Senior Manager, Cybersecurity Operations

Senior Manager, Cybersecurity Operations

6 Month Contract to Hire Opportunity

Location: Tuesday – Thursday on-site (Downtown Chicago)

The Opportunity

A well-established, growth-oriented organization is seeking a Senior Manager, Cybersecurity Operations to join its Information Technology team. This individual will play a key leadership role in overseeing and advancing the company's cybersecurity operations program.

The Senior Manager will have responsibility for the security, reliability, resiliency, and continuous improvement of cybersecurity operations across the enterprise. This person will establish operational standards, manage cybersecurity risk, oversee third-party security partners, and coordinate activities across technology and business teams.

We are looking for a cybersecurity leader who combines strong technical knowledge with excellent communication, problem-solving, and relationship management skills. The successful candidate will be comfortable operating in a fast-moving environment and influencing stakeholders across multiple levels of the organization.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the day-to-day execution and ongoing advancement of the organization's cybersecurity operations program.
• Oversee core security capabilities including security monitoring, threat management, vulnerability management, incident response, remediation, risk management, and security controls.
• Develop and maintain cybersecurity operational processes, standards, governance practices, performance metrics, and escalation procedures.
• Lead the organization's response to significant cybersecurity incidents, coordinating investigation, containment, remediation, root-cause analysis, and corrective actions.
• Partner with infrastructure, technology, business, and security teams to identify vulnerabilities and reduce cybersecurity risk across the enterprise.
• Evaluate cybersecurity risks and translate technical findings into clear business implications, priorities, and recommendations for senior IT leadership.
• Manage relationships with managed security service providers, technology vendors, and other external security partners, establishing expectations and holding partners accountable for performance, service quality, issue resolution, and continuous improvement.
• Monitor the effectiveness of cybersecurity services and controls while identifying opportunities to improve operational maturity, efficiency, resiliency, and security posture.
• Serve as a trusted cybersecurity partner to IT leadership and other key stakeholders across the organization.
• Support broader technology, security, and business initiatives as needed.

Experience We're Looking For

• 7+ years of progressive cybersecurity experience, with significant experience in cybersecurity or security operations.
• Demonstrated experience overseeing multiple areas of cybersecurity operations, such as:
• Security monitoring and threat detection
• Security incident response
• Vulnerability management
• Remediation
• Cyber risk management
• Security controls
• Experience leading cybersecurity initiatives across internal technology teams, business stakeholders, vendors, and managed service providers.
• Proven ability to manage complex security incidents and drive issues through investigation, remediation, and resolution.
• Experience establishing operational standards, processes, metrics, service expectations, and governance.
• Strong ability to communicate technical cybersecurity risks and recommendations to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Demonstrated success leading through influence in a complex, highly collaborative environment.
• Strong analytical, critical-thinking, and problem-solving capabilities.

Education & Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline preferred. Relevant professional experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• Must be authorized to work in the United States without current or future employer sponsorship.
• Candidates should be located in the Chicago metropolitan area.
• Ability to work in a hybrid environment with approximately three days per week in the office.
• Ability to travel up to 25%.

Why This Opportunity

This is an opportunity to take meaningful ownership of cybersecurity operations within a large, sophisticated organization undergoing continued technology and security evolution. The position offers broad exposure across the cybersecurity landscape and the ability to influence how security operations, incident response, risk management, and third-party security services are delivered across the enterprise.

The role is particularly well suited for a cybersecurity leader who enjoys building structure, improving operational maturity, solving complex problems, and working across both technical and executive stakeholders.