SECURITY OPERATIONS ENGINEER

Apex Rankers; Islamabad; On-site; PKR 2,455,000 - 3,794,000; Full time

Job summary

Pakistan Digital Authority (SOC) is seeking a skilled Security Operations Engineer to safeguard national digital infrastructure from evolving cyber threats. The role focuses on real-time SIEM/EDR monitoring, incident triage, and proactive threat hunting within a 24/7 SOC environment.

The ideal candidate has 4–6 years in SOC operations, strong malware analysis skills, and experience with SOAR, forensics, and threat intelligence. This position is based in Islamabad and offers a competitive salary.

Qualifications

• BS/MS in Cybersecurity or related field with relevant certifications (CEH, CISSP, CySA+ or GCIH).
• 4–6 years experience in SOC operations, incident response, SOAR, malware analysis, threat hunting, forensics.
• Experience managing enterprise EDR/SIEM clusters and security operations workflows.

Responsibilities

• 24/7 security event monitoring across SIEM/EDR (Splunk, Wazuh, QRadar).
• Cyber incident triage and response following NIST SP 800-61.
• Threat hunting across network telemetry and host logs.
• Design, test, and maintain automated SOAR playbooks.
• Digital forensics & malware analysis to determine attack vectors.
• Ingest and operationalize IoCs and threat feeds into detection rules.

Skills

SIEM/EDR Architecture

Threat Hunting

Incident Response

SOAR Playbooks

Malware Analysis

Digital Forensics

Network Traffic Analysis

Threat Intelligence

Education

BS/MS in Cybersecurity

Tools

Splunk

Wazuh

QRadar

CrowdStrike

Sigma

Yara

Snort

Suricata

Job description

# SECURITY OPERATIONS ENGINEERActive PrepSenior Technical Grade / PPS-08PDA-J0164PID(I) 3116/26Official recruitment notification, eligibility criteria, pay scale (Senior Technical Grade / PPS-08), quota allocation, and written screening test syllabus for **SECURITY OPERATIONS ENGINEER** in the **National Security Operations Centre (SOC), Pakistan Digital Authority (PDA)**.### Job Specifications & Posting DetailsCase Number**PDA-J0164**Pay Scale / BPS**Senior Technical Grade / PPS-08**Department / Ministry**National Security Operations Centre (SOC), Pakistan Digital Authority (PDA)**Total Positions**2 Posts**Job Type / Status**Regular / Contractual**Place of Posting**4th Floor, 5-A Constitution Avenue, Islamabad**Age Limit**26 - 38 years**Gender Eligibility**Male / Female** Estimated Base Salary Package**PKR 220,000 - 340,000 / month (Senior Technical Scale)** Credential Category**Bs / Ms In Cybersecurity With Industry Certifications** Experience Required**48 Months** Street & Office Address**4th Floor, 5-A Constitution Avenue, Sector F-5/1** Province / Region**Federal Capital** Postal Code**44000**Posting Date**October 06, 2026**Apply Before**October 21, 2026** Domicile & Regional Quota AllocationOpen Merit (All Pakistan)### Minimum Qualifications & ExperienceEducational QualificationBS / MS in Cybersecurity, Information Security, Computer Science, or Telecom Engineering with relevant certifications (e.g. CEH, CISSP, CySA+, GCIH).Prescribed Experience & Eligibility CriteriaMinimum 4 to 6 years experience in SOC operations, incident response orchestration (SOAR), malware analysis, threat hunting, digital forensics, and managing enterprise EDR/SIEM clusters.### Job Description & Position OverviewOfficial employment notification has been announced for the critical appointment of SECURITY OPERATIONS ENGINEER on Senior Technical Grade / PPS-08 at National Security Operations Centre (SOC), Pakistan Digital Authority (PDA). This cybersecurity billet carries 2 Posts allocated on Open Merit to maintain 24/7/365 active cyber defense, threat hunting, and incident triage over Pakistan's national cyberspace and digital public infrastructure.The daily operational purview of SECURITY OPERATIONS ENGINEER involves monitoring real-time enterprise SIEM and EDR alerts, investigating anomalous network traffic across national data centers, analyzing malware payloads, coordinating incident response through automated SOAR playbooks, and mitigating advanced persistent threat (APT) campaigns.The candidate selection pathway comprises technical scrutiny of cybersecurity degrees and certifications, followed by a 100-mark written screening test covering network security, threat detection, and incident response, culminating in a technical viva voce before the PDA Cyber Selection Board.### Key Responsibilities & Professional Duties* ✓24/7 Security Event Monitoring: Analyze real-time security alerts generated by SIEM (Splunk, Wazuh, QRadar) and EDR across national digital infrastructure.* ✓Cyber Incident Triage & Response: Investigate potential security breaches, isolate compromised endpoints, and execute containment procedures following NIST SP 800-61.* ✓Proactive Threat Hunting: Perform hypothesis-driven threat hunting across network telemetry and host event logs to identify stealthy adversarial activity.* ✓Automated SOAR Playbook Development: Design, test, and maintain automated incident response playbooks to accelerate threat containment and remediation.* ✓Digital Forensics & Malware Analysis: Extract and analyze malicious artifacts, memory dumps, and pcap files to determine attack vectors and root causes.* ✓Threat Intelligence Integration: Ingest, correlate, and operationalize Indicators of Compromise (IoCs) and threat feeds into detection rules (Sigma, Yara, Snort).### Required Skills & Domain Competencies* SIEM / EDR Architecture (Splunk, QRadar, Wazuh, CrowdStrike)* Threat Hunting & MITRE ATT&CK Framework Mapping* Incident Response Lifecycle & SOAR Automated Playbooks* Network Packet Analysis & Deep Traffic Inspection (Wireshark)* Malware Triage, Memory Forensics & Reverse Engineering* Detection Engineering (Sigma, Yara, Snort, Suricata Rules)