Director of Cybersecurity Strategy & Incident Response

Ascend; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Ascend is seeking a Director of Cybersecurity to build and run an enterprise cybersecurity program protecting client financial data across Ascend and its partner firms. You will own strategy, operations, incident response, and governance across NIST CSF 2.0, SOC 2 Type II, and PCI DSS, while leading AI governance and Zero Trust initiatives within a fast-growing, acquisition-driven environment.

You will report to the Vice President, Technology Infrastructure & Cybersecurity, and guide a team

Qualifications

• 10+ years in information security and 5+ years leading security teams
• Experience with professional services or regulated environments handling sensitive client data
• Deep knowledge of NIST CSF 2.0, SOC 2 Type II, and PCI DSS
• Hands-on incident response leadership and incident command experience
• Budget ownership and vendor management experience

Responsibilities

• Own enterprise cybersecurity strategy and multi-year roadmap.
• Define security metrics and program maturity indicators.
• Manage cybersecurity budget and headcount.
• Manage relationships with MSSP and security vendors.
• Own endpoint detection, security monitoring, vulnerability management, and email security.
• Serve as incident commander and conduct post-incident reviews.
• Establish detection coverage and determine outsourced-vs-in-house MSSP model.
• Oversee SOC 2 Type II audit lifecycle and audit readiness.
• Lead cybersecurity due diligence for acquisitions and security workstreams.
• Build and develop a team of security engineers and analysts.

Skills

Information security leadership

Incident response leadership

Vendor management

Budget ownership

Security strategy

Threat detection

Education

CISSP or CISM certification

Tools

CrowdStrike Falcon

EDR

SIEM

Identity & Access Management (IAM)

Zero Trust

NIST CSF 2.0

Job description

Ascend is seeking a Director of Cybersecurity to build and run an enterprise cybersecurity program protecting client financial data across Ascend and its partner firms. You will own strategy, operations, incident response, and governance across NIST CSF 2.0, SOC 2 Type II, and PCI DSS, while leading AI governance and Zero Trust initiatives within a fast-growing, acquisition-driven environment.

You will report to the Vice President, Technology Infrastructure & Cybersecurity, and guide a team