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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for IT Security Officer

💰 $80,000 - $140,000

Information SecurityCybersecurityIT

🎯 Role Definition

The IT Security Officer is a hands-on security professional responsible for protecting the organization's digital assets, ensuring compliance with regulatory frameworks, operationalizing security controls, and enabling secure business growth. This role combines technical ownership (SIEM, vulnerability management, IAM, cloud security), governance (policies, risk assessments, third‑party reviews), and cross-functional leadership (incident response, security awareness, vendor management). SEO & LLM keywords: IT Security Officer, information security, cybersecurity, SOC, incident response, vulnerability management, cloud security, ISO 27001, NIST CSF, GDPR, PCI DSS.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • IT Security Analyst / SOC Analyst
  • Network or Systems Administrator with security focus
  • Information Risk Analyst or Compliance Analyst

Advancement To:

  • IT Security Manager / Security Operations Manager
  • Security Architect
  • Head of Information Security / CISO

Lateral Moves:

  • Cloud Security Engineer
  • Third‑Party Risk Manager / Vendor Security Lead
  • Compliance & Privacy Officer

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop, maintain, and evolve the organization's information security program, including policies, standards, procedures, and guidelines aligned with ISO 27001, NIST CSF, CIS controls, and applicable regulatory requirements (GDPR, PCI DSS, HIPAA).
  • Lead and coordinate incident response activities: triage security incidents, run containment and eradication playbooks, perform root cause analysis, and produce formal post‑incident reports with actionable remediation plans for leadership.
  • Operate and tune security monitoring tools (SIEM such as Splunk/ELK, IDS/IPS, EDR) to detect anomalous activity, reduce false positives, and escalate verified threats to appropriate teams.
  • Perform regular vulnerability management: schedule scans, validate findings from Nessus/Qualys/other scanners, prioritize remediation with risk-based scoring, and track remediation progress with engineering teams.
  • Design, implement, and manage identity and access management (IAM) controls including least privilege enforcement, role-based access controls, privileged access management (PAM), MFA rollout, and periodic access reviews.
  • Define and enforce secure configuration baselines across servers, network devices, cloud resources, endpoint devices, and containers using industry frameworks and automation (CIS Benchmarks, IaC scanning).
  • Lead security architecture reviews and threat modeling for new systems, major changes, and third-party integrations to ensure security requirements are incorporated early in the SDLC.
  • Manage cloud security posture and controls across AWS/Azure/GCP environments: IAM policies, network segmentation, logging (CloudTrail, Azure Monitor), security groups, configuration drift, and cloud-native security tools.
  • Coordinate and oversee penetration testing, red team exercises, and third‑party security assessments; verify remediation and close findings with technical teams.
  • Implement and operate data protection controls including DLP, encryption (at rest/in transit), key management, and secure handling of sensitive data to meet regulatory obligations.
  • Run security awareness and training programs for all employees: phishing simulations, role‑based secure coding workshops, and ongoing behavioral reinforcement to reduce human risk.
  • Manage third‑party and vendor risk assessments: execute due diligence questionnaires, review SOC reports, contractually enforce security requirements, and monitor vendor compliance.
  • Maintain and report security metrics and KPIs (MTTR for incidents, vulnerability remediation SLA, detection coverage, compliance status) to the CISO/leadership and use metrics to drive continuous improvement.
  • Oversee business continuity, disaster recovery planning, and tabletop exercises to validate recovery objectives, dependencies, and incident escalation paths.
  • Ensure secure software development practices by partnering with engineering: integrate SAST/DAST, dependency scanning, code review checklists, and CI/CD pipeline security gates.
  • Configure and maintain network security controls (firewalls, web application firewalls, VPNs) and perform segmentation to minimize blast radius for potential breaches.
  • Manage security-related projects and budgets: vendor selection, tool procurement, roadmap prioritization, and vendor performance tracking.
  • Maintain and drive compliance audit readiness for internal and external audits (ISO 27001 certification audits, SOC 2, PCI DSS, GDPR assessments), prepare evidence and remediation plans as needed.
  • Implement and maintain logging, monitoring, and forensic capabilities to support investigations and retain chain-of-custody for legal or regulatory requirements.
  • Act as primary liaison to cross-functional teams (IT operations, engineering, legal, HR, procurement) to ensure security considerations are embedded in business initiatives and change processes.
  • Establish and maintain secure onboarding and offboarding processes for employees and contractors to ensure rapid provisioning/deprovisioning and minimize orphaned accounts.
  • Develop and maintain incident playbooks, runbooks, and operational runbooks for on-call and SOC teams to ensure consistent, repeatable responses.
  • Conduct risk assessments and business impact analyses for critical systems and projects, document residual risks, and recommend mitigation strategies to stakeholders.
  • Perform continuous threat intelligence analysis to identify emerging threats, update defenses, and brief leadership on the threat landscape and actionable indicators.
  • Mentor junior security staff and contribute to building a high-performing security organization through knowledge sharing, training, and hiring support.

Secondary Functions

  • Support audit requests, prepare evidence packages, and coordinate remediation tasks with internal teams and external auditors.
  • Assist in ad-hoc security analyses and research to evaluate new technologies, tools, and techniques that improve the security posture.
  • Contribute to security program roadmaps, budget planning, and vendor evaluations to ensure alignment with business goals.
  • Participate in cross-functional project governance forums to review security implications of new initiatives and change requests.
  • Provide subject-matter expertise during contractual negotiations to insert security clauses, SLAs, and data protection requirements.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • SIEM administration and use (e.g., Splunk, Elastic/ELK, QRadar) for security monitoring, alerting, and investigations.
  • Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) tools experience (e.g., CrowdStrike, Carbon Black, Microsoft Defender).
  • Vulnerability management workflows and tools (Nessus, Qualys, Rapid7) and experience with risk-based remediation prioritization.
  • IDS/IPS, firewall, and network security configuration (Palo Alto, Fortinet, Cisco ASA/Firepower).
  • Identity and Access Management (Okta, Azure AD, IAM best practices, PAM solutions).
  • Cloud security hands‑on experience (AWS, Azure, GCP), including cloud-native logging, IAM, and CSPM tools.
  • Penetration testing fundamentals, familiarity with tools such as Burp Suite, Metasploit, and knowledge of SAST/DAST pipelines.
  • Compliance and governance frameworks: ISO 27001, NIST CSF, CIS Controls, SOC 2, GDPR, PCI DSS.
  • Encryption, PKI, TLS, and data protection technologies including DLP solutions.
  • Scripting and automation (Python, PowerShell, Bash) to automate security tasks, parsing logs, and building playbooks.
  • Container and orchestration security knowledge (Docker, Kubernetes security best practices).
  • Forensics and incident investigation fundamentals: log analysis, evidence preservation, chain-of-custody.
  • Secure SDLC concepts and integrating security into CI/CD pipelines (DevSecOps practices).
  • Experience with ticketing/ITSM systems (ServiceNow, Jira) and working with IT change control processes.

Soft Skills

  • Strong verbal and written communication — able to explain technical risk to non-technical stakeholders and produce executive summaries.
  • Stakeholder management and cross-functional influence to drive remediation and program changes.
  • Analytical thinking and problem solving with attention to detail and structured decision-making.
  • Leadership and mentoring skills to develop junior security staff and lead incident response teams.
  • Project management and prioritization — able to manage multiple security initiatives and deadlines.
  • Resilience and calm under pressure during incidents and high-severity events.
  • Customer-service orientation — balancing security with business enablement.
  • Continuous learning mindset to stay current with threat trends and emerging technologies.
  • Negotiation skills for vendor contracts and third‑party security requirements.
  • Ethical judgment and high integrity when handling sensitive data and investigations.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Cybersecurity, Information Systems, or a related technical field; or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Master’s degree in Cybersecurity, Information Security, or MBA with a technology focus.
  • Professional security certifications (highly preferred): CISSP, CISM, CEH, CRISC, GIAC certifications, CompTIA Security+, or ISO 27001 Lead Implementer/Auditor.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Cybersecurity / Information Security
  • Information Systems / IT Management
  • Network Engineering

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3 – 7 years of progressive experience in information security, SOC operations, or IT risk and compliance.

Preferred:

  • 5+ years in a security role with demonstrable ownership of incident response, vulnerability management, or security program activities.
  • Proven experience operating security tools (SIEM, EDR, vulnerability scanners), performing risk assessments, and preparing for security audits.
  • Experience within regulated industries (financial services, healthcare, e-commerce) or experience with GDPR/PCI/HIPAA compliance is highly valued.
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