Senior Incident Response Consultant, Rapid Response

Sophos Group; Oxford; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

Sophos is seeking an experienced Senior Incident Response Consultant to join our Incident Response (IR) team. You will lead incident response engagements for customers worldwide, guiding a team of consultants, conducting rapid responses, and delivering executive updates.

You will have 5+ years of IR leadership, ransomware/BEC experience, and strong communication. The role supports a remote-first model with occasional travel, and expects collaboration across time zones to produce thorough root

Qualifications

• 5+ years of incident response leadership including ransomware engagements.
• Experience guiding and coordinating cross-functional incident response teams.
• Strong knowledge of MITRE ATT&CK and threat intel.
• Excellent verbal and written communication to executives.
• Ability to handle high-stress, time-sensitive incidents.

Responsibilities

• Lead kickoff calls with customers to understand situation.
• Provide guidance on best practices after incidents.
• Lead daily update calls delivering forensic findings.
• Write executive summaries and reports.
• Direct investigations and delegate tasks to analysts.
• Handover notes across time zones.

Skills

Incident response leadership

Ransomware experience

BEC investigations

Oral communication

Written communication

Time management

Delegation across incidents

MITRE ATT&CK

Mentoring teammates

Education

Cybersecurity degree

Tools

Splunk

ELK

PowerShell

Python

SQL

Job description

About Us

Sophos is a cybersecurity leader defending 600,000 organizations globally with an AI-driven platform and expert-led services. Sophos meets organizations wherever they are in their security maturity and grows with them to defeat cyberattacks. Its solutions combine machine learning, automation, and real-time threat intelligence with frontline human expertise from Sophos X-Ops to deliver advanced, 24/7 threat monitoring, detection, and response.

Sophos offers industry-leading managed detection and response (MDR) alongside a comprehensive portfolio of cybersecurity technologies — including endpoint, network, email, and cloud security, extended detection and response (XDR), identity threat detection and response (ITDR), and next-gen SIEM. Together with expert advisory services, these capabilities help organizations proactively reduce risk and respond faster, with the visibility and scalability needed to stay ahead of evolving threats.

Sophos goes to market with a global partner ecosystem, including Managed Service Providers (MSPs), Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs), resellers and distributors, marketplace integrations, and cyber risk partners, giving organizations the flexibility to choose trusted relationships when securing their business. Sophos is headquartered in Oxford, U.K. More information is available at www.sophos.com.

Role Summary

Sophos is seeking an experienced and motivated Senior Incident Response Consultant to join our Incident Response (IR) service. The Sophos IR team is an elite group of incident responders that are engaged by organizations worldwide to respond to and neutralize cyber threats. Specializing in industry-standard forensic tools and Sophos technologies, the team provides comprehensive investigations, response actions, remediation guidance, and root cause analysis to combat a wide range of cybersecurity incidents.

As a Senior Incident Response Consultant on the Sophos IR team, you will be responsible for spearheading incident response engagements for customers who have experienced a cybersecurity attack. In this role, you will lead a team of Incident Response Consultants, running customer-facing calls, providing detailed written updates via email, and determining the priorities of the investigation, delegating tasks accordingly to your team.

In this role, you will be accountable for ensuring that the appropriate actions have been taken by both your team and the customer to effectively neutralize the threat. Additionally, you will be tasked with conducting a thorough root cause analysis to determine the origin of the incident, including identifying whether any data exfiltration occurred, provided the necessary evidence is available.

At the culmination of each engagement, you will be responsible for producing an executive summary-style report, which will include a timeline of key events mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework. This comprehensive report will serve as a valuable resource for stakeholders, highlighting the steps taken to combat the cybersecurity incident and provide remediation guidance.

The ideal candidate for this role will possess extensive experience leading incident response efforts, a deep understanding of cybersecurity threats and mitigation strategies, and the ability to communicate complex technical information to executive-level stakeholders in a clear and concise manner.

What You Will Do

• The working week for this role will be Fri, Sat, Sun and Monday working with Tues, Wed and Thursdays off


• Lead kick off calls with customers to understand their situation and identify initial response actions to contain the threat


• Provide guidance to customers on best practices following an incident


• Lead daily update calls for customers to deliver forensic findings


• Deliver concise email updates to customers between update calls


• Direct the forensic investigations, identify priorities, and delegate tasks to analysts


• Conduct multiple Rapid Response incidents concurrently


• Determine TTPs identified by analysts and add them to the threat intel platform


• Write clear and concise Executive Summary style reports in a timely manner


• Responsible for basic to moderate complexity projects that contribute to the development of the Sophos Rapid Response service


• Provide daily handover notes to teams located in different time zones, or when incident responsibility is being transferred to another Incident Lead

What You Will Bring

• 5+ years of experience leading incident response investigations involving ransomware


• Experience leading BEC investigations


• Continuously learning and staying informed of the changing threat landscape


• Proven track record of successful neutralization and remediation of ransomware threats


• Excellent understanding of the Incident Response process


• Excellent understanding of cyber risks and able to qualify them to customers


• Excellent oral communication skills


• Strong written communication skills


• Ability to manage time effectively


• Able to delegate and prioritize tasks across multiple incidents


• Able to excel under stressful circumstances


• Occasionally willing to begin work early and/or stay late when warranted for customer engagements


• Strong grasp of the MITRE ATT&CK framework


• Enjoy mentoring and assisting in the development of junior analysts


• A team-player attitude with a willingness to share knowledge


• Ability to work some weekends and holidays


• Post-secondary education in Cybersecurity, comparable

Desirable:

• Cybersecurity certifications an asset (e.g. CISSP, GCFA, or similar)


• Experience with SIEM technology (e.g. Splunk, ELK, etc.)


• Willingness to work occasional overtime during peak times or holidays


• Experience writing SQL queries


• Experience writing PowerShell, Python, or Bash scripts

Ready to Join Us?

What's Great About Sophos?

Sophos operates a remote-first working model, making remote work the primary option for most employees. However, some roles may necessitate a hybrid approach. While we are a remote first organization, applicants must have legal authorization to work in the jurisdiction where the position is posted, without requiring employer sponsorship.

Our people – we innovate and create, all of which are accompanied by a great sense of fun and team spirit

Employee-led diversity and inclusion networks that build community and provide education and advocacy

Annual charity and fundraising initiatives and volunteer days for employees to support local communities

Global employee sustainability initiatives to reduce our environmental footprint

Global fitness and trivia competitions to keep our bodies and minds sharp

Global wellbeing days for employees to relax and recharge

Monthly wellbeing webinars and training to support employee health and wellbeing

Our Commitment To You

We’re proud of the diverse and inclusive environment we have at Sophos, and we’re committed to ensuring equality of opportunity.

We believe that diversity, combined with excellence, builds a better Sophos, so we encourage applicants who can contribute to the diversity of our team.

All applicants will be treated in a fair and equal manner and in accordance with the law regardless of gender, sex, gender reassignment, marital status, race, religion or belief, color, age, military veteran status, disability, pregnancy, maternity or sexual orientation.

We want to give you every opportunity to show us your best self, so if there are any adjustments we could make to the recruitment and selection process to support you, please let us know.

Data Protection

If you choose to explore an opportunity, and subsequently share your CV or other personal details with Sophos, these details will be held by Sophos for 12 months in accordance with our Privacy Policy and used by our recruitment team to contact you regarding this or other relevant opportunities at Sophos. If you would like Sophos to delete or update your details at any time, please follow the steps set out in the Privacy Policy describing your individual rights. For more information on Sophos’ data protection practices, please consult our Privacy Policy Cybersecurity as a Service Delivered | Sophos