Security Operations Lead

Applied Information Sciences • Alexandria, VA

2h • $138,000 - $209,000

About The Position

Why AIS? When you join AIS, you’re joining a mission-driven team that’s passionate about making a difference. You’ll work on projects that matter, alongside industry-leading experts, in an environment that fosters innovation, driving client success, and empowering our team to make a lasting impact. As an employee-owned company, we value collaboration, inclusivity, continuous growth, and shared success. Employee Ownership : Your contributions directly impact the company’s success, and you share in its achievements. Continuous Learning : Access to resources, training, and mentorship to support your professional growth. Inclusive Culture : A workplace where diversity is celebrated, and everyone’s voice is valued. Mission-Driven Work : Engage in projects that make a meaningful difference for our clients and communities. What are we looking for? At AIS, we're looking for more than just skills - we're looking for driven individuals who are passionate about making a difference, eager to grow, and aligned with our core principles. What you will be doing? This position is contingent upon contract award. We are currently pursuing a proposal and are seeking qualified candidates to include in our submission and identify candidates for future hiring needs on the program once awarded.
At AIS, we are dedicated to providing our employees with diverse opportunities to grow their careers while supporting a variety of impactful projects. For this position, we are seeking a talented individual to join AIS as a Security Architect.
Core Knowledge & Skills: Develops enterprise security architectures, frameworks, and standards; utilizes advanced forensics and integrates solutions with IT systems. Work & Complexity: Designs secure architectures, manages integration projects, leads strategic initiatives, and enforces policies and standards. Quality & Independence: Ensures integrity and scalability, develops comprehensive strategies, and optimizes solutions for performance and efficiency. Teamwork & Communication: Leads architectural teams, builds partnerships, manages knowledge, and communicates strategies and executive reports. Consulting & Engagement: Provides architectural consulting, leads innovation initiatives, evaluates enterprise technologies, and builds strategic partnerships.
As your initial project assignment, you will support the unique needs of our client as a Security Operations Lead.

Project Overview The Security Operations Lead is responsible for managing, directing, and executing enterprise security operations, including penetration testing, continuous monitoring, and advanced cyber defense activities. This role will architect, implement, and maintain security technologies, ensure data protection throughout the information lifecycle, and lead a high-performing security operations team. The ideal candidate has deep technical expertise, strong leadership skills, and extensive experience with Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) practices.

Requirements

• Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, Computer Science, or related field.
• Minimum 10 years of experience delivering security operations and penetration testing support.
• Minimum 5 years of experience managing and directing security operations teams.
• Extensive experience with: Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) execution Enterprise security tool deployment, configuration, and baseline management Data protection and lifecycle security strategies Security architecture and engineering across hybrid environments
• Strong leadership, communication, and decision-making skills.
• Clearance: Secret
• Certifications (Mandatory): CISSP-ISSMP (Information Systems Security Management Professional) CISSP-ISSAP (Information Systems Security Architecture Professional)

Nice To Haves

• CNSE (Certified Network Security Engineer)
• Experience in highly regulated, federal, or mission-critical environments.
• Expertise with SIEM/SOAR platforms, endpoint protection tools, and advanced threat analytics.
• Knowledge of NIST frameworks, zero-trust architecture, and modern cyber defense methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Manage and direct all security operations functions, including threat monitoring, detection, response, and remediation.
• Lead and mentor security analysts, penetration testers, and operations engineers to ensure effective cyber defense operations.
• Establish operational frameworks, runbooks, and governance processes that align with organizational security objectives.
• Implement and oversee all phases of CDM, including asset management, vulnerability management, identity and access control, and security posture monitoring.
• Define and maintain baselines for security tools to ensure proper configuration, tuning, and deployment.
• Continuously refine CDM capabilities to align with evolving threats and compliance standards.
• Architect, deploy, and maintain enterprise security products and services across on-premises and cloud environments.
• Ensure security technologies are effectively integrated, optimized, and aligned with enterprise architecture.
• Recommend and implement innovative solutions to protect data throughout its lifecycle—creation, storage, processing, transmission, and destruction.
• Oversee and coordinate penetration testing activities, vulnerability assessments, and red team engagements.
• Evaluate emerging threats and security trends to inform strategy and defense enhancements.
• Ensure timely remediation and risk mitigation across environments.
• Partner with IT, engineering, compliance, and executive leadership to align security operations with business priorities.
• Provide executive-level reporting on threat posture, operational performance, and risk management outcomes.
• Serve as an escalation point for major incidents and complex security challenges.

Benefits

• Employee Ownership : Your contributions directly impact the company’s success, and you share in its achievements.
• Continuous Learning : Access to resources, training, and mentorship to support your professional growth.
• Inclusive Culture : A workplace where diversity is celebrated, and everyone’s voice is valued.
• Mission-Driven Work : Engage in projects that make a meaningful difference for our clients and communities.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level