Lead Cybersecurity Consultant

Paratus Cybersecurity; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 300,000 - 520,000; Full time

Job summary

Paratus Cybersecurity in Abu Dhabi seeks an experienced Lead Cybersecurity Consultant to drive the full engagement lifecycle, from pre-sales through delivery governance. You will act as a trusted client advisor and provide internal technical leadership to ensure high-quality cybersecurity services.

Your role spans governance, risk and compliance, incident management, threat defense, and security engineering across MEA regions. Strong communication and multi-domain delivery skills are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Cybersecurity or related field.
• 8–10 years delivering cybersecurity services in the MEA region.
• Strong understanding of cybersecurity principles and regulatory standards.
• Proven experience delivering complex cybersecurity projects across multiple domains.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end cybersecurity engagements from pre-sales to delivery governance.
• Provide technical guidance and leadership to consulting and engineering teams.
• Act as primary client contact, managing expectations and risks.
• Ensure compliant delivery with cybersecurity frameworks and regulations.
• Contribute to portfolio development and service offerings.

Skills

Cybersecurity leadership

Stakeholder management

Regulatory frameworks

Technical delivery

Pre-sales

GRC

Vendor management

Education

Bachelor's/Master's in Cybersecurity

Job description

We are seeking an experienced Lead Cybersecurity Consultant to join our cybersecurity practice and play a critical role across the full engagement lifecycle. This position requires a strong blend of technical expertise, customer-facing consulting skills, and delivery ownership, with responsibility spanning pre-sales support, solution design, project execution, and delivery governance.

The ideal candidate will act as a trusted advisor to clients while providing internal technical leadership to ensure high-quality, consistent delivery of cybersecurity services.

Key Responsibilities

Pre-Sales and Solution Ownership

• Support sales and business development teams during pre-sales engagements, including requirements discovery, solution design, effort estimation, and proposal input.
• Review and contribute to Statements of Work (SOWs), ensuring scope clarity, realistic timelines, and delivery feasibility.
• Participate in customer presentations, workshops, and technical discussions to articulate cybersecurity value propositions.

Cybersecurity Service Delivery

• Take ownership of end-to-end delivery of cybersecurity engagements, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within scope, and to agreed quality standards.
• Oversee and contribute to the delivery of services across multiple domains, including:
• Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC)
• Security incident management and monitoring
• Threat detection and defense operations
• Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VA/PT)
• Security engineering and architecture
• Provide hands-on technical guidance and oversight to consulting and engineering teams during project execution.

Client Engagement and Stakeholder Management

• Act as the primary point of contact for assigned customer engagements.
• Manage customer expectations, communicate progress, and address delivery risks or challenges proactively.
• Translate complex cybersecurity concepts into clear, actionable insights for technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Quality, Risk, and Governance

• Ensure adherence to cybersecurity best practices, frameworks, and regulatory requirements throughout project delivery.
• Identify delivery risks early and implement mitigation strategies to protect timelines, quality, and customer satisfaction.
• Review and validate key deliverables to ensure technical accuracy, completeness, and consistency.

Solution and Services Portfolio

• Contribute to the definition and ongoing enhancement of the cybersecurity solutions and services portfolio in line with market and customer needs.
• Support the design and standardization of service offerings, including delivery models and supporting documentation.
• Evaluate new cybersecurity technologies and services to strengthen and expand the solution stack.
• Manage relationships with key cybersecurity technology vendors and service partners, including technical evaluations and enablement activities.
• Act as a technical reference for the organization's cybersecurity solutions during internal and customer engagements.

Continuous Improvement and Practice Development

• Stay current with evolving cybersecurity threats, technologies, and regulatory landscapes.
• Contribute to the enhancement of delivery methodologies, tools, templates, and internal processes.
• Support knowledge sharing, mentoring, and capability development within the cybersecurity team.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Cybersecurity, Information Security, IT or a related discipline.
• 8–10 years of experience delivering cybersecurity services, consulting, or managed security engagements within the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region.
• Strong understanding of cybersecurity principles, technologies, regional regulations, and industry frameworks.
• Proven experience delivering complex cybersecurity projects across multiple service domains.
• Solid project delivery and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to manage multiple engagements concurrently.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.

Preferred Certifications

• Industry-recognized certifications such as CISSP, CISM, ISO 27001, PMP, ITIL v4, cloud security certifications, or equivalent.
• Experience with regional or international cybersecurity frameworks and standards (e.g., NIST, ISO, GDPR, UAE IA, NCA ECC, PDPL, SAMA, CBK CSF, CBB, sector-specific regulations).