Director of Cybersecurity: Strategy, Zero Trust & IR

Level; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Level seeks a seasoned Director of Cybersecurity to lead and mature our security posture in Austin. This executive role owns strategy, drives execution, and fosters a security-first culture across the enterprise.

The ideal candidate translates complex security challenges into actionable programs, has hands-on experience in Zero Trust, incident command, and provides risk metrics to the executive team, policy to tooling to people across the security lifecycle.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Software Engineering, Information Technology or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of progressive cybersecurity experience, including 4+ years in a leadership or management capacity.
• Minimum of 10+ years in Information Technology/Cybersecurity.
• Demonstrated ability to define and execute security programs with limited oversight in a fast-paced environment.
• Deep expertise in incident response planning, execution, and post-incident analysis.
• Strong knowledge of network security architecture, segmentation strategies, firewalls, and IDS/IPS.
• Proven experience implementing and operating Zero Trust architecture.
• Hands-on cloud security experience (Azure, AWS, or GCP) including cloud-native security tooling and CSPM.
• Experience managing MDM solutions for endpoint lifecycle, policy enforcement, and compliance.
• Solid understanding of RBAC models and identity governance in enterprise environments.
• Fluency with DevSecOps concepts including secure CI/CD, SAST/DAST tooling, and shift-left security practices.
• Exceptional communication skills; able to present complex technical risk to non-technical stakeholders.
• Executive communication skills; able to present strategy and reports to executive leadership.
• Must be based in Austin, TX or willing to relocate.

Responsibilities

• Assist in defining and continuously improve the organization’s enterprise cybersecurity strategy and roadmap.
• Lead security initiatives independently, with minimal oversight, from concept through successful delivery.
• Build, mentor, and manage a high-performing cybersecurity team; foster a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
• Provide actionable intelligence and metrics for presentation to executive leadership on risk, compliance, and emerging threats.
• Assist in establishing and maintaining security governance frameworks, policies, standards, and procedures.
• Owns strategy and management of security operations.
• Assist in the development, maintenance, and execution of the Incident Response (IR) program, including playbooks, tabletop exercises, and post-incident reviews.
• Serve as the secondary incident commander for security events; coordinate cross-functional response teams.
• Oversee threat intelligence operations and integrate findings into proactive defense strategies.
• Conduct and oversee vulnerability management, penetration testing coordination, and risk remediation programs.
• Manage end-to-end network security architecture including segmentation, monitoring, and access controls.
• Manage and optimize network security tooling.
• Implement and enforce Zero Trust network access (ZTNA) principles across on-premise and remote environments.
• Own strategy and execution of testing security controls via automated testing, red/blue/purple teaming, and third-party penetration testing.
• Provide guidance and assist in cloud security strategy, architecture, and compliance across multi-cloud and hybrid environments.
• Oversee endpoint detection and response (EDR/XDR) programs.
• Manage Mobile Device Management (MDM) programs; preferred experience with Microsoft Intune.
• Administer and mature Identity & Access Management (IAM) using Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) principles along with Just in Time (JIT) access and Privileged Access Management (PAM).
• Oversee RMM/PSA security integrations.
• Partner with IT operations to ensure security is embedded in all infrastructure and tooling decisions.
• Work with the DevSecOps Manager to support DevSecOps practices, ensuring security is integrated throughout the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
• Assist the owner of the organization’s security controls for our compliance programs (e.g., SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIST CSF, or relevant frameworks).
• Conduct and oversee regular risk assessments, audits, and third-party vendor security reviews.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of regulatory landscape and ensure organizational adherence.

Skills

Leadership

Incident response

Zero Trust

Executive communication

Risk metrics

Cloud security

RBAC/IAM

DevSecOps

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, or related

Tools

Azure

AWS

GCP

MDM solutions

Job description

Level seeks a seasoned Director of Cybersecurity to lead and mature our security posture in Austin. This executive role owns strategy, drives execution, and fosters a security-first culture across the enterprise.

The ideal candidate translates complex security challenges into actionable programs, has hands-on experience in Zero Trust, incident command, and provides risk metrics to the executive team, policy to tooling to people across the security lifecycle.