Accessibility: If you need an accommodation as part of the employment process please contact: careers@axleinfo.com