Operations Lead - Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM)

DEFEND Limited; Wellington; On-site; NZD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

KiwiSaver 3.5%

Health insurance

Home office allowance

Hybrid work environment

Office/employee discounts

EAP services

Job summary

DEFEND Limited is seeking an CTEM Operations Lead to coordinate and optimise continuous threat exposure management activities. You will ensure customers maintain visibility of their attack surface, understand priority risks, and drive measurable risk reduction outcomes.

Through operational leadership and stakeholder engagement, you will transform exposure data into actionable security improvements and reports for executives.

Qualifications

• Expertise in modern CTEM methodologies.
• Experience with attack surface and exposure management platforms.
• Knowledge of security frameworks and risk-based prioritisation.
• Ability to communicate technical risks to technical and business stakeholders.
• Experience developing operational processes and reporting frameworks.
• Strong stakeholder management and customer engagement capabilities.
• Commitment to continuous improvement and measurable security outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead the operational delivery of CTEM services across customer environments.
• Coordinate vulnerability, attack surface, security validation and exposure reduction activities.
• Monitor trends to identify priority risks needing remediation.
• Collaborate with customers to prioritise remediation based on risk and threat intel.
• Coordinate validation activities to confirm security controls operate effectively.
• Produce reports highlighting risk trends and exposure reduction progress.
• Drive continuous improvement to CTEM efficiency and outcomes.
• Work with detection engineering, security ops, GRC and customer teams for coordinated risk reduction.

Skills

CTEM expertise

Attack surface management

Risk-based prioritisation

Stakeholder communication

Tools

Exposure management platforms

Job description

At DEFEND, we provide top-tier cyber resilience by helping organisations continuously understand, validate, prioritise, and reduce cyber risk.

The focus of the CTEM Operations Lead is to coordinate and optimise continuous threat exposure management activities, ensuring customers maintain visibility of their attack surface, understand priority risks, and drive measurable risk reduction outcomes.

Through operational leadership and stakeholder engagement, they help transform exposure data into actionable security improvements.

In this role you’ll…

• Lead the operational delivery of Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) services across customer environments.
• Coordinate vulnerability management, attack surface management, security validation, and exposure reduction activities.
• Monitor and analyse trends and exposure data to identify priority risks requiring remediation or mitigation to improve cyber resilience.
• Collaborate with customers to prioritise remediation efforts based on business risk and threat intelligence.
• Coordinate validation activities to confirm security controls are operating effectively.
• Produce operational and executive reports highlighting risk trends, exposure reduction progress, and improvement opportunities.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives that enhance CTEM efficiency, effectiveness, and customer outcomes.
• Work closely with detection engineering, security operations, GRC, and customer teams to ensure a coordinated approach to risk reduction.

You’ll bring…

• Expertise in modern CTEM methodologies.
• Experience working with attack surface management and exposure management platforms.
• Knowledge of security frameworks and risk-based prioritisation methodologies.
• Ability to communicate technical risks to both technical and business stakeholders.
• Experience developing operational processes and reporting frameworks.
• Strong stakeholder management and customer engagement capabilities.
• Commitment to continuous improvement and measurable security outcomes.

About DEFEND:

Our dream at DEFEND is to improve everyday life by creating a cyber resilient world. Over the last few years, we've experienced phenomenal growth, working with a wide variety of customers and winning several industry awards, including Microsoft's Global Partner of theYear for 2025!

Why DEFEND?

We believe in investing in our employees’ growth and providing them with opportunities to advance their skills and careers. We offer a collaborative workplace culture, and we are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where innovative thinking is encouraged.

By joining our innovative and creative team you will have the opportunity to contribute a variety of cybersecurity outcomes, from culture & awareness of cyber resilience, through to offensive & defensive security. No matter what your role, everyone at DEFEND contributes towards our dream ofcreating a cyber resilient world.

The benefits of working at DEFEND

In addition to workingfor a growing, dynamic NZcompany, DEFEND offers the following benefits to all ourDEFENDers

• 3.5%Kiwisaveron top of your base salary
• Southern Cross Health Insurance coverage
• Mobile and Broadband discounts for yourself and family
• Flexible, hybrid work environment
• An allowance to contribute to your home office setup
• Access to EAP services to support youacross a range of wellbeing needs

Diversity & Inclusion:

At DEFEND, we celebrate a variety of perspectives and experiences. We know from experience that people from underrepresented groups often don’t apply for roles they don’t feel they meet all the criteria for. We’re committed to creating an environment that enables all our team to thrive. If you think you have what it takes, but don’t check every single box, please consider applying. We’d love to hear how you might contribute to the team and being our next DEFENDer.