Head of Security Operations

This global leadership role in cyber security is to manage the Security Operations (SecOps) team responsible for design, implementation and evolution of Canonical security practices, techniques, tools, systems and policies. The team is the primary owner of strategy and practices that determine how Canonical secures its data, internal infrastructure and build processes. They are responsible for assuring the security and integrity of our own infrastructure and product deployments. They design and implement technical security controls that ensure security threats are automatically identified, contained and remediated. The team will also contribute ideas and requirements for Canonical product security, improving the resilience and robustness of all Ubuntu customers and users subject to cyber attack.

As a leader on cyber security in the company, the SecOps team manager will collaborate with our Organisational Learning and Development team to develop playbooks and facilitate SecOps training across Canonical. They will operate in a wider security organisation, run a high performing security team and improve Canonical's security posture. They will lead initiatives to integrate the team's insights into Canonical's broader software development process.

While this is a management position, we expect managers to be expert practitioners, able to lead by example, contribute at the highest level, and assess work based on their own professional experience and skill. Candidates should have deep, hands-on expertise with a range of open source and proprietary security tooling and practices, which they can integrate into a holistic next generation security solution across the breadth of Canonical's interests.

The SecOps team's mission is not only to secure Canonical, but also to contribute to the security of the wider open source ecosystem. They might share knowledge through public presentations and industry events, and share threat intelligence with the wider community or represent Canonical in sector-specific governance bodies.

This role reports to the CISO.

What you will do in this role:

Hire and mentor a team of outstanding technical security professionals

Define Canonical's SecOps security standards and playbooks

Analyse and improve Canonical's security architecture

Evaluate, select and implement new security tools and practices

Identify, contain and guide the remediation of security threats and cyber attacks

Grow the presence and thought leadership of Canonical SecOps practice

Contribute to open source threat intelligence initiatives

Drive threat modelling, table top exercises and other SecOps practices across Engineering, IS and Canonical

Develop Canonical SecOps learning and development materials

Publish blog posts, whitepapers and conference presentations

Identify, implement and track SecOps KPIs

Plan and deliver SecOps work in the framework of Canonical's agile engineering practice

Work with Security leadership to present information and influence change

What we are looking for

Proven track record of mitigating with advanced threat actors and nation state threats

Expertise in threat modelling and risk management frameworks

Ability to define, implement, automate and measure effective incident response playbooks

Knowledge of security architecture and market-leading security tools

Experience contributing to, and consuming, threat intelligence feeds

Experience in security risk management frameworks such as NIST CSF

Experience with security standards such as ISO

An exceptional academic track record from both high school and university

Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM, or a compelling narrative about your alternative path

Drive and a track record of going above-and-beyond expectations

Deep personal motivation to be at the forefront of technology security

Leadership and management ability

Excellent business English writing and presentation skills

Confidence to report security performance metrics with accountability for accuracy and completeness

Optional things we value

Experience in a security operations team or a security operations centre (SOC)

Experience in offensive or defensive security teams with hands-on ability

Experience with state-actor and other advanced persistent threats

What we offer you

We consider geographical location, experience, and performance in shaping compensation worldwide. We revisit compensation annually (and more often for graduates and associates) to ensure we recognise outstanding performance. In addition to base pay, we offer a performance-driven annual bonus. We provide all team members with additional benefits, which reflect our values and ideals. We balance our programs to meet local needs and ensure fairness globally.

Distributed work environment with twice-yearly team sprints in person

Personal learning and development budget of USD 2, per year

Annual compensation review

Recognition rewards

Annual holiday leave

Maternity and paternity leave

Employee Assistance Programme

Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues

Priority Pass, and travel upgrades for long haul company events