Director, IT Security

Velocity Clinical Research, Inc.•Durham, NC

About The Position

We are seeking a forward‑thinking person to lead our organization’s cybersecurity, privacy, and risk management strategy. This role is ideal for a rising security leader with a strong understanding of clinical environments, patient data protection, and regulatory frameworks. The Director of IT Security will drive enterprise IT security strategy across clinical operations, software platforms, medical and end user computing devices, as well as business systems—ensuring the safety, privacy, and trust of our patients, providers, and partners.

Requirements

10+ years of cybersecurity leadership experience, ideally within healthcare or other regulated environments.
Deep understanding of HIPAA, healthcare privacy, patient data workflows, and clinical IT systems.
Strong technical background across endpoint and cloud security, identity management, network security, and incident response.
Ability to communicate effectively with clinicians, IT leaders, and executive teams.
Relevant certifications preferred (e.g., CISSP, CISA, CISM, HCISPP, CHISL, CCSP).

Nice To Haves

Experience leading security programs in hospitals, payers, digital health companies, or biotech.
Familiarity with HIPAA, GDPR, and NIST-based maturity models.
Ability to balance strong security controls with clinical usability and patient safety.
Proven success in developing high-functioning security teams and managing budgets.
Strong leadership, crisis management, and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

Define and execute a comprehensive IT security strategy aligned with clinical, operational, and business priorities.
Develop and maintain policies and controls that strengthen security across clinical workflows and systems as well as supporting environments and systems.
Advise executive leadership and the board on cybersecurity risk, investment visibility, emerging threats, and compliance posture.
Maintain compliance with regulatory requirements, which may include: HIPAA/HITECH GDPR CFR 21 Part 11 State privacy laws as applicable
Partner closely with Privacy, Legal, and Compliance teams to manage audits, breach notifications, and other safeguards.
Oversee enterprise risk assessments across clinical operations, IT systems, cloud environments, and third-party vendors.
Lead 24/7 threat monitoring, incident response, and forensic investigations—prioritizing patient safety and operational resilience.
Build playbooks and tabletop exercises tailored to clinical disruptions, such as ransomware attacks impacting system availability, IoT/medical devices, or care delivery.
Drive continuous improvements through post incident reviews and data-driven risk reduction.
Partner with IT, Operations, and R&D teams to secure clinical systems and other technologies.
Develop, document, and implement baseline security standards for major systems, processes, and technologies
Create and/or modify IT security related policies and procedures in line with best practices and compliance requirements
Implement a vulnerability management and monitoring program and provide recommendations for remediation
Oversee IAM, Zero Trust, data loss prevention, endpoint security, and network segmentation—especially for clinical networks and IoMT ecosystems.
Oversee IT vendor risk management, including partners managing systems, processes, etc..
Establish rigorous onboarding, security assessments, and ongoing monitoring for all IT critical vendors.
Lead organization-wide security culture change, including staff education, phishing resistance, and workflow‑friendly security controls.
Translate complex security concepts into business and clinical impact for executives, clinicians, and operational leaders.
Build collaborative relationships with IT, Operations, R&D, HR, etc. to ensure security enables—not disrupts—care delivery.