Senior Director Cybersecurity Operations

Kingston Stanley; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 600,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

Kingston Stanley is seeking a senior Cybersecurity Operations leader in Abu Dhabi to guide and mature the enterprise security program. The role blends hands-on technical depth with strategic oversight of security architecture and operations.

The ideal candidate has 5–10+ years of progressive cybersecurity experience, leadership of SOC/IR/Engineering teams, and strong skills across SIEM, EDR/XDR, SOAR, IAM/PAM and vulnerability management. UAE standards familiarity is a plus.

Qualifications

• 5–10+ years of progressive cybersecurity experience; strong technical candidates with slightly less experience will also be considered.
• Open to Emirati only.
• Proven leadership of Cybersecurity Operations, SOC, Incident Response and/or Security Engineering teams.
• Strong technical background across SIEM, EDR/XDR, SOAR, IAM/PAM, Vulnerability Management and Network Security.
• Experience designing and operating enterprise security controls and monitoring capabilities.
• Strong understanding of enterprise/security architecture and modern cyber defense technologies.
• Ability to define cybersecurity strategy while maintaining strong operational execution.
• Experience with NIST CSF, ISO 27001 and/or UAE Information Assurance Standards.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.

Skills

Cybersecurity leadership

SOC management

Incident response

Threat detection

IAM/PAM

Vulnerability management

Security engineering

Security architecture

NIST CSF

ISO 27001

Tools

SIEM

EDR/XDR

SOAR

IAM/PAM

Network Security

Vulnerability scanners

Job description

We are seeking a Senior, technically strong Cybersecurity Operations leader to lead and mature the enterprise cybersecurity function.

The ideal candidate will combine hands-on technical expertise, security architecture knowledge and strategic leadership, with proven experience across SOC, Incident Response, Threat Detection & Response, IAM/PAM, Vulnerability Management and Security Engineering.

Key Requirements

• 5–10+ years of progressive cybersecurity experience; strong technical candidates with slightly less experience will also be considered.
• Open to Emirati only.
• Proven leadership of Cybersecurity Operations, SOC, Incident Response and/or Security Engineering teams.
• Strong technical background across SIEM, EDR/XDR, SOAR, IAM/PAM, Vulnerability Management and Network Security.
• Experience designing and operating enterprise security controls and monitoring capabilities.
• Strong understanding of enterprise/security architecture and modern cyber defense technologies.
• Ability to define cybersecurity strategy while maintaining strong operational execution.
• Experience with NIST CSF, ISO 27001 and/or UAE Information Assurance Standards.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.

Ideal Profile

We are looking for a leader who can combine technical depth, architecture, strategic thinking and operational execution to build and mature a cybersecurity function.

CISSP and/or CISM certification preferred.

Note: This is not a pure GRC, audit or compliance role. You must have significant Cybersecurity Operations and technical leadership experience.