Senior Security Operations Center (SOC) Manager

Titan Technologies Career•Reston, VA

About The Position

Zen Strategics, a Titan Technologies company, is seeking an experienced Senior Security Operations Center (SOC) Manager to support the FSA Security Operations Center (SOC), which is part of the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) Federal Student Aid (FSA) office. This role will establish the vision, architecture, staffing model, governance framework, and operational processes required to deliver 24/7 threat detection, monitoring, response, and continuous improvement capabilities. Job description The Senior SOC Manager plays a critical role in the organization’s cyber defense posture, leading a team of analysts and engineers responsible for continuously monitoring, detecting, investigating, and responding to cybersecurity threats across enterprise and customer environments. As the Senior SOC Manager, you will oversee real-time incident response, threat intelligence integration, vulnerability coordination, and security tooling optimization while ensuring alignment with federal compliance requirements (e.g., NIST, FISMA, FedRAMP, RMF as applicable). This role requires both deep technical expertise and executive-level communication skills, as the Senior SOC Manager must translate complex cybersecurity risks into clear, actionable insights for business leaders, executives, and external stakeholders.

Requirements

8+ years of progressive cybersecurity experience
3+ years in a SOC leadership or management role
Experience building or significantly maturing an SOC environment
Deep expertise in SIEM platforms (e.g., Splunk, QRadar, Sentinel)
Strong knowledge of incident response lifecycle and digital forensics principles
Experience with EDR/XDR platforms and cloud security monitoring
Familiarity with NIST, MITRE ATT&CK, and federal compliance frameworks
Strong analytical, leadership, and executive communication skills
Ability to get and maintain Public Trust Security Clearance

Nice To Haves

CISSP Certification
PMP Certification
Existing Public Trust Clearance preferred

Responsibilities

SOC Strategy & Build-Out (Foundational Leadership) Design and implement the SOC operating model, including charter, mission, KPIs, SLAs, and maturity roadmap.
Define staffing structure, roles, and coverage model to enable effective 24/7 monitoring and response.
Lead ongoing training, skill development, and operational readiness of SOC personnel.
Select and deploy core security technologies (SIEM, SOAR, EDR, NDR, IDS/IPS, threat intelligence platforms).
Standardize processes, playbooks, and metrics to drive consistent operations, reporting, and continuous improvement.
Threat Monitoring & Incident Response Oversee continuous enterprise and cloud security monitoring, alert triage, and incident investigations.
Direct containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident analysis activities.
Lead incident response planning, exercises, and cross-functional coordination during high-severity events.
Maintain chain-of-custody procedures and forensic readiness.
Security Engineering & Tool Optimization Architect log management, detection engineering, and MITRE ATT&CK–aligned use cases.
Lead threat hunting, adversary emulation, and automation and orchestration workflow (SOAR) initiatives to improve detection and response.
Optimize alert tuning to reduce false positives and analyst fatigue.
Ensure integration of cloud security monitoring (AWS, Azure, GCP as applicable).
Oversee vulnerability management coordination with security and infrastructure teams.
Governance, Risk & Stakeholder Engagement Ensure SOC operations align with NIST 800-53, RMF, CIS benchmarks, and other applicable frameworks, support audits and reporting.
Develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) and provide executive risk briefings and remediation guidance.
Partner with CISO, IT, and business leaders to strengthen enterprise security posture.
Mentor staff and communicate technical risks in clear business terms to senior leadership.