Director, Cyber Defend & Operations — 9‑Day Fortnight

Grant Thornton; Sydney; On-site; AUD 220,000 - 320,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

9-day fortnight

Flexible working options

Fully funded gym membership

Mental health support

Wellbeing coaching

Job summary

Grant Thornton Australia is seeking a self-starting Director to lead cyber defend and operations, shaping an AI-enabled threat capability for the Australian market. You will draw on global methods while tailoring to local needs, delivering advisory, implementation and managed services to clients.

You’ll own the service roadmap, coach a growing team, and engage executives on detection and response with measurable outcomes.

Qualifications

• Leadership in security operations or similar.
• Experience evolving a cyber defence operating model.
• Experience working with clients or stakeholders outside your organisation.
• Track record of leading and developing teams.
• Deep knowledge of cyber defence operations and metrics.
• Exposure to SOC platforms and tools such as CrowdStrike, Defender, Palo Alto.
• Understanding of how managed detection and response services are positioned and sold.
• Experience working with technology partners or global capability teams.
• Confidence presenting to executives and boards.

Responsibilities

• Lead the local evolution of cyber defend and operations, adapting global capability for the Australian market.
• Advise clients on environment, threat landscape, and risk tolerance; tailor cyber defence models.
• Contribute to advisory recommendations, pathways, and detection engineering.
• Own and shape the service roadmap, onboarding, and customer journey for scale.
• Define how AI-enabled threats and automation influence service design and outcomes.
• Collaborate with a global network to differentiate offerings locally.
• Lead and grow a team of security operations professionals and guide their development.
• Advise executives on detection, response metrics, and risk outcomes.
• Act as senior escalation point for major client incidents and delivery decisions.
• Identify opportunities across advisory, implementation, and managed operations for revenue growth.
• Contribute to service design, partner engagement, and bringing new people into the team.

Skills

Leadership

Client engagement

People development

Cyber security

Communication

Business acumen

Travel flexibility

Tools

CrowdStrike

Microsoft Defender

Palo Alto

Job description

Grant Thornton Australia is seeking a self-starting Director to lead cyber defend and operations, shaping an AI-enabled threat capability for the Australian market. You will draw on global methods while tailoring to local needs, delivering advisory, implementation and managed services to clients.

You’ll own the service roadmap, coach a growing team, and engage executives on detection and response with measurable outcomes.