Cybersecurity Operations Technical Lead (SOC Engineer/SME) in Washington, District of Columbia at cFocus Software Incorporated

Cybersecurity Operations Technical Lead (SOC Engineer/SME) Position Title: Cybersecurity Operations Technical Lead (SOC Engineer/SME)
Program: SBA – Enterprise Cybersecurity Services (ECS)Position SummaryThe Cybersecurity Operations Technical Lead (SOC Engineer/SME) serves as the senior technical lead responsible for engineering oversight, operational coordination, and technical execution of Security Operations Center (SOC) services supporting the SBA Enterprise Cybersecurity Services (ECS) program.
The position provides advanced technical leadership for SOC engineering, cybersecurity monitoring, threat detection and analysis, incident response, vulnerability management, threat hunting, SIEM/EDR operations, operational reporting, SOC platform optimization, and continuous improvement of 24x7x365 cybersecurity operations. The Cybersecurity Operations Technical Lead acts as a primary technical advisor to Government leadership and coordinates directly with SOC analysts, engineers, incident responders, ISSOs, system owners, and executive stakeholders.Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership and operational oversight for enterprise SOC operations supporting SBA cybersecurity missions.
• Serve as the senior SOC engineering and cybersecurity operations subject matter expert (SME) supporting 24x7x365 operations.
• Lead SOC operational activities including security monitoring, threat detection, event correlation, incident response, and cybersecurity investigations.
• Support execution of SOC Operations Management activities identified under RFQ Task Area 3.5.3.2.
• Coordinate and oversee Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 SOC operations and incident response activities.
• Manage and optimize SIEM, EDR, IDS/IPS, vulnerability management, log management, and cybersecurity monitoring platforms.
• Provide technical oversight for cyber threat hunting, threat intelligence integration, malware analysis, and digital forensics activities.
• Develop and maintain SOC operational procedures, incident response playbooks, escalation procedures, and operational workflows.
• Support implementation and execution of cybersecurity communications plans and operational reporting requirements.
• Perform advanced analysis of network traffic, system logs, security alerts, indicators of compromise (IOC), and attack patterns.
• Coordinate incident response activities with Federal leadership, system owners, legal, privacy, inspector general, and other mission stakeholders.
• Develop cybersecurity operational dashboards, metrics, reports, and performance indicators aligned with SLA requirements.
• Support SOC platform engineering, tuning, automation, orchestration, and continuous operational improvement initiatives.
• Provide technical guidance for cloud security monitoring across Azure, AWS, Microsoft 365, Dynamics, Salesforce, and hybrid environments.
• Lead cybersecurity operational readiness activities including continuity of operations (COOP), disaster recovery, and emergency response support.
• Ensure cybersecurity operations align with NIST SP 800-61, NIST SP 800-53, CISA guidance, FISMA requirements, and federal cybersecurity standards.
• Support vulnerability management activities including Tenable SC operations, zero-day vulnerability tracking, and remediation coordination.
• Develop executive briefings, incident summaries, trend analysis reports, and operational recommendations for Government leadership.
• Provide mentoring, technical direction, and operational support to SOC analysts, engineers, and incident responders.
• Participate in working groups, technical collaboration meetings, and cybersecurity improvement initiatives.

Minimum Qualifications

• Active Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) or similar level certification
• Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity, Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Assurance, Engineering, or related technical discipline. Additional relevant experience may substitute for degree requirements.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive cybersecurity operations, SOC engineering, incident response, or cybersecurity analysis experience.
• Proven experience managing and/or leading successful local and remote teams in an operational environment.
• Proven experience and the ability to interact authoritatively with a diverse group of senior executives, managers, and subject matter authorities.
• Ability to navigate and work effectively across complex, geographically dispersed teams. Strong analytical, problem solving, organization, time management, and interpersonal skills as well as verbal and written communication skills.
• 8+ years’ experience implementing, tuning, maintaining and operating security operations capabilities such as Firewalls, VPN, IDS/IPS, SIEM, EDR, NDR, A/V, Email Content Filtering, Web Content Filtering, virtual technologies, etc.
• 5+ years’ experience with coding and scripting languages (i.e., JSON, Java, JavaScript, Python, SQL, PowerShell, PHP, C, C++, etc.
• Minimum of 5 years supporting or leading enterprise SOC operations in a federal environment.
• Demonstrated experience supporting 24x7x365 SOC operations, SIEM administration, incident response, and threat monitoring activities.
• Hands-on experience with SIEM, EDR, IDS/IPS, network security monitoring, threat intelligence, and log aggregation platforms.
• Experience conducting incident triage, malware analysis, threat hunting, digital forensics, and root cause analysis.
• Experience supporting cloud security operations across AWS, Azure, Microsoft 365, or hybrid enterprise environments.
• Strong understanding of federal cybersecurity frameworks including FISMA, NIST RMF, NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, NIST SP 800-61, CISA guidance, and Zero Trust principles.
• Experience developing cybersecurity operational metrics, dashboards, executive reporting, and operational documentation.
• Excellent analytical, communication, leadership, coordination, and problem-solving skills.

Preferred Certifications

• Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
• GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH)
• GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst (GCFA)
• Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)
• CompTIA CySA+
• Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
• Splunk Certified Architect or equivalent SIEM certification
• AWS or Microsoft Azure Security Certifications