Sr. Detection Engineer

Cboe Global Markets•Chicago, IL

4d•$130,900 - $169,400•Hybrid

About The Position

The Security Operations team is hiring a Senior Detection Engineer. The Senior Detection Engineer is a hands-on individual contributor within the Security Operations organization, responsible for writing production detection logic and proving that it works. This role authors the rules, then executes the techniques those rules are meant to catch, building the tooling, sandboxes, and reusable test content required to demonstrate coverage rather than assume it. A detection is not finished when it is written. It is finished when someone has run the attack against it, confirmed it fired, confirmed it stayed quiet on benign activity, and left behind a test case that will re-confirm both after the next platform change. The work spans endpoint, identity, cloud, SaaS, network, and application telemetry. The role requires fluency in attacker tradecraft at a mechanical level: how a technique actually executes, what artifacts it produces, and which of those artifacts are reliable enough to build durable detection logic on. This position partners closely with Threat Hunting, Incident Response, and Security Engineering to ensure detection coverage is measured continuously rather than assumed. To set expectations clearly, this is a detection authoring and validation role, not a data pipeline role. Log source onboarding, parser development, and ingestion engineering are owned elsewhere. You will need to understand our telemetry well enough to know what is and is not detectable with it, and you will be expected to raise gaps when the data cannot support a detection, but building the pipes is not the job.

Requirements

5+ years of hands-on security engineering experience with substantial detection authoring content, and the ability to speak concretely about detections you built, how you validated them, and how they performed in production
Strong command of at least one detection query language (KQL, Sigma, YARA-L, or equivalent) and the judgment to recognize when logic is too brittle or too broad to ship
Practical knowledge of attacker techniques across Windows and Active Directory, Entra ID, cloud platforms (AWS, Azure), SaaS, and containerized workloads, at the level of execution mechanics rather than technique names
The ability to read unfamiliar exploit or malware code and identify the observable artifacts worth detecting on
Real fluency in at least one language used to write tooling (Python, Go, C#, PowerShell, bash, or equivalent)
Working knowledge of the telemetry itself, including Windows event logs, EDR process and network events, cloud audit logs, and identity sign-in data, and where each is unreliable, incomplete, or trivially evaded
Comfort building and tearing down test infrastructure using virtualization, containers, infrastructure-as-code, and CI/CD
A disciplined approach to false positives, alert quality, and the operational burden that detections place on analysts
Clear technical writing aimed at engineers, including detection documentation and analyst-facing response guidance
High ethical standards and demonstrated discipline around authorization, scope, blast radius, and handling of sensitive data
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience

Nice To Haves

Public detection content, tooling, or research that we can review
Hands-on experience with atomic testing frameworks or continuous control validation at scale
Use of MITRE ATT&CK as a coverage and gap-analysis instrument rather than a reporting label
Concrete AI engineering experience, such as agentic workflows, tool and MCP integration, or testing LLM-application abuse cases including prompt injection
Reverse engineering, Windows internals, or EDR telemetry and evasion research
Experience operating in regulated or large enterprise environments, especially financial services
A track record of mentoring engineers or building internal training material
Curiosity, adaptability, and a continuous improvement mindset

Responsibilities

Writing, tuning, and maintaining production detection logic across SIEM, EDR, identity, and cloud platforms, with explicit attention to fidelity and false positive cost
Validating every detection by executing the technique it targets, so that no rule reaches production unproven
Building and maintaining internal tooling that simulates adversary behavior on demand, making detection testing repeatable rather than manual
Building reusable validation packages and automated regression testing so coverage is re-verified continuously and after every agent, platform, or configuration change
Building and operating sandbox and detonation infrastructure, including disposable, instrumented environments for exploit triage, malware analysis, and safe technique development
Evaluating newly published proof-of-concept exploit code to determine whether it functions, what telemetry it generates, and whether Cboe is exposed, then converting the answer into detection or hunting content
Producing threat hunting validation content, including seeded artifacts, known-truth datasets, and repeatable test cases that establish whether a hypothesis is testable with the data we hold
Automating the repeatable work: scheduled technique execution, telemetry collection, coverage reporting, and detection performance measurement
Applying AI and LLM tooling where it measurably shortens cycle time, including agentic workflows for triage and enrichment, automated analysis of exploit and malware code, detection and test-case drafting, and hunt hypothesis generation
Conducting security testing of internally built web applications and APIs, and translating findings into detection requirements as well as remediation guidance
Supporting Incident Response during complex investigations with concrete attacker tradecraft insight, and closing the loop by building detections for what the investigation surfaces
Documenting and handing off work so that tooling, environments, and test content can be operated by others independently

Benefits

Fair and competitive salary and incentive compensation packages with an upside for overachievement
Generous paid time off, including vacation, personal days, sick days and annual community service days
Flexible, hybrid work environment
Health, dental and vision benefits, including access to telemedicine and mental health services
2:1 401(k) match, up to 8% match immediately upon hire
Discounted Employee Stock Purchase Plan
Tax Savings Accounts for health, dependent and transportation
Employee referral bonus program
Volunteer opportunities to help you give back to your communities
Complimentary lunch, snacks and coffee in any Cboe office
Paid Tuition assistance and education opportunities
Generous charitable giving company match
Paid parental leave and fertility benefits
On-site gyms and discounts to other fitness centers