Senior Cloud Security Analyst

MCS Group; Belfast City District; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

MCS Group is seeking a Senior Cloud Security Analyst to protect cloud infrastructure and services. You will monitor security events, investigate threats and support incident response in a collaborative SOC.

You'll work across Azure, AWS and hybrid environments, enhancing detection capabilities and driving secure cloud operations with teams across IT and DevOps.

Qualifications

• Experience in a Security Operations Centre or Cloud Security environment.
• Strong analytical and investigative skills with the ability to prioritise and manage multiple security events.
• Confidence interpreting security telemetry and identifying indicators of malicious activity.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to make informed decisions during security incidents.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to present technical findings clearly.
• A collaborative approach to working with infrastructure, engineering and operational teams.
• A proactive mindset focused on continuous improvement and operational excellence.

Responsibilities

• Monitor and investigate security events across Azure, AWS and hybrid cloud environments using SIEM, CSPM and native cloud security services.
• Perform detailed triage of alerts to identify genuine threats, eliminate false positives and determine appropriate remediation actions.
• Lead or support investigations into cloud-based security incidents, ensuring timely containment, recovery and accurate documentation.
• Analyse authentication activity, privileged access events, API usage and configuration changes to identify suspicious behaviour and potential compromise.
• Work alongside Security Operations, Infrastructure and DevOps teams to coordinate effective responses to security incidents.
• Recommend improvements to detection logic, alert quality and monitoring coverage based on operational findings and emerging threats.
• Develop and maintain security use cases that improve visibility across cloud workloads and services.
• Contribute to threat hunting activities by identifying indicators of compromise and analysing attacker techniques.
• Produce clear technical reports and communicate investigation findings to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Participate in security improvement initiatives, helping implement new technologies, processes and operational controls.
• Keep up to date with developments in cloud security, attacker methodologies and industry best practices to strengthen organisational security.

Skills

SOC experience

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Collaborative

Proactive mindset

Prioritisation

Tools

Azure Security

AWS Security

GCP Security

Microsoft Sentinel

Kusto Query Language

CSPM

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security

Microsoft Defender Suite

IAM

Privileged Access Management

Azure AD / Entra ID

MITRE ATT|CK Framework

Threat Intelligence

Incident Response

SIEM

Security Operations

Cloud Networking

Job description

About the Role

As a Senior Cloud Security Analyst, you'll play a key role in protecting cloud infrastructure and services through proactive monitoring, threat detection and incident response. Working within a collaborative Security Operations function, you'll analyse security events, investigate emerging threats and help strengthen the organisation's overall cyber resilience.

This role offers the opportunity to work across modern cloud platforms, partnering with infrastructure, engineering and application teams to improve security controls, enhance detection capabilities and support secure cloud operations.

Key Responsibilities

• Monitor and investigate security events across Azure, AWS and hybrid cloud environments using SIEM, CSPM and native cloud security services.
• Perform detailed triage of alerts to identify genuine threats, eliminate false positives and determine appropriate remediation actions.
• Lead or support investigations into cloud-based security incidents, ensuring timely containment, recovery and accurate documentation.
• Analyse authentication activity, privileged access events, API usage and configuration changes to identify suspicious behaviour and potential compromise.
• Work alongside Security Operations, Infrastructure and DevOps teams to coordinate effective responses to security incidents.
• Recommend improvements to detection logic, alert quality and monitoring coverage based on operational findings and emerging threats.
• Develop and maintain security use cases that improve visibility across cloud workloads and services.
• Contribute to threat hunting activities by identifying indicators of compromise and analysing attacker techniques.
• Produce clear technical reports and communicate investigation findings to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Participate in security improvement initiatives, helping implement new technologies, processes and operational controls.
• Keep up to date with developments in cloud security, attacker methodologies and industry best practices to strengthen organisational security.

Technical Skills

Experience in several of the following areas would be advantageous:

• Microsoft Azure Security
• AWS Security Services
• Google Cloud Platform (desirable)
• Microsoft Sentinel
• Kusto Query Language (KQL)
• CloudTrail, Azure Activity Logs and cloud audit logging
• Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
• CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security
• Microsoft Defender Suite
• Kubernetes security concepts
• Identity and Access Management (IAM)
• Privileged Access Management
• Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD)
• MITRE ATT&CK Framework
• Threat Intelligence
• Incident Response
• Threat Hunting
• SIEM Technologies
• Security Monitoring
• Security Operations (SOC)
• Cloud Networking Fundamentals

What You'll Bring

• Experience working within a Security Operations Centre or Cloud Security environment.
• Strong analytical and investigative skills with the ability to prioritise and manage multiple security events.
• Confidence interpreting security telemetry and identifying indicators of malicious activity.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to make informed decisions during security incidents.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to present technical findings clearly.
• A collaborative approach to working with infrastructure, engineering and operational teams.
• A proactive mindset focused on continuous improvement and operational excellence.

Desirable Qualifications

• Microsoft SC-200
• Microsoft AZ-500
• AWS Certified Security - Specialty
• Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS)
• CompTIA Security+
• CISSP
• GIAC certifications
• Relevant cloud or cyber security certifications