Principal Engineer I - Cyber Resilience Engineer

Western Alliance Bancorporation • Chandler, AZ

65d

About The Position

As the Cyber Resilience Engineer, you're an individual contributor responsible for developing and driving strategies that strengthen Western Alliance Bank's (WAB) ability to withstand and recover from highly disruptive cyber events or disruptions to critical business operations. In this role, you will support WAB's Business Continuity Management program, driving the maturity and enhancement of our organization's business continuity strategic frameworks, measurably improving operational and cyber resilience by exercise development and execution and by leading governance of the overall program. The ideal candidate brings a deep proficiency in operational and cyber resilience, strong familiarity with regulatory frameworks and industry best practices, experience in developing testing programs, program management expertise including a proven ability to translate complex requirements into effective, high-performing program outcomes.

Requirements

• 8+ years of related experience in IT--Security or similar field.
• Bachelor's degree in related field required; Masters or MBA in related field preferred.
• Previous leadership experience preferred.
• Advanced knowledge of general Financial Services or Banking is preferred.
• Advanced to expert understanding and experience working with downstream business-critical processes that are dependent on the availability and reliability of data, designing new (and refactor existing) cyber defense, auditing, and access platforms through scaling, service reliability requirements and problem management.
• Knowledge of applicable regulatory and legal compliance obligations, rules and regulations, industry standards and practices.
• Advanced to expert understanding and experience working with logging infrastructure concepts: syslog; log parsing; log de-duping; methods for log pulling; RFC 5424; CEF Format; JSON; key value pair format; log enrichment; log maintenance; log troubleshooting.
• Deep experience with and understanding of load balancers, DNS, SMTP, etc. for troubleshooting application functionality.
• Experience with collocated datacenter, disaster recovery, and redundant network designs and architecture.
• Advanced to expert experience or knowledge of 2 or more of the following: NIST of MITRE (and the administration of either or any IT Automation platform), SOAR, Firewall, IAM platform, SIEM, or cloud cyber defense platform.
• Experience gathering operational reports on utilization, capacity, performance and anomalies to drive improvements.
• Expert speaking and writing communication skills.
• CLOUD TECHNOLOGY - Azure or AWS Certification(s) required.
• CYBER SECURITY - 1 or more of the following required: Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), CompTIA Security+, Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP), GIAC Security Essentials (GSEC), GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH), Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP), Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC).
• GENERIC COMPUTING - 1 or more of the following required: CompTIA A+, CompTIA Linux+, CompTIA Network+, Comptia Server+, CompTIA IT Fundamentals, Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate, Microsoft Certified: Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals, Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate, Microsoft Certified: Azure Network Engineer Associate, RHCSA, RHCE, RHCS - Linux Performance Tuning, RHCS-Identity Management, RHCS-Linux Diagnostics and Troubleshooting.
• Strong process and project management skills with the ability to improve process efficiency and effectiveness.
• Act as a thought leader on cyber resilience trends and industry best practices.
• Professional certifications (e.g., CBCP, CCRP, A/CCRF) expected.

Responsibilities

• Develop and manage cyber resilience initiatives aligned with FFIEC, NIST, and other relevant standards, integrating with business continuity efforts to define strategic goals and success metrics.
• Coordinate development of annual cyber resilience program objectives and schedules for annual recovery playbook maintenance and update, exercises, independent review and validation.
• Support impact assessments for emerging technologies (e.g., AI, zero trust, hybrid cloud) on cyber resilience.
• Partner with Business Continuity teammates to assess business function-level preparedness proactively, develop contingency plans, and implement mitigation strategies.
• Supports high-profile incident response and recovery activities for business or technology disruptions, including those caused by cyber-attacks, natural disaster, man-made disaster, and other crises scenarios.
• Develops and updates process maps for resiliency management activities that reflect the department's efforts to identify, protect, detect, respond, and recover from potential cyber threats and maintain situational awareness.
• Lead comprehensive testing programs including cyber incident response and ransomware simulations into business continuity (BC), disaster recovery (DR), and other key Information Security partners, while identifying gaps and reporting outcomes.
• Establish governance methodologies, KPIs, and dashboards to monitor resilience posture, partnering with other leaders across the organization.
• Analyze a variety of data and summarize findings in applicable reports or other communication mediums.
• Utilize data to identify areas of improvement and opportunities for growth.
• Oversee program using industry best practices to set objectives, define scope, build roadmaps, and create detailed project timelines and plans to ensure alignment with organizational goals and oversee the execution from inception to delivery.

Benefits

• We offer all the important things you'd want - like competitive salaries, an ownership stake in the company, medical and dental insurance, time off, a great 401k matching program, tuition assistance program, an employee volunteer program, and a wellness program.
• In addition, you'll have the opportunity to bolster your business knowledge, learning the ins and outs of how successful companies operate and manage their finances, giving you invaluable hands-on experience to help grow your career!

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Industry: Credit Intermediation and Related Activities