Senior Security Engineer (Washington)

Our client is seeking a candidate to provide technical and operational support for a Federal customer's Security Operations Center (SOC). The candidate will support enterprise security monitoring, incident response, and threat detection across a hybrid IT environment, including on-premises infrastructure and cloud services. This role provides advanced security analysis, and threat detection and engineering to strengthen organizational cybersecurity operations and continuous monitoring capabilities. The candidate will have hands-on experience with technical troubleshooting, remediation validation, incident follow-up, compliance reviews, platform administration, and operational security initiatives.

This role is on-site in Washington,DC.

Core Responsibilities

• Developing, enhancing, and maintaining Security Operations Center (SOC) standard operating procedures (SOPs) and assessment operations processes.
• Ensuring accountability, integrity, confidentiality, and protection of operational security processes and data.
• Performing vulnerability analysis, reviewing program-level documentation (system requirements, architectures, design documents, test plans, security plans), and providing technical recommendations.
• Developing and documenting security evaluation plans, test procedures, and assessment methodologies.
• Conducting hands-on security testing, analyzing results, identifying risk, and recommending countermeasures.
• Assessing and calculating risk based on identified threats, vulnerabilities, and security control weaknesses.
• Identifying and documenting mitigation strategies for threats, vulnerabilities, and deficiencies.
• Supporting the design, development, and implementation of security-related systems, tools, and assessment capabilities.
• Participating in or leading technical exchange meetings, documenting action items and outcomes, and briefing leadership on security engineering status and results.
• Supporting SOC alert analysis, triage, escalation, containment actions, and continuous improvement of detection and response use cases.
• Leading the engineering and implementation of secure cloud solutions – primarily in Microsoft Azure – in alignment with the organization's cybersecurity strategy and Federal compliance mandates (e.g., NIST, FISMA, FedRAMP).
• Integrating Zero Trust security principles across Azure cloud environments, including identity hardening, micro-segmentation, conditional access, and continuous monitoring.
• Configuring and operationalizing Azure cloud platform services including:
• Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) secure cluster configuration, governance, and node-pool hardening
• Azure policy creation and enforcement
• Secure Landing Zones following Azure enterprise-scale frameworks
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and least-privilege access models
• Resource tagging, naming standards, and governance implementation

Minimum Requirements

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, Information Technology, Computer Science or related field
• Experience: Minimum of 8 years of cybersecurity experience.
• Technical Proficiency: Demonstrated experience implementing and securing Azure cloud services including AKS, Azure Policy, Azure AD/Entra, Conditional Access, RBAC, and Zero Trust controls. Ability to evaluate security documentation and develop security test plans, evaluation methodologies, and technical recommendations. Ability to coordinate across cybersecurity teams and communicate technical information to leadership.
• Compliance: Ensure compliance with Federal cybersecurity regulations, including NIST, FISMA, and associated guidance. Ensure artifacts, assessments, and system configurations remain aligned with NIST SP 800-53 controls, FedRAMP baselines, Federal agency policy and directives.
• Certifications:
• CISSP or equivalent Cybersecurity certification (e.g., Security+).
• Cloud Architecture/Engineer or similar certification (Azure is a plus).
• Active Secret clearance is required.

Preferred Expertise

• Demonstrated success supporting Federal contracts.
• Strong background coordinating with stakeholders (e.g., system owners, ISSOs, architecture teams, and cybersecurity leadership) to validate cybersecurity requirements, address information assurance concerns, and resolve compliance or security issues.
• Strong analytical, written, and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate technical risks and content into terms suitable for executive and government stakeholders.
• Ability to work collaboratively with others and contribute to a team environment.