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 Lead Security Engineer.

• Core Knowledge & Skills: Develops strategic security plans, applies advanced cryptography, manages security programs, and designs secure cloud architectures.

• Work & Complexity: Leads strategic projects, integrates security into business processes, develops risk management strategies, and ensures compliance.

• Quality & Independence: Delivers strategic projects, develops innovative solutions, maintains high standards, and ensures stakeholder satisfaction.

• Teamwork & Communication: Leads and mentors teams, aligns efforts with organizational goals, manages performance, and develops training programs.

• Consulting & Engagement: Provides high-level consulting, leads innovation initiatives, develops technology roadmaps, and manages vendor contracts.

As your initial project assignment, you will support the unique needs of our client as a Sr. Cybersecurity Engineer (ISSE).

Project Summary

We are seeking a Cybersecurity Lead to support mission-critical federal systems through full lifecycle Risk Management Framework (RMF) implementation and oversight. This role will lead a team of security professionals responsible for ensuring systems meet stringent cybersecurity and compliance requirements, while supporting authorization efforts and continuous monitoring for enterprise IT systems.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and supervise a team of contractor security professionals responsible for end-to-end RMF lifecycle implementation across IT systems.

• Oversee and coordinate activities within the Prepare step of the RMF, ensuring roles, responsibilities, and risk strategies are clearly defined and maintained.

• Guide system categorization efforts to ensure systems are classified appropriately based on mission impact and regulatory requirements.

• Advise on the selection, tailoring, and documentation of security controls aligned with risk tolerance and compliance frameworks.

• Oversee the implementation of technical, operational, and management security controls throughout system and application lifecycles.

• Ensure security control assessments are properly planned, executed, and documented to validate effectiveness.

• Prepare and review authorization package documentation to support system authorization and executive decision-making.

• Direct continuous monitoring activities, including metrics collection and reporting to support ongoing compliance and risk reduction.

• Serve as a principal cybersecurity advisor for risk analysis, incident response, system remediation, and audit support.

• Promote a culture of security awareness by providing technical guidance and training to team members and stakeholders.

• Track, report, and communicate status, risks, and improvement opportunities to leadership.

• Maintain current knowledge of RMF, NIST standards, and cybersecurity best practices, driving continuous process improvement.

Required for This Opportunity

• Active Top Secret/SCI (TS/SCI) clearance

• Minimum of 8 years of experience in secure design, analysis, and testing of information security systems and products

• Minimum of 8 years of experience applying cybersecurity methods, standards, and approaches to ensure security safeguards are implemented and documented

• Minimum of 8 years of experience developing and maintaining security test plans to identify and mitigate system risks

• Demonstrated experience leading or supporting RMF lifecycle activities (Prepare, Categorize, Select, Implement, Assess, Authorize, Monitor)

• Strong understanding of NIST 800-37, NIST 800-53, and related federal cybersecurity frameworks

• Experience supporting system authorization (ATO) processes and documentation deliverables

• One of the following certifications required:

  • Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)

  • Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)

Nice to Have Skills

• Experience supporting FBI or DOJ environments

• Prior experience leading teams in a federal program or contractor environment

• Familiarity with continuous monitoring tools and dashboards

• Experience with audit readiness and compliance assessments (e.g., IG, GAO)

• Strong communication skills with the ability to brief technical and executive stakeholders

At AIS, we are committed to offering competitive and fair compensation that reflects the skills, experience, and contributions of each team member. The targeted base salary range for this role is $120,000-$181,000 per year. Please note that this range is provided as a guideline and the final offer will be based on several factors, including but not limited to, skillset and competencies, level of experience, education, certifications, and location. We value transparency in our hiring process and are happy to discuss how your unique qualifications align with our compensation structure during the interview process.

Applied Information Sciences does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, religion, color, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other basis. Employment decisions are based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs.