Senior Consultant - Automation in Cyber

Kestrel Eight; Canberra; On-site; AUD 166,000 - 221,000; Full time

Job summary

Kestrel Eight in Canberra is seeking a Senior Consultant to turn manual security and compliance work into audited, reusable automation for an Australian Government agency’s infrastructure team. The role is onsite for 12 months from December 2026.

You will automate security hardening, patching and evidence gathering, writing Ansible playbooks and CI/CD pipelines, with a focus on ISM and Essential Eight compliance and audit readiness.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in automation, DevOps or platform engineering in security/compliance environments.
• Strong Ansible experience; Ansible Automation Platform preferred.
• Working knowledge of ISM and Essential Eight; translate controls into automated checks.
• Solid Linux skills (RHEL) including hardening and patching.
• Experience with Git, GitLab CI/CD and infrastructure as code.
• Experience delivering automation that survives audits and staff changes.
• Experience in large, regulated, change-controlled environments.
• Good documentation and mentoring skills.

Responsibilities

• Automate security hardening and baselines for RHEL and OpenShift per ISM.
• Implement Essential Eight automation including patching evidence.
• Automate vulnerability remediation workflows from detection to fix.
• Write and maintain Ansible playbooks, roles and GitLab pipelines.
• Embed compliance checks as code to detect drift.
• Integrate automation with vulnerability scanners, SIEM and ticketing.
• Automate routine security operations where safe.
• Document designs, runbooks and SOPs; hand over to staff.
• Work within change-controlled processes to produce audit evidence.

Skills

Ansible

GitLab CI/CD

Linux (RHEL)

Infrastructure as Code

Security & Compliance

Automation

Auditing & Evidence

Documentation & Mentoring

Change control

Tools

Ansible

GitLab CI/CD

RHEL

Job description

Location

Canberra

Work Site

Onsite

Employment Type

12 Months (Initial Contract)

Closing Date

11 Dec, 2026

Role Title

Senior Consultant - Automation in Cyber

Key Information

A senior consultant to turn manual security and compliance work into audited, reusable automation.

About the Employer

Kestrel Eight is looking for a senior consultant to automate security controls and compliance work for an Australian Government agency’s infrastructure team, for 12 months from 1 December 2026. The role is onsite in Canberra.

The Role

You will use automation to make the agency’s cyber security controls repeatable, evidenced and easy for its own staff to run. The focus is turning manual security and compliance work, such as hardening, patching, vulnerability remediation and evidence gathering, into automation that is version controlled, peer reviewed and aligned to the Information Security Manual (ISM) and the Essential Eight. You will work alongside the agency’s infrastructure and security teams.

What You Will Do

• Automate security hardening and configuration baselines for RHEL and OpenShift, aligned to the ISM.
• Build the automation behind Essential Eight controls, including operating system patching and the evidence that it has been done.
• Automate vulnerability and CVE remediation workflows, from detection through to a verified fix.
• Write and maintain Ansible playbooks, roles and pipelines in GitLab, following version control and peer review practice.
• Implement compliance and policy checks as code, so that drift from an agreed baseline is detected and reported.
• Integrate automation with security tooling such as vulnerability scanners, SIEM and ticketing, where required.
• Automate routine security operations tasks where it is safe to do so.
• Document designs, runbooks and Standard Operating Procedures, and hand the automation over to agency staff through knowledge transfer.
• Work within change-controlled processes and produce the evidence needed for audit.

What You Will Bring

• 5+ years of experience in automation, DevOps or platform engineering, including time in a security or compliance driven environment.
• Strong Ansible experience, with Ansible Automation Platform preferred.
• Working knowledge of the ISM and the Essential Eight, and how to turn controls into automated checks.
• Solid Linux skills, including RHEL hardening and patching.
• Experience with Git, GitLab CI/CD and infrastructure as code.
• Experience delivering automation that survives an audit and changes in staff.
• Experience working in large, regulated, change-controlled environments.
• Good documentation and mentoring skills.

Well Regarded

• SIEM or SOAR experience.
• A Red Hat or security certification.

Contract Details

• Rate: Competitive daily rate
• Term: 12 Months (Initial Contract). Extension not yet confirmed.
• Location: Canberra, onsite (must be Canberra based)
• Start: 1 December 2026, subject to client onboarding
• Clearance: Active Australian Government NV1 clearance, or one that can be readily reinstated

Only candidates who hold, or can quickly reinstate, an NV1 clearance can be considered.