SOC Manager

Talents Tide; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 350,000 - 550,000; Full time

Job summary

Talents Tide is seeking an experienced SOC Manager in the UAE to lead a 24/7 Security Operations Center. You will drive incident response, threat hunting, and continuous improvement of the organization’s cybersecurity posture.

You will oversee SIEM/SOAR/EDR/XDR platforms, manage a team of analysts, and collaborate with risk and compliance functions to meet ISO 27001 and NIST standards. This role is on-site in Abu Dhabi, with leadership responsibilities across the enterprise.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field.
• Relevant certifications such as CISSP, CISM, GCIH, GCIA are desirable.
• Experience managing enterprise SOC operations and cybersecurity incident response.
• Experience in critical infrastructure, government, energy, or highly regulated environments is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day SOC operations with 24/7 monitoring and incident escalation.
• Develop and implement SOC procedures, escalation matrices, and SLAs.
• Oversee SIEM/EDR/XDR and threat intelligence platforms and optimize detections.
• Coordinate major incident response and incident command.
• Lead threat hunting using MITRE ATT&CK and threat intel.
• Develop and implement SOC strategy, operating model, and maturity roadmap.
• Define and monitor SOC KPIs and prepare executive dashboards and reports.
• Ensure governance, risk, and compliance with ISO 27001, NIST, and UAE regulations.
• Manage budgets, vendors, and service delivery for SOC.
• Communicate effectively with IT, risk, compliance, and senior management.

Skills

SOC leadership

Incident command

Stakeholder management

Executive reporting

Risk-based decisions

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity/CS/IT or related

CISSP/CISM/GCIH/GCIA or equivalent desirable

Tools

Microsoft Sentinel

Splunk

IBM QRadar

SOAR platforms

EDR/XDR tools (MS Defender, CrowdStrike, SentinelOne)

MITRE ATT&CK

Job description

1. Job Purpose

The SOC Manager is responsible for leading and managing the Security Operations Center (SOC), ensuring 24/7 monitoring, detection, investigation, and response to cybersecurity threats. The role oversees SOC operations, incident response, threat intelligence, security technologies, team performance, and continuous improvement of the organisation’s cybersecurity posture.

2. Key Responsibilities

1. SOC Operations & Leadership

• Manage day-to-day SOC operations, including 24/7 security monitoring and incident escalation.
• Lead and develop SOC analysts across L1, L2, and L3 teams.
• Establish operational procedures, incident escalation matrices, and service-level agreements (SLAs).

2. Security Monitoring & Technology

• Manage and optimise SIEM, SOAR, EDR/XDR, and threat intelligence platforms.
• Oversee SIEM correlation rules, detection engineering, alert tuning, and log-source integration.
• Reduce false positives and improve threat detection coverage.

3. Incident Response & Threat Hunting

• Lead major cybersecurity incident investigations and coordinate incident command.
• Manage ransomware containment, forensic investigations, eradication, and recovery.
• Conduct proactive threat hunting using MITRE ATT&CK and threat intelligence.
• Ensure incident response plans and playbooks are tested and regularly updated.

4. SOC Strategy & Continuous Improvement

• Develop the SOC strategy, operating model, and maturity roadmap.
• Implement SOAR automation and response playbooks with appropriate approval controls.
• Assess emerging threats and improve detection and response capabilities.

5. Performance Management & Reporting

• Define and monitor SOC KPIs, including:
• Mean Time to Detect (MTTD).
• Mean Time to Respond (MTTR).
• SLA compliance and incident resolution.
• Detection coverage and false-positive rates.
• Prepare dashboards, incident reports, and executive-level cybersecurity updates.

6. Governance, Risk & Compliance

• Ensure SOC operations align with relevant cybersecurity standards and regulations.
• Maintain compliance with ISO 27001, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, and applicable UAE cybersecurity requirements.
• Support audits, risk assessments, incident documentation, and remediation activities.

7. Budget & Vendor Management

• Manage SOC budgets, resource allocation, and security technology investments.
• Oversee managed security service providers (MSSPs), vendor performance, and service delivery.
• Coordinate with IT, infrastructure, cloud, risk, compliance, and senior management teams.

3. Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.
• Relevant professional certifications, such as CISSP, CISM, GCIH, GCIA, or equivalent, are desirable.
• Relevant experience managing enterprise SOC operations and cybersecurity incident response.
• Experience in critical infrastructure, government, energy, or other highly regulated environments is an advantage.

4. Technical Skills Required

• SIEM: Microsoft Sentinel, Splunk, IBM QRadar, or equivalent.
• SOAR: Security automation, orchestration, and incident-response playbooks.
• EDR/XDR: Microsoft Defender, CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, or equivalent.
• Threat intelligence, threat hunting, and MITRE ATT&CK.
• Digital forensics and incident response (DFIR).
• Detection engineering, correlation rules, log analysis, and security telemetry.
• Incident management, vulnerability management, and security operations reporting.

5. Management & Leadership Competencies

• Proven ability to lead and manage SOC analysts and technical specialists.
• Strong incident command and crisis-management capabilities.
• Experience managing SOC budgets, staffing, vendors, and service delivery.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and executive reporting skills.
• Ability to make rapid, risk-based decisions during critical cybersecurity incidents.