The following are required for bid submission:

• Resume
• R2R
• Cover Letter
• Meets Work Location

Position Description

• Please ensure you attach the SC Cover Sheet (attached), a valid Right to Represent, and the candidate's resume with full legal first name, and last name. Posting attachments should be named as AttachmentName_PostingID_LastName_FirstName. Ex: Resume_1234_Last_First, RTR_1234_Last_First, Coversheet_1234_Last_First
• The State of South Carolina is looking for a Security Architect - Consultant
• Why is this position open: New Position - This position will serve as a contract security engineer within the Dept. of Administration's Division of Information Security. This is a repost of posting ID 13280 - DO NOT submit resources that were previously submitted to posting 13280.
• Interview Process: 1 round, virtual or onsite for local resources
• Duration of the Contract: 12 months
• Possibility for Extension: Yes
• Work Location: Fully Remote.
• Candidate Location: No South Carolina residency required. Open to nationwide candidates; must be able to work eastern time zone hours. All travel-related costs for onsite work will be the responsibility of the resource, regardless of the frequency of onsite work.
• After-hours maintenance, incident escalation support, and operational handoffs may be required as needed.
• Please Note: This is a repost of posting ID 13280 - DO NOT submit resources that were previously submitted to posting 12380. Interview feedback from posting ID 13280 is included in the SOW attachment.
• Full job description attached & required/preferred skills are stated below.

Background screenings required for all Admin postings:

• Mandatory screening requirements: these requirements are strictly enforced and non-negotiable. No exceptions can be granted. Candidates who cannot pass these requirements will not be eligible for hire. All applicants must successfully pass a full credit check and criminal background check during the initial hiring process. Once onboard, they must obtain and retain annual cjis certification as part of the ongoing employment process.
• 7 year standard Background check
• Credit history
• Driving Record (MVR)
• E-Verify
• Sled Check

CJIS certification will be required for this position and processed by client

• Yes

Scope of the project:

• This position will serve as a contract security engineer within the department of administration's division of information security. The successful candidate will show extensive experience supporting security automation, custom tool development, identity and access management, linux systems and a broad range of enterprise security technologies. This contractor will work with a large enterprise security team and assist the security automations architect, security architects, engineers, analysts and incident responders with the design, development, implementation, integration and continuous improvement of security tools, automations, systems and services supporting multiple state agencies.
• Successful candidate: this contractor will be primarily focused on security engineering, automation, scripting, tool development, system integration and operational support while also providing secondary support for iam, linux-based security sensors, dspm, siem, xdr, logging, monitoring and other evolving security technologies. The role requires hands-on experience supporting both security engineering and security operations, including internal applications, apis, sdks, dashboards, command-line tools, automations, access controls, platform troubleshooting, system administration, documentation and analyst enablement. The candidate must be able to support strategic planning, solution design, development, implementation, troubleshooting, performance optimization and continuous improvement of secure systems and services in a rapidly changing environment.
• Mandatory screening requirements: these requirements are strictly enforced and non-negotiable. No exceptions can be granted. Candidates who cannot pass these requirements will not be eligible for hire. All applicants must successfully pass a full credit check and criminal background check during the initial hiring process. Once onboard, they must obtain and retain annual cjis certification as part of the ongoing employment process.
• Other: this position is 100% remote and will participate in an on-call rotation supporting the 24x7 soc. After-hours maintenance, incident escalation support and operational handoffs will be required as needed. Preference will be shown for candidates presently residing inside the state of south carolina that can physically assist with equipment and hardware maintenance as needed.

Daily Duties / Responsibilities:

• This position is 100% remote and will participate in an on-call rotation supporting a 24x7 security operations center serving multiple state agencies. Other after-hours work may be required as needed.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Primarily assist in the planning, design, development, deployment, administration and operational support of enterprise security automations and custom security tools, including:
• Python-based automations, internal web applications, apis, sdks, scripts, dashboards, command-line utilities and system integrations
• Automated workflows for alert enrichment, triage, incident response, case management, notifications, containment, escalation and reporting
• Custom tools to assist with cve vetting, vulnerability enrichment, prioritization, tracking and security decision support

SECONDARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Secondarily assist in the planning, design, deployment and operational support of a broad range of security platforms, including: dspm, asm, iam, vulnerability management, email security, endpoint security, siem, xdr, soar, logging, monitoring, network security, cloud security and threat intelligence technologies integrations with ticketing, case management, notification, identity, data sources, apis, sdks and other enterprise systems as needed support for technologies such as palo alto networks, proofpoint, tenable, cribl, whatsup gold and other current or future security products.
• Develop, test, deploy and maintain automated security workflows, applications and scripts using python, powershell, bash, rest apis, json, yaml, vendor sdks and other appropriate technologies.
• Assist with identity and access management functions, including user provisioning, deprovisioning, access reviews, role-based access control, service accounts, api credentials, authentication, authorization and identity-based system integrations.
• Deploy, configure, patch, monitor, optimize and troubleshoot linux systems supporting security sensors, collectors, connectors, applications, containers and data-processing services, including docker-based environments.
• Support security architects, engineers, soc analysts, incident responders and agency customers through platform troubleshooting, automation development, system integration, technical escalation, knowledge transfer and operational handoffs.
• Monitor and report on automation health, application availability, system performance, sensor status, integration failures, api errors, vulnerability status, platform issues and other security engineering and operational metrics.
• Ensure high availability, resilience, backup, recovery, patching, lifecycle management, secure configuration and controlled change processes for security tools, linux systems, applications, automations and supporting services.
• Collaborate with security architects, engineers, analysts, incident responders and agency stakeholders to align solutions with business goals, industry-standard frameworks, regulatory requirements and organizational risk tolerance.

Required Skills

(Ranked by Importance):

• Broad hands-on security engineering experience supporting multiple cybersecurity technologies, systems, integrations and operational functions.
• Experience integrating enterprise technologies using APIs, SDKs, web services, structured data formats, authentication methods and vendor-supported interfaces.
• Strong experience troubleshooting complex technical issues across applications, security platforms, operating systems, networks, identity services and integrations.
• Linux system deployment, configuration, patching, scripting, service management, monitoring, troubleshooting and lifecycle management
• Experience developing automation and response workflows using Python, PowerShell, Bash, REST APIs, JSON, YAML and vendor SDKs.
• Experience supporting IAM, DSPM, ASM, vulnerability management, email security, endpoint security, SIEM, SOAR, logging, monitoring, cloud security and other enterprise security technologies.
• Strong understanding of enterprise security architecture, incident response, networking, access control, secure software development, systems administration and industry-standard cybersecurity frameworks.

Preferred Skills

• (Ranked by Importance):
• Hands-on experience serving as a security engineering generalist in a large, multi-tenant, shared-services or managed-service environment.
• Hands-on Linux, Docker, security sensor, monitoring, scripting and platform administration experience.
• Experience supporting SOC analysts, security engineers, incident responders, agency customers and rapidly changing operational priorities.
• Familiarity with Palo Alto Networks, Proofpoint, Tenable, Cribl, WUG or other enterprise security technologies and experience developing playbooks, runbooks, procedures and technical documentation

Required Education:

• Bachelor's degree in an information technology, computer science, software engineering or information security related field
• Eight years of relevant work experience (experience may be substituted in lieu of education)
• Five years of experience in supporting large it environments, security systems, software development and/or system deployments

Preferred Certifications:

• CISSP, Security+, GIAC or other relevant cybersecurity certification
• Linux, Python, Cloud, IAM or other relevant security engineering or platform certification

Work Address: Choose an item.

• Identify on-site, hybrid or fully remote?
  • If hybrid, provide telecommuting schedule.
  • Fully remote
• This position is housed 100% remote and will participate in a monthly on-call rotation supporting the 24x7 soc. After-hours maintenance, incident escalation support and operational handoffs may be required as needed. All work must be performed within the contiguous united states. Preference will be given to local south carolina based candidates capable of fielding services in-state. Core hours of 0830-0500 ET.

ADDITIONAL SKILLS/DUTIES:

• Experience developing or supporting internal web applications, APIs, dashboards, databases, command-line tools and related software components.
• Advanced Python development experience and familiarity with full-stack development, internal web applications, APIs, databases, source control, testing and software deployment practices.

Interview Feedback from posting 13280:

• Resources did not demonstrate the depth or precision required for this position. Resources struggled with the automation workflow exercise, provided incorrect responses regarding Bash support on Windows and several answers related to API throttling and data ingestion did not fully address the technical concepts being evaluated. Need detailed experience with workflow and error handling, the recurring-report response lacked the expected technical integration approach. Responses regarding Cisco Umbrella/Secure Access also did not demonstrate the expected DNS security knowledge. Interviews did not demonstrate sufficient hands-on automation, IAM and security engineering depth for this position. Interviews did not demonstrate the required level of hands-on automation and engineering proficiency for this role.

Skills:
Access Control, Administrative Skills, Analysis Skills, Application Programming Interface (API), Applications Security, Authentication, Authentication Software, Automation, Automation System Development, Background Investigation, Bash Scripting, CISSP - Certified Information Systems Security Professional, Case Management, Change Control, Cloud Computing, Command Line, CompTIA Security+, Computer Maintenance, Computer Science, Computer Security, Continuous Improvement, Continuous Integration, Data Formats, Data Recovery, Decision Support, Docker, Documentation, Driver's License, Email Security, Endpoint Security, Engineering, Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Protection, Equipment Maintenance/Repair, Error Handling, Establish Priorities, GIAC - Global Information Assurance Certification, Healthcare Software, High Availability, Identify Issues, Identity Data Management, Incident Response, Industry Standards, Information Systems/Technology IS/IT Administration, Information Technology & Information Systems, Information/Data Security (InfoSec), Internet Application, Internet Security, JSON, Knowledge Transfer, Linux Administration, Linux Operating System, Metrics, Microsoft Windows Operating System, Network Access Control (NAC), Network Monitoring, Network Security, On Call, Operational Support, Performance Tuning/Optimization, Project Estimates, Python Programming/Scripting Language, REST (Representational State Transfer), Regulatory Requirements, Reporting Dashboards, Risk, Scripting (Scripting Languages), Security Architecture, Security Attacks, Security Consulting, Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), Security Infrastructure, Security Monitoring, Security Software, Software Administration, Software Development, Software Engineering, Software Patches, Source Code/Configuration Management (SCM), Strategic Planning, Structured Data, System Integration (SI), Systems Administration/Management, Technical Support, Technical Writing, Test Plan/Schedule, Testing, Web Programming, Web Services, Windows PowerShell, Work From Home

Cleo Consulting