Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Incident Planner

🎯 Role Definition

The Incident Planner is the organizational architect of resilience. This pivotal role is not just about reacting to problems; it’s about proactively designing, documenting, and rehearsing the frameworks that enable the business to withstand and recover from disruptive events, from cybersecurity breaches to physical emergencies. They are the strategic mind behind the response, ensuring that when an incident occurs, there is a clear, actionable, and well-understood plan for every stakeholder involved, transforming chaos into a structured, manageable process.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Security Operations Center (SOC) Analyst
IT Systems Administrator / Network Engineer
Business Analyst (with a focus on risk or operations)

Advancement To:

Senior Incident Manager / Incident Commander
Business Continuity Manager
Director of Security Operations or Emergency Management

Lateral Moves:

Risk Manager
Security Architect
Compliance and Governance Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Architect, author, and continuously refine a comprehensive suite of incident response plans, playbooks, and runbooks tailored to a wide spectrum of potential threats, including malware outbreaks, denial-of-service attacks, data breaches, and insider threats.
Design, coordinate, and facilitate a regular cadence of incident response exercises, including tabletop simulations, functional drills, and full-scale tests to validate plans and build muscle memory across response teams.
Lead and meticulously document post-incident review (PIR) and root cause analysis (RCA) meetings, ensuring that all contributing factors are identified and that actionable lessons are captured to prevent recurrence.
Act as a central liaison, building strong partnerships with cross-functional teams including Legal, Communications, Human Resources, Engineering, and executive leadership to ensure alignment on response protocols and communication strategies.
Develop and maintain a clear and actionable escalation matrix, defining triggers, roles, and responsibilities for the core Cyber Incident Response Team (CIRT) and wider stakeholder groups.
Establish, track, and report on key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to measure the effectiveness and maturity of the incident response program, such as Mean Time to Detect (MTTD) and Mean Time to Resolve (MTTR).
Stay on the cutting edge of the cybersecurity landscape by researching emerging threats, attack vectors, and vulnerabilities, and proactively updating response plans to address them.
Ensure all incident response processes and documentation are compliant with relevant legal, regulatory, and contractual requirements, such as GDPR, CCPA, PCI-DSS, and HIPAA.
Conduct comprehensive Business Impact Analyses (BIA) in collaboration with department heads to identify critical business processes and establish Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs).
Manage the full lifecycle of incident-related documentation, ensuring all plans, reports, and evidence are stored in a secure, organized, and auditable manner.
Develop and deliver targeted training programs and awareness campaigns for both technical responders and general staff to ensure a baseline level of preparedness across the organization.
Evaluate, recommend, and assist in the implementation of incident response technologies and tools, such as SOAR platforms, case management systems, and communication solutions.
Act as a calm and authoritative advisor to leadership during active incidents or simulations, providing clear guidance based on pre-approved plans and adapting as the situation evolves.
Maintain and regularly validate the organization's critical contact lists and communication call trees to ensure rapid and reliable activation of response teams.
Translate complex technical findings from post-incident reviews into clear, concise business-focused reports and presentations for senior management.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis to identify incident trends and systemic risks.
Contribute to the organization's broader data governance and information security strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate their operational resilience needs into technical and procedural requirements for the response program.
Participate in sprint planning, retrospectives, and other agile ceremonies if operating within an agile security or IT team.
Assist in vendor risk management processes, specifically evaluating the incident response capabilities of third-party suppliers and partners.
Create and maintain internal wikis, knowledge bases, and SharePoint sites dedicated to incident response procedures and resources.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Incident Response Frameworks: Deep practical knowledge of industry standards such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (specifically Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover), SANS PICERL, and ISO 27035.
Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery (BC/DR): Strong understanding of BCDR principles, including conducting Business Impact Analysis (BIA) and developing recovery strategies.
Project Management: Proven ability to manage complex projects, coordinate with multiple stakeholders, and deliver results on a deadline, often using tools like Jira, Confluence, or Asana.
Technical Acumen: A solid understanding of core IT and security concepts, including networking, operating systems, cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP), and common attack vectors.
Risk Assessment Methodologies: Experience with performing qualitative and quantitative risk assessments to prioritize planning efforts (e.g., FAIR, OCTAVE).
Regulatory Compliance: Familiarity with the security and breach notification requirements of major regulations like GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS.

Soft Skills

Exceptional Composure Under Pressure: The ability to think clearly, communicate effectively, and make logical decisions in high-stakes, stressful situations.
Influential Communication: The skill to articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences, from front-line staff to the C-suite, and to persuade stakeholders to adopt new processes.
Analytical & Critical Thinking: A methodical approach to problem-solving, with the ability to deconstruct complex incidents, identify root causes, and see a path to improvement.
Meticulous Attention to Detail: A passion for precision in documentation, planning, and analysis, understanding that small details can have a major impact during a crisis.
Facilitation & Leadership: The ability to lead a room of diverse stakeholders through a tabletop exercise or a post-incident review, ensuring all voices are heard and productive outcomes are achieved.
Inherent Proactivity: A forward-thinking mindset that constantly seeks to improve processes and anticipate future challenges rather than just reacting to past events.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

A Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field or equivalent, demonstrable work experience in a directly related role.

Preferred Education:

A Bachelor's or Master's degree in Cybersecurity, Information Technology, Emergency Management, or a related discipline.
Professional certifications are highly valued, such as:
- Security: CISSP, CISM, GCIH, ECIH
- Business Continuity: CBCP, ISO 22301 Lead Implementer
- Project Management: PMP

Relevant Fields of Study:

Computer Science / Information Systems
Cybersecurity
Business Administration with a focus on Risk Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

3-7 years of combined experience in fields such as incident response, security operations, IT risk management, or business continuity.

Preferred:

Hands-on experience working within a Security Operations Center (SOC) or as part of a formal Cyber Incident Response Team (CIRT).
Demonstrable experience in writing formal documentation, such as policies, standards, or procedural playbooks.
A proven track record of having planned and executed tabletop exercises and post-incident reviews.