Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Cybersecurity Risk Manager

🎯 Role Definition

The Cybersecurity Risk Manager is responsible for designing, implementing, and maturing the organization's information security risk program. This role leads enterprise risk assessments, third‑party risk management, and control gap remediation across cloud, on‑premises, and hybrid environments. The Cybersecurity Risk Manager partners with senior leadership and cross‑functional teams to quantify cyber risk, define risk appetite, recommend risk treatment strategies, and ensure compliance with regulatory and industry standards (NIST CSF, ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR). This role blends hands‑on technical knowledge with strategic program management and stakeholder engagement to reduce business risk and support secure growth.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Information Security Analyst or Senior Risk Analyst
IT Risk or Compliance Analyst (GRC)
Security Architect or Security Engineer transitioning into risk and governance

Advancement To:

Director of Information Security Risk / Director of Security & Risk
Head of Cyber Risk / Head of Information Security Governance
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)

Lateral Moves:

Third‑Party Risk Lead / Vendor Risk Manager
Cloud Security or Security Architecture Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead and execute enterprise-wide information security risk assessments, using qualitative and quantitative methodologies to identify, evaluate, and prioritize cyber and privacy risks across business units, cloud platforms, applications, and infrastructure.
Develop, own, and maintain the enterprise risk register and risk treatment plans, tracking mitigation activities, assigning owners, and reporting remediation progress to senior leadership and the board.
Establish and maintain the organization’s risk appetite, tolerance thresholds, and Key Risk Indicators (KRIs); translate these into measurable controls and dashboards for executive and board reporting.
Design, implement, and run a scalable third‑party risk management (TPRM) program including vendor categorization, risk questionnaires, security assessments, remediation tracking, and continuous monitoring for critical suppliers and cloud service providers.
Operate and optimize Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) platforms (e.g., RSA Archer, ServiceNow GRC, OneTrust) to automate risk assessments, evidence collection, control testing, audit workflows, and regulatory reporting.
Lead vulnerability management and coordination with IT and engineering teams to prioritize, track, and verify remediation of critical vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and critical security findings from scanning and penetration testing.
Partner with cloud and platform engineering teams to integrate security controls, threat modeling, and continuous compliance into cloud development pipelines (AWS, Azure, GCP); define cloud risk controls and guardrails.
Create and maintain mapping of control frameworks (NIST CSF, NIST SP 800‑53, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, SOC 2) to internal processes and controls; drive gap remediation and evidence collection for audits and attestation.
Oversee or coordinate internal and external penetration tests, red‑team exercises, and tabletop incident response simulations; translate findings into prioritized risk remediation and program improvements.
Define and own cyber risk reporting for executives and board members—including risk heat maps, trend analysis, risk appetite alignment, and scenario analysis for potential business impact.
Provide subject‑matter expertise during regulatory inquiries, external audits, SOC/PCI/HIPAA assessments, and provide remediation plans and timelines to ensure compliance requirements are met.
Develop and maintain business continuity and disaster recovery alignment with cyber risk initiatives; ensure cyber incident scenarios are incorporated into BC/DR plans and recovery objectives.
Build and execute a risk remediation lifecycle process that includes SLA definitions, escalation paths, verification of mitigations, and closure criteria.
Lead cyber risk due diligence during M&A, divestitures, and strategic partnerships, performing target assessments, highlighting critical exposures, and defining transitional security controls.
Conduct privacy and data protection risk reviews tied to GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy laws; advise product and engineering teams on appropriate controls for data classification and protection.
Quantify cyber risk through business impact analysis and loss exposure modeling; present prioritized investment recommendations that balance risk reduction and business objectives.
Drive continuous improvement of risk processes, playbooks, and standard operating procedures; implement lessons learned from incidents, audits, and control testing to reduce recurrence.
Manage relationships and communications with external partners (cyber insurance brokers, auditors, security consultants) to optimize coverage, validate controls, and accelerate remediation.
Provide mentorship and technical leadership to risk analysts and junior security staff; define career development plans and contribute to hiring and performance management.
Coordinate cross‑functional risk committees, steering groups, and working sessions with legal, finance, product, engineering, and operations to ensure risk decisions are timely and effective.
Measure and report program KPIs (mean time to detect, mean time to remediate, control coverage, vendor risk posture) and use data-driven insights to drive executive decisions and budgeting.
Define and enforce identity and access management (IAM) risk controls including privileged access management, role-based access, least privilege enforcement, and access recertification programs.
Maintain situational awareness of emerging threats, vulnerabilities, and regulatory changes; translate threat intelligence into actionable risk mitigations and strategic program updates.
Develop and deliver risk awareness training and communication plans for business owners, developers, and operational teams to embed risk-based decision making into the organization.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc security risk requests from business units and perform targeted risk analyses for product launches and service changes.
Assist in preparing artifacts and evidence required for external attestations, regulatory filings, and internal audits.
Contribute to procurement processes by reviewing security requirements and contractual security clauses for vendors and partners.
Provide input to security engineering on control design, measurement, and automation initiatives to reduce manual evidence collection and increase control maturity.
Participate in incident response as a risk subject‑matter expert, helping quantify impact, prioritize containment/remediation, and inform post‑incident risk reporting.
Collaborate with privacy, legal, and compliance teams to align cyber risk assessments with data protection impact assessments (DPIAs) and contractual obligations.
Support periodic tabletop exercises and response drills, document findings, and ensure corrective actions are tracked through closure.
Help maintain a knowledge base of standard risk scenarios, control templates, and assessment playbooks for consistent delivery across the enterprise.
Contribute to vendor scorecard automation and continuous monitoring feeds using security telemetry and third‑party risk platforms.
Aid in building business cases and ROI analyses for cyber risk investments, including tooling, staff augmentation, and remediation projects.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Information security risk assessment methodologies (qualitative, quantitative, FAIR) and risk modeling for cyber and business impact.
Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) tooling experience (RSA Archer, ServiceNow GRC, MetricStream, OneTrust).
Control frameworks and standards: NIST CSF, NIST SP 800‑53, ISO 27001/27002, SOC 2, PCI DSS, CIS Controls.
Third‑party risk management (TPRM) best practices, vendor assessment questionnaires, security ratings and continuous monitoring tools (BitSight, SecurityScorecard).
Cloud security and compliance across AWS, Azure, and GCP; familiarity with cloud native controls, IaC scanning, and CSPM tools (Prisma Cloud, Dome9, AWS Security Hub).
Vulnerability management and remediation workflow: Nessus, Qualys, Rapid7, Tenable, and experience prioritizing critical vulnerabilities in a business context.
Penetration testing, threat modeling, application security basics (SAST/DAST), and managing remediation for findings.
Security monitoring and logging platforms (SIEMs such as Splunk, QRadar, Sumo Logic) and integrating telemetry into risk indicators.
Identity and access governance: PAM, IAM, zero trust principles, and access recertification processes.
Regulatory compliance knowledge: GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOX, and experience preparing for audits and attestations.
Incident response and playbook development; ability to assess and translate incident findings into risk treatments.
Data analysis and visualization skills for risk reporting: Excel, SQL, Tableau, Power BI, and experience creating executive dashboards.
Scripting and automation fundamentals (Python, PowerShell, Bash) to automate evidence collection, reporting, and remediation tracking.
Cyber insurance and financial risk transfer familiarity, able to support coverage analysis and insurer engagements.
Experience with secure software development lifecycle (SSDLC), DevSecOps practices, and integrating security gates into CI/CD.

Soft Skills

Excellent written and verbal communication with the ability to translate technical risk into business terms for executives and boards.
Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills across engineering, legal, finance, and product teams.
Strategic thinking with a pragmatic, risk‑based approach to prioritize limited resources for maximum business impact.
Proven leadership and team development skills; experience mentoring analysts and leading cross‑functional teams.
High attention to detail combined with ability to synthesize complex inputs into concise risk narratives.
Problem solving and critical thinking under ambiguity and during incident response situations.
Project and program management capability: planning, prioritization, timeline management, and cross‑team coordination.
Negotiation skills for remediation timelines, contractual security requirements, and third‑party engagements.
Adaptability and continuous learning mindset to stay current with evolving threats, technologies, and regulations.
Customer‑orientation and service mindset to partner effectively with product owners and business stakeholders.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Security, Information Systems, Cybersecurity, Engineering, or a closely related field.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree in Cybersecurity, Information Assurance, Business Administration (MBA), or related advanced degree.
Professional certifications such as CISSP, CISM, CRISC, ISO 27001 Lead Implementer/Auditor, or SANS GIAC certifications.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Cybersecurity / Information Security
Computer Science / Software Engineering
Information Systems / IT Risk & Compliance
Business Administration with Security/IT concentration

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

5 to 10+ years of progressive experience in information security, IT risk, or cybersecurity risk management roles.

Preferred:

7+ years of experience with demonstrated ownership of enterprise security risk programs, vendor risk management, or GRC platform operations.
Experience working with cloud-native environments (AWS/Azure/GCP), DevSecOps teams, and cross-functional security initiatives.
Prior experience engaging with executive leadership and boards on cyber risk topics and regulatory/compliance assessments.