Personnel Security Team Lead

Clarity Innovations•Herndon, VA

About The Position

The Personnel Security Team Lead leads, coordinates, and oversees daily personnel security operations supporting classified government contracts, facilities, and mission requirements. As the organization’s senior personnel security subject matter expert, this role ensures accurate, timely, and compliant administration of security clearance processing, eligibility verification, access management, government reporting, security briefings, visit authorizations, and personnel security records. The role provides operational leadership and technical guidance to security team members, establishes standardized workflows, monitors workload distribution, and improves processes across multiple facilities, CAGE codes, and mission verticals. It works closely with the Director of Security, FSOs, CSSOs, CPSOs, Human Resources, Recruiting, Program Management, and government security representatives to integrate personnel security requirements into onboarding, contract staffing, program access, and organizational growth. The successful candidate is organized, proactive, solutions-oriented, technically proficient, and committed to customer service and sound judgment in a dynamic government contracting environment.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.
10+ years of progressively responsible experience in personnel security or industrial security, preferably in a DoW and/or Intelligence Community government contracting environment.
Demonstrated experience administering personnel security processes under the National Industrial Security Program.
Advanced working knowledge of 32 CFR Part 117, applicable SEAD requirements, and government personnel security procedures.
Extensive hands-on experience with DISS, NBIS, and other applicable government personnel security systems.
Experience coordinating security clearance investigations, eligibility actions, access administration, and personnel security reporting.
Demonstrated experience supporting collateral and/or SCI personnel security operations.
Experience leading personnel security workflows, mentoring team members, or coordinating operational assignments.
Experience supporting DCSA inspections, security self-assessments, and compliance reviews.
Strong knowledge of personnel security records management, privacy requirements, and sensitive information protection.
Ability to manage competing priorities and high-volume security processing requirements.
Strong organizational, analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills.
Ability to work independently, exercise sound judgment, and resolve complex personnel security issues.
Demonstrated commitment to exceptional customer service and operational excellence.
Ability to obtain and maintain applicable customer-specific accesses.

Responsibilities

Lead and coordinate daily personnel security activities supporting assigned cleared facilities, contracts, and government customers.
Oversee the personnel security lifecycle, including clearance initiation, eligibility verification, investigation tracking, access coordination, periodic vetting, and out-processing.
Ensure personnel security actions are accurate, efficient, and compliant with government regulations and customer directives.
Develop and maintain standardized workflows, checklists, tracking tools, and operating procedures.
Prioritize personnel security requests, coordinate team assignments, and monitor workload, processing timelines, outstanding requirements, and bottlenecks.
Identify process improvements and provide status updates, workload assessments, and recommendations to the Director of Security.
Oversee personnel security processing in DISS, NBIS, and other applicable government platforms.
Coordinate clearance investigations, reinvestigations when applicable, and Continuous Vetting requirements; monitor statuses and follow up with government authorities.
Review personnel security submissions for administrative accuracy and completeness within authorized responsibilities; verify eligibility before coordinating classified access.
Maintain clearance and access records, update systems, and coordinate transfers, separations, affiliation changes, and contract transitions.
Oversee collateral, SCI, and SAP access requirements as applicable, including briefings, acknowledgments, nondisclosure agreements, indoctrinations, and debriefings.
Coordinate classified visit requests and certifications through DISS and customer-directed systems, and coordinate access actions with security personnel and government representatives.
Ensure access is removed or modified when personnel separate, transfer, or no longer require it; document access actions and briefings.
Ensure compliance with 32 CFR Part 117 (NISPOM), applicable SEADs, and customer-specific requirements.
Administer and monitor reporting requirements, including SEAD 3, adverse information, foreign travel, foreign contacts, and other reportable activities; elevate information to authorized security officials.
Coordinate required reports through approved government channels and maintain supporting documentation and follow-up records.
Support DCSA security reviews, annual self-inspections, and customer assessments; identify compliance gaps and recommend corrective actions.
Assist with personnel security policies, SPPs, and reporting procedures, and monitor regulatory changes for process updates.
Oversee intake, triage, assignment, tracking, and resolution of personnel security requests through approved systems.
Maintain accurate request statuses, establish service-level expectations, monitor overdue requests, and implement improvements to recurring delays.
Coordinate with Recruiting, Human Resources, Program Management, and other stakeholders to resolve processing issues and provide timely, professional request updates.
Develop dashboards and reports that give leadership visibility into workload, processing efficiency, and outstanding actions.
Mentor team members and coordinate operational assignments.