Network Security Operations Engineer

UMass Boston•Boston, MA

About The Position

Reporting to the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), the Network Security Operations Engineer is responsible for the operational management, security, reliability, and continuous improvement of the University's network security infrastructure. The role manages day-to-day enterprise network security technologies and helps protect the confidentiality, integrity, availability, and resilience of university systems in partnership with Infrastructure, Network Services, and other IT teams. The position owns enterprise firewall services, network security segmentation, VPN and Network Access Control (NAC) security services, security event monitoring within the Network and Security Operations Center (NSOC), and technical leadership for network security incident response in coordination with the Information Security Office and Network Services. It requires participation in an on-call rotation and after-hours support for critical security events, network upgrades, and emergency response. Success is measured by maintaining secure, resilient, and reliable network security services while improving operational maturity, reducing organizational risk, and delivering service to the university community. The position provides technical leadership for cross-functional projects and supervises approximately five student employees.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, Information Technology, Networking, or a related field, plus five years of cumulative hands-on experience in network and security operations.
Operational experience administering enterprise firewall platforms and network security controls in a production environment.
Competency in network segmentation, VPN, and NAC concepts and operations.
Experience using enterprise SIEM platforms for monitoring, investigation, and incident response.
Experience participating in technical incident response within enterprise environments.
Ability to diagnose and resolve complex network security issues in enterprise environments.
Experience centrally managing DNS, DHCP, and IPAM (DDI) infrastructure.
Experience implementing DNS security solutions against DDoS, hijacking, cache poisoning, and other DNS-based threats; maintaining protection during active attacks; deploying adaptive defenses; and using global visibility tools to monitor and analyze attack patterns across distributed networks.
Hands-on experience configuring, monitoring, and troubleshooting security and network technologies in production environments, with working knowledge of industry-standard platforms and implementation best practices.
Experience developing automation with scripting languages such as PowerShell or Python.
Ability to provide after-hours support for critical security events; the position is required to be on call.

Nice To Haves

CISSP or CISM certification.
Experience working with multiple stakeholders in a matrixed environment that includes Systems, Network Operations, Information Security, internal business units, and external incident response teams.
Experience supporting organizations aligned with the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, CIS Controls, PCI-DSS, FERPA, GLBA, or other regulatory or compliance frameworks.
Knowledge of security risks, copyright violations, and other inappropriate or unlawful computing practices.
Strong interpersonal skills that facilitate positive working relationships with coworkers and end users.
Strong oral and written communication skills for interacting with end users and preparing reports, documentation, and call ticket tracking.
Willingness to work with end users and provide high-quality customer service in a university setting.
Higher education experience.
Strong commitment to customer service.

Responsibilities

Lead technical coordination of network security incidents at the NSOC, overseeing security event monitoring, investigation, and response under enterprise incident response protocols.
Maintain secure and resilient firewall policies and configurations that protect university resources while enabling business operations.
Maintain the security configuration and operational effectiveness of network segmentation, VPN, and NAC technologies in partnership with Network Services.
Analyze, investigate, and coordinate responses to network security events and alerts from enterprise monitoring platforms.
Maintain operational documentation for service continuity, disaster recovery, audits, and knowledge transfer.
Maintain operational visibility across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments to support consistent enforcement of network security controls.
Use automation, SIEM, security monitoring platforms, and other enterprise security tools to monitor, analyze, and respond to threats and enable rapid incident and vulnerability containment.
Assess network security maturity; document risks and technical debt; and recommend remediation priorities through annual gap assessments and the University's Plan of Action and Milestones (POAM).
Lead technical incident response activities in coordination with the Information Security Office.
Conduct post-incident reviews, identify gaps, refine controls, reduce future risk, and track corrective actions through completion.
Work with Network Services and the Information Security Office to communicate complex technical issues clearly to leadership and campus stakeholders.
Develop and maintain network status dashboards, outage notifications, and service bulletins.
Contribute technical expertise to security risk assessments, audits, and penetration testing activities.
Coordinate network security vulnerability remediation by identifying, prioritizing, tracking, and validating remediation with Desktop Services, Systems Administration, and Infrastructure teams.
Support mail security operations, including monitoring and tuning email threat protection, anti-phishing, and anti-spoofing controls such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
Evaluate emerging threats and translate threat intelligence into improvements to security controls and operational practices.
Participate in an on-call rotation and provide after-hours support for critical security incidents, network upgrades, and emergency response.
Train, mentor, and supervise student employees to support their professional development.
Build collaborative partnerships across the university and provide responsive, solutions-oriented security services.
Improve network security operations by identifying opportunities to automate manual processes, reduce technical debt, increase operational efficiency, and strengthen the University's security posture.
Perform other duties as assigned.