Director of Information Security

Job Description

Job Description

Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL (on site)

Type: Permanent / Direct Hire

Function: Information Security, Governance, Risk, and Compliance

Reports to: Senior technology leadership

About Octagon Talent Solutions

Octagon Talent Solutions is a technology recruitment firm based in South Florida and part of ITRADE Innovations. We humanize technical recruitment by understanding where a candidate wants their career to go, then aligning them with organizations where they can grow for years. Deeper focus, senior attention from the first conversation.

The Opportunity

Our client is formalizing its information security function and wants a leader who can run the program now and step into the executive seat later. This is a director-level role today with a defined roadmap toward CISO. The person in this executive role sets security strategy, owns the control environment, and becomes the voice of security in front of executive leadership. The scope is broad by design. Information security is the majority of the work, and governance, risk, and compliance sit inside the same mandate. Success in this seat depends on influence, clear written standards, and strong working relationships across technology leadership rather than on direct authority over every security function. Candidates who thrive here are comfortable leading through partnership and have done it before in a matrixed environment.

This is a build role. The organization has the tooling, the budget c onversation, and the executive attention. What it needs is an owner who can bring structure, defensible standards, and a program that holds up under client, insurer, and audit scrutiny.

What You Will Own

Security strategy and program leadership

• Own the enterprise information security program end to end: strategy, multi-year roadmap, budget input, and executive reporting.
• Set security architecture direction across cloud, network, endpoint, email, and data.
• Define standards, reference architectures, and security requirements that other technology teams build against.
• Build a metrics and reporting practice that gives executives a clear picture of risk posture and program maturity.

Threat and vulnerability management

• Lead vulnerability management, threat detection, monitoring, and remediation prioritization.
• Own incident response: playbooks, escalation paths, tabletop exercises, live response leadership, and post-incident improvement.
• Oversee security tooling strategy and the managed security relationships that support it.

Third party and vendor risk

• Own vendor security assessment, contract security language, and ongoing third party risk monitoring.
• Manage security review of new technology before it enters the environment.

Security culture

• Run the security awareness and phishing simulation program.
• Partner with business leaders so security requirements are understood before projects start rather than after.

Governance, Risk, and Compliance

• Maintain the control framework and map it to recognized standards such as NIST CSF, NIST 800-171, CIS Controls, or ISO 27001.
• Own the policy and standards lifecycle: authoring, review cycles, approvals, exceptions, and communication.
• Build and maintain the enterprise risk register, including risk acceptance and exception tracking with named owners.
• Lead responses to client security questionnaires, contractual security obligations, and cyber insurance requirements.
• Coordinate internal and external audits, including evidence collection and remediation tracking.
• Align data classification, retention, and privacy practices with regulatory and contractual obligations.

Requirements

• 8 or more years in information security, with at least 3 years leading a security program, function, or team.
• Demonstrated depth on both sides of the house: security operations and governance, risk, and compliance.
• Hands-on credibility with core security technologies: SIEM, EDR, email security, cloud security posture, vulnerability management, and network security controls.
• Working knowledge of identity governance and access management concepts, even though IAM execution sits with a partner team.
• Fluency in at least one major control framework: NIST CSF, NIST 800-171, CIS Controls, or ISO 27001.
• Proven incident response leadership, including executive communication during an active event.
• Experience building policies, standards, and risk documentation that survive audit and client review.
• Strong executive presence, with the ability to present risk in business terms to non-technical leaders.
• Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent professional experience.
• Based in or willing to relocate to the Fort Lauderdale area, on site.

Preferred Qualifications

• CISSP, CISM, CRISC, or equivalent certification.
• Experience maturing a security program from an informal state into a documented, measurable function.
• Microsoft 365 and Azure security depth.
• Experience with cyber insurance renewals, client security reviews, and contractual security obligations.
• Background supporting a project-based or distributed workforce with a large field or remote user population.
• Exposure to OT, IoT, or connected site technology.

Why This Role

• A clear roadmap to CISO for the person who builds the program well.
• Executive visibility from day one, with a direct line into senior technology leadership.
• Real mandate and real budget conversation, not a title with no authority behind it.
• An organization at the point where security investment is expected rather than argued for.
• Long-term stability in a South Florida market where security leadership seats at this level open rarely.

Compensation

Full benefits package including medical, dental, vision, retirement plan, and paid time off.

Octagon Talent Solutions is part of ITRADE Innovations. Every search gets senior attention, with a focus on long-term career fit and placements that last. All conversations are confidential.