Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Information Assurance Specialist

🎯 Role Definition

The Information Assurance Specialist is responsible for establishing, implementing, and continuously improving information security controls, compliance processes, and risk management activities to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability of organizational information systems. This role typically works across engineering, operations, and governance teams to support Risk Management Framework (RMF) or similar accreditation processes, drive remediation for findings, and maintain certification and accreditation (C&A) posture for on-premises and cloud systems.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Security Analyst / Cybersecurity Analyst
Systems Administrator or Network Administrator with security responsibilities
Compliance or Audit Associate with IT focus

Advancement To:

Senior Information Assurance Specialist / Lead ISSO
Information System Security Manager (ISSM) / Security Engineering Manager
Risk & Compliance Manager or Cybersecurity Program Manager

Lateral Moves:

IT Risk Analyst / GRC Analyst
Cloud Security Engineer
Penetration Tester or Vulnerability Management Engineer

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead the development, implementation, and maintenance of System Security Plans (SSPs), Security Assessment Reports (SARs), and Plans of Action and Milestones (POA&Ms) to support ATO and continuous authorization lifecycles, ensuring documentation aligns to NIST SP 800-53/NIST SP 800-37 controls and organizational policies.
Execute full lifecycle RMF activities (categorization, control selection, implementation, assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring), coordinating with system owners and authorizing officials to achieve and maintain Authority to Operate (ATO).
Conduct comprehensive security control assessments and independent verification and validation to evaluate the effectiveness of technical, administrative, and physical controls; produce evidence-based findings and prioritized remediation recommendations.
Manage continuous monitoring programs including development of monitoring strategies, metrics, automated control checks, vulnerability scans, patch status reporting, and SOC/SIEM integration for near-real-time situational awareness.
Perform vulnerability management and scanning (Nessus, Qualys, or similar), analyze results, validate false positives, and coordinate remediation with system administrators and engineering teams to close high and critical weaknesses.
Author and update security policies, procedures, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and configuration checklists (STIGs/CIS benchmarks) to ensure systems remain compliant with regulatory and contract requirements (FISMA, DoD, FedRAMP, HIPAA as applicable).
Lead threat and risk assessments (TRA), security impact analyses, and privacy impact assessments to identify risks across new and existing systems and third-party services; develop risk acceptance strategies and mitigation plans in partnership with stakeholders.
Manage identity and access management (IAM) activities, review privileged accounts, enforce least-privilege principles, conduct access reviews, and support multi-factor authentication (MFA) and privileged access management (PAM) implementations.
Design and enforce secure baseline configurations and hardening standards for servers, endpoints, network devices, and cloud resources; validate compliance through automated configuration management tools and manual audits.
Support cloud security assurance for AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud environments, including cloud control mapping, cloud SSPs, cloud-native logging/monitoring, encryption key management, and ensuring cloud workloads meet compliance baselines.
Facilitate security control implementation for application and system development lifecycles (SDLC), including secure coding guidance, security design reviews, and integration of security testing tools such as SAST, DAST, and dependency scanning.
Coordinate and respond to security incidents and forensic investigations, working with the incident response team to collect evidence, triage impact, remediate affected systems, and refine incident playbooks and lessons learned.
Review and approve system boundary definitions, interconnection security agreements (ISAs), and data flow diagrams to ensure appropriate segmentation, encryption, and data handling controls are in place for sensitive or classified information.
Drive supplier and third-party risk management activities by evaluating vendor security posture, conducting third-party assessments, documenting security requirements in contracts, and ensuring service provider compliance to organizational controls.
Prepare and support internal and external audits, regulatory examinations, and compliance assessments; compile audit evidence, present findings, and implement remediation plans in collaboration with cross-functional owners.
Develop and deliver security awareness and role-based training for system owners, developers, and administrators to reduce human risk and maintain compliance with policy and regulatory requirements.
Maintain continuous improvement of the information assurance program by tracking control effectiveness, identifying automation opportunities, and recommending controller or process changes to reduce risk and operational overhead.
Collaborate with DevSecOps and engineering teams to integrate security automation into CI/CD pipelines, enabling early detection of misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, and compliance drift before production deployment.
Oversee cryptographic controls and data protection strategies, including encryption at rest and in transit, key management practices, certificate lifecycle management, and secure handling of sensitive data and PII.
Serve as the technical point of contact for authorizing officials and executive leadership on security posture, compliance status, risk trends, and remediation progress through clear reporting and dashboards.
Maintain up-to-date knowledge of evolving cybersecurity threats, federal/state regulations, industry frameworks (NIST, ISO 27001), and best practices; translate changes into practical guidance and updates to the security program.
Conduct periodic security test and evaluation (ST&E) activities including penetration testing coordination, red team engagements, and system-level security validation to verify control efficacy.
Create and maintain business-continuity and disaster recovery security requirements related to system availability and recovery objectives; ensure security controls are accounted for in backup and DR plans.
Mentor junior IA staff and act as subject matter expert for complex technical control questions, accreditation path decisions, and escalations during risk acceptance or persistent non-compliance scenarios.

Secondary Functions

Maintain asset inventories and configuration management databases (CMDB) for systems under scope; ensure information is kept current to support timely assessments and incident response.
Support ad-hoc reporting requests for compliance metrics, vulnerability trends, and executive dashboards used for board-level and program-level risk briefings.
Assist program and project managers by providing security input during requirements gathering, procurement reviews, and system lifecycle planning to reduce security debt.
Participate in configuration control boards (CCB) and sprint ceremonies to evaluate proposed system changes for security impacts and compliance implications.
Collaborate with privacy officers to ensure data classification, handling procedures, and retention policies align with relevant privacy laws and contractual obligations.
Help develop business cases and budget requests for procurement of security tools and services by providing technical requirements, ROI justification, and risk mitigation benefits.
Provide after-hours on-call support for escalated security incidents as part of a rotational duty schedule, ensuring continuity of incident handling and decision making.
Contribute to organizational security stretch goals such as automating control evidence collection, reducing mean-time-to-remediate (MTTR), and increasing remediation closure rates.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Deep knowledge of RMF, NIST SP 800-53, NIST SP 800-37, NIST SP 800-53A, and experience producing SSPs, SARs, and POA&Ms.
Hands-on experience with vulnerability scanning tools such as Nessus, Qualys, Rapid7, and experience analyzing scan results and managing remediation workflow.
Practical experience with SIEM platforms (Splunk, QRadar, Azure Sentinel, or Elastic) and integrating logs for detection and continuous monitoring.
Strong familiarity with cloud security controls and compliance for AWS, Azure, or GCP, including CSPM tools, IAM, encryption, and cloud-native logging.
Experience with secure baseline configuration and hardening standards such as STIGs, CIS Benchmarks, and automated configuration compliance tools.
Proficiency with identity and access management concepts, role-based access control (RBAC), privilege management, and multi-factor authentication implementations.
Experience performing security assessments, penetration tests coordination, ST&E, and working with third-party assessment teams.
Knowledge of cryptographic standards, key management, TLS/PKI, and data-at-rest encryption practices.
Familiarity with regulatory frameworks and standards: FISMA, FedRAMP, HIPAA, PCI-DSS (as applicable), and ability to translate requirements to technical controls.
Experience with GRC platforms (e.g., Archer, RSA, ServiceNow GRC) or experience managing compliance documentation and evidence collection.
Competence with automation and scripting (PowerShell, Python, Bash) to automate evidence collection, parsing logs, or remediation tasks.
Experience with DevSecOps practices and integrating security into CI/CD pipelines (SAST/DAST, IaC scanning, container security).

Soft Skills

Strong written and verbal communication skills for clear, persuasive documentation and briefings to technical and executive stakeholders.
Excellent stakeholder management and collaboration skills to coordinate remediation, secure resources, and align cross-functional teams.
Analytical thinking and problem-solving aptitude to prioritize vulnerabilities, recommend mitigations, and make risk-based decisions.
Attention to detail and rigor in producing compliant, audit-ready artifacts and maintaining accurate system documentation.
Time management and project management skills to juggle multiple accreditation efforts, audits, and continuous monitoring tasks.
Adaptability to evolving threats and regulatory environments while maintaining steady progress on long-term compliance goals.
Leadership and mentorship ability to guide junior staff and drive continuous improvement in IA practices.
Integrity and ethical judgment when handling sensitive data and participating in investigative or disciplinary processes.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, Information Systems, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related technical discipline.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree in Cybersecurity, Information Assurance, Information Systems, or MBA with a cybersecurity concentration.
Professional certifications such as CISSP, CISM, CAP, Security+, or CRISC preferred and often required for senior roles.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Cybersecurity / Information Assurance
Computer Science / Software Engineering
Information Systems / Network & Systems Administration
Computer Engineering / Risk Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

3–7 years of progressive experience in information security, system security engineering, or information assurance roles; 5+ years preferred for mid-to-senior roles.

Preferred:

Demonstrated experience leading RMF or similar accreditation processes and successfully achieving ATO/ATO-equivalent approvals.
Proven track record with cloud security for public cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP), vulnerability management programs, and integration with SOC/SIEM operations.
Experience working in regulated environments (federal, DoD, healthcare, finance) with exposure to FISMA, FedRAMP, HIPAA, or PCI compliance.
Prior experience coordinating security assessments, third-party audits, and remediation tracking across cross-functional teams.
Experience with scripting/automation to support continuous monitoring, evidence collection, and reporting is highly desirable.