Senior Security Operations Specialist

Halcyon Knights; Sydney; Hybrid; AUD 179,000 - 193,000; Full time

Job summary

Halcyon Knights is seeking a highly skilled Senior Security Operations Specialist to actively monitor, detect, and respond to cyber threats across cloud-hosted solutions. You will report to the Cyber Security Lead and contribute to strengthening our security posture in a hands-on engineering capacity.

The role focuses on hands-on security operations rather than coordination, involving SIEM/SOAR work, analytics, and incident response. Hybrid work with two days in-office per week.

Qualifications

• Hands-on cyber security operations in enterprise or cloud environments.
• Experience with SIEM/SOAR platforms, ideally Microsoft Sentinel.
• Proficient in incident detection, triage, and root cause analysis.
• Experience with cloud logging, monitoring and security controls.
• Familiarity with WoAG policies such as ISM and Essential Eight.

Responsibilities

• Configure, manage, and optimize security monitoring platforms.
• Investigate alerts, respond to incidents, improve detection.
• Collaborate with Technology Development to secure cloud-hosted platforms.
• Design and deploy detection use cases to stay ahead of threats.

Skills

Cyber security ops

Cloud security

Incident response

Automation scripting

MS Sentinel

Tools

Microsoft Sentinel

KQL queries

Job description

• Rate Range: $130 - $140 per hour (plus GST / Inc. Super where applicable)
• Contract Term: Initial 12 months + two 12-month extension options
• Hourly Capacity: Up to 40 hours per week
• Experience Level: Senior (APS6 equivalent)
• Security Clearance: Must hold an active Negative Vetting Level 1 (NV1) clearance

• Rate Range: $130 - $140 per hour (plus GST / Inc. Super where applicable)
• Location: Hybrid (QLD, WA, ACT, VIC, NSW, NT, SA, TAS) — 2 days per week in-office
• Contract Term: Initial 12 months + two 12-month extension options
• Hourly Capacity: Up to 40 hours per week
• Experience Level: Senior (APS6 equivalent)
• Security Clearance: Must hold an active Negative Vetting Level 1 (NV1) clearance

About the Role

We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Security Operations Specialist to provide hands‑on operational capability to actively monitor, detect, and respond to cyber threats. Reporting to the Cyber Security Lead, you will play a critical role in strengthening the security posture of our cloud‑hosted solutions.

This is a strongly hands‑on technical engineering role rather than a coordination‑focused function. You will work closely with the Technology Development team to maintain the integrity and confidentiality of our data and information systems across both the planning/design phases and active operations.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

• Security Monitoring & Detection Engineering: Configure, manage, and optimise security monitoring platforms. Take ownership of developing and tuning analytics rules, dashboards, and alerting systems.
• Incident Response & Investigation: Leverage advanced security tools to investigate alerts, respond to cyber incidents, and continuously improve threat prevention capabilities.
• Collaboration: Partner with the Technology Development team to embed robust security monitoring into cloud‑hosted platforms.
• Use Case Development: Design, test, and deploy functional detection use cases to stay ahead of an evolving threat landscape.

Requirements

• Hands‑on cyber security operations, including security monitoring, incident response, threat analysis, and investigation in enterprise or cloud environments.
• Working with SIEM/SOAR platforms, preferably Microsoft Sentinel, including development of analytics rules, KQL queries, alert tuning, and dashboards.
• Incident detection and response, including triaging alerts, investigating security events, and performing root cause analysis.
• Security automation and scripting, using tools to support orchestration and response activities.
• Working in cloud environments (preferably Microsoft Azure), with a strong understanding of logging, monitoring, and security controls.
• Applying cyber security frameworks and best practices, including familiarity with Whole‑of‑Australian‑Government (WoAG) policies such as the ISM and Essential Eight.