Security Architect

***Position is 100% Remote within the United States. Must be able to work EST hours.***

**Preference will be shown for candidates presently residing in the state of South Carolina that can physically assist with equipment and hardware maintenance as needed.

**This position will participate in an on-call rotation supporting the 24x7 SOC. After-hours maintenance, incident escalation support, and operational handoffs will be required as needed.

**All travel-related costs for onsite work will be the responsibility of the resource, regardless of the frequency of onsite work.
 

Background screenings required:
Mandatory screening requirements: These requirements are strictly enforced and non-negotiable. No exceptions can be granted. Candidates who cannot pass these requirements will not be eligible for hire. All applicants must successfully pass a full credit check and criminal background check during the initial hiring process. Once onboard, they must obtain and retain annual CJIS certification as part of the ongoing employment process.

• 7-year standard background check
• Credit history
• Driving record (MVR)
• E-Verify
• SLED check
• CJIS certification will be required for this position and processed by client after hire

Scope of the Project:
This position will serve as a contract Security Engineer within the Agency's Division of Information Security. The successful candidate will show extensive experience supporting security automation, custom tool development, identity and access management, Linux systems, and a broad range of enterprise security technologies. This contractor will work with a large enterprise security team and assist the Security Automations Architect, Security Architects, Engineers, Analysts, and Incident Responders with the design, development, implementation, integration, and continuous improvement of security tools, automations, systems, and services supporting multiple state agencies.

The successful candidate:

• This contractor will be primarily focused on security engineering, automation, scripting, tool development, system integration, and operational support while also providing important support for IAM, Linux-based security sensors, DSPM, ASM, vulnerability management, SIEM, XDR, logging, monitoring, and other evolving security technologies.
• The role requires hands-on experience supporting both security engineering and security operations, including internal applications, APIs, SDKs, dashboards, command-line tools, incident response automations, CVE analysis, access controls, platform troubleshooting, system administration, documentation, and analyst enablement.
• The candidate must be able to support strategic planning, solution design, development, implementation, HSTR, troubleshooting, performance optimization, and continuous improvement of secure systems and services in a rapidly changing environment.

Daily Duties / Responsibilities:

• This position is 100% remote and will participate in an on-call rotation supporting a 24x7 Security Operations Center serving multiple state agencies.
• Other after-hours work may be required as needed.

Primary Responsibilities:
Primarily assist in the planning, design, development, deployment, administration, and operational support of enterprise security automations and custom security tools, including:

• Python-based automations, internal web applications, APIs, SDKs, scripts, dashboards, command-line utilities, and system integrations.
• Automated workflows for alert enrichment, triage, incident response, case management, notifications, containment, escalation, and reporting.
• Custom tools to assist with CVE vetting, vulnerability enrichment, prioritization, tracking, and security decision support.

Secondary Responsibilities:

• Secondarily assist in the planning, design, development, and operational support of a broad range of security platforms, including: DSPM, ASM, IAM, vulnerability management, email security, endpoint security, SIEM, XDR, SOAR, logging, monitoring, network security, cloud security, and threat intelligence technologies integrations with ticketing, case management, notification, identity, data sources, APIs, SDKs, and other enterprise systems as needed. Support for technologies such as Palo Alto Networks, Proofpoint, Tenable, Cribl, WhatsUp Gold, and other current or future security products.
• Develop, test, deploy, and maintain automated security workflows, applications, and scripts using Python, PowerShell, Bash, REST APIs, JSON, YAML, vendor SDKs, and other appropriate technologies.
• Assist with identity and access management functions, including user provisioning, deprovisioning, access reviews, role-based access control, service accounts, API credentials, authentication, authorization, and identity-based system integrations.
• Deploy, configure, patch, monitor, optimize, and troubleshoot Linux systems supporting security sensors, collectors, connectors, applications, containers, and data-processing services, including Docker-based environments.
• Support security architects, engineers, SOC analysts, incident responders, and agency customers through platform troubleshooting, automation development, system integration, technical escalation, knowledge transfer, and operational handoffs.
• Monitor and report on automation health, application availability, system performance, sensor status, integration failures, API errors, vulnerability status, platform issues, and other security engineering and operational metrics.
• Ensure high availability, resilience, backup, recovery, patching, lifecycle management, secure configuration, and controlled change processes for security tools, Linux systems, applications, automations, and supporting services.
• Collaborate with security architects, engineers, analysts, incident responders, and agency stakeholders to align solutions with business goals, industry-standard frameworks, regulatory requirements, and organizational risk tolerance.

Required Skills

• 5+ years of experience supporting large IT environments, security systems, software development, and/or system deployments.
• Hands-on security engineering experience supporting multiple cybersecurity technologies, systems, integrations, and operational functions.
• Experience developing security automations, scripts, integrations, utilities, and custom tools using Python.
• Strong experience troubleshooting complex technical issues across applications, security platforms, operating systems, networks, identity services, and integrations.
• Linux system deployment, configuration, patching, scripting, service management, monitoring, troubleshooting, and lifecycle management.
• Experience developing automation and response workflows using Python, PowerShell, Bash, REST APIs, JSON, YAML, and vendor SDKs.
• Experience supporting IAM, DSPM, ASM, vulnerability management, email security, endpoint security, SIEM, SOAR, logging, monitoring, cloud security, and other enterprise security technologies.
• Strong understanding of enterprise security architecture, incident response, networking, access control, secure software development, systems administration, and industry-standard cybersecurity frameworks.

Preferred Skills

• Hands-on experience serving as a security engineering generalist in a large, multi-tenant, shared-services, or managed-service environment.
• Hands-on Linux, Docker, security sensor, monitoring, scripting, and platform administration experience.
• Experience supporting SOC analysts, security engineers, incident responders, agency customers, and rapidly changing operational priorities.
• Familiarity with Palo Alto Networks, Proofpoint, Tenable, Cribl, WUG, or other enterprise security technologies and experience developing playbooks, runbooks, procedures, and technical documentation.

Required Education/Certifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Security, or a related field.
• 8+ years of relevant experience may be substituted in lieu of education.

Preferred Education/Certifications

• CISSP, Security+, GIAC, or other relevant cybersecurity certification.
• Linux, Python, Cloud, IAM, or other relevant security engineering or platform certification.

Additional Skills/Duties

• Experience integrating enterprise technologies using APIs, SDKs, web services, structured data formats, authentication methods, and vendor-supported interfaces.
• Experience developing or supporting internal web applications, APIs, dashboards, databases, command-line tools, and related software components.
• Advanced Python development experience and familiarity with full-stack development, internal web applications, APIs, databases, source control, testing, and software deployment practices.