Data Security Specialist Role

Peregrine Advisors LLC; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Peregrine Advisors LLC in Washington, DC, is seeking a Data Security Specialist who can design and operate robust data-protection controls across storage, processing, and sharing of information. The role emphasizes least privilege, strong authentication, encryption, and auditable data flows, aligning risk objectives with practical access policies.

You will partner with data owners, platform teams, and governance groups to implement NIST-based controls and zero-trust principles for data platforms

Qualifications

• Experience with data access governance, authorization models, and entitlement review.
• Working knowledge of encryption, key management, tokenization, masking, or similar data-protection controls.
• Experience with data classification, audit logging, monitoring, and security incident support.
• Knowledge of zero trust principles and how they inform granular data and service access.
• Ability to apply NIST SP 800-53 security-control concepts to data platforms, exchanges, and analytical workloads.

Responsibilities

• Develop data access patterns for data platforms and services.
• Define data-classification standards and protective handling patterns.
• Implement encryption, key-management, tokenization, or masking as appropriate.
• Establish entitlement-review and audit-trail processes.
• Ensure data protection controls for exchange, storage, analytics, and AI inputs/outputs when applicable.

Skills

Data access governance

Authorization models

Entitlement review

Encryption

Key management

Tokenization

Masking

Data classification

Audit logging

Zero trust

NIST SP 800-53

Job description

The work

Data Security Specialists protect information where it is stored, processed, shared, and accessed. They design and maintain the data-facing controls that let organizations use valuable information while applying least privilege, strong authentication, encryption, classification, monitoring, and accountable access.

Description

Data Security Specialists protect information where it is stored, processed, shared, and accessed. They design and maintain the data-facing controls that let organizations use valuable information while applying least privilege, strong authentication, encryption, classification, monitoring, and accountable access.

The role combines security architecture with operational discipline. Specialists work with data owners, platform teams, and governance practitioners to translate risk and control objectives into access policies, key-management practices, entitlement reviews, and auditable data flows. They focus on the protection of data itself, distinct from the infrastructure platform or software-delivery pipeline.

What You’ll Build

• Role-based and attribute-based access patterns for data platforms and services.
• Data-classification standards and protective handling patterns tied to access and monitoring.
• Encryption, key-management, tokenization, or masking implementations appropriate to the data use case.
• Entitlement-review and audit-trail processes that make access decisions visible and accountable.
• Data protection controls for exchange, storage, analytics, and artificial intelligence system inputs or outputs when applicable.

Who You Are

You make security usable without making it optional. You can distinguish a control objective from a particular tool and work with teams to choose enforcement that fits the data, system architecture, and mission.

You are precise about identity, authorization, classification, and evidence. You recognize that data protection depends on clear owners and well-defined access decisions, not only on perimeter defenses.

What You Bring

• Experience with data access governance, authorization models, and entitlement review.
• Working knowledge of encryption, key management, tokenization, masking, or similar data-protection controls.
• Experience with data classification, audit logging, monitoring, and security incident support.
• Knowledge of zero trust principles and how they inform granular data and service access.
• Ability to apply National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-53 security-control concepts to data platforms, exchanges, and analytical workloads.

Requirements

Openings may specify a data platform, cloud service, security toolset, classification regime, or authorization context. Systems handling artificial intelligence workloads may also require experience protecting training data, retrieval sources, model inputs, outputs, and service identities.

Some roles may emphasize design and engineering, while others may emphasize control operations, assessment support, or incident response. Data Security Specialists should coordinate with governance teams on policies and ownership, while retaining responsibility for technical data-protection implementation.

Benefits

Compensation, benefits, work location, and employment terms are set for each specific opening and will be stated with that opening