Director, Splunk Security Center of Excellence

Cisco; Colorado; Remote; USD 172,000 - 237,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a strategic leader to head the Splunk Security Center of Excellence. This pivotal role involves overseeing security operations, engineering, and automation, ensuring the reliability and effectiveness of Splunk deployments. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in security and engineering management, with a strong focus on collaboration and operational excellence. Join a dynamic team that values innovation and continuous learning, where your leadership will directly impact the security landscape and drive meaningful outcomes for the organization.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) plan and match

Paid time off

Flexible working arrangements

Competitive benefits package

Qualifications

• 10+ years in Security Operations or Engineering roles.
• Deep experience with Splunk and managing complex deployments.
• Strong communicator and thoughtful leader.

Responsibilities

• Direct the Splunk Security Center of Excellence across core teams.
• Ensure alignment between SSCOE and broader security strategy.
• Evolve internal processes using ITIL and SRE practices.

Skills

Security Operations

Engineering Management

Splunk Cloud

SPL Optimization

Capacity Planning

Incident Response

Threat Hunting

ITIL Framework

SRE Practices

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field

Master's Degree in a relevant field

Tools

Splunk Enterprise

SOAR Automation Tools

Job description

Join us as we pursue our exciting new vision to make machine data accessible, usable and valuable to everyone. Splunk is a company filled with people who are passionate about our product and seek to deliver the best experience for our customers. At Splunk, we’re committed to our work, customers, having fun and most importantly to each other’s success. Learn more about Splunk careers and how you can become a part of our journey!

**About the Role**

We’re looking for a technically grounded and systems-minded leader to run our **Splunk Security Center of Excellence (SSCOE)** — the internal team responsible for scaling, sustaining, and evolving a best-in-class Splunk environment. The SSCOE powers our Global Security Operations (GSO) team and serves as a hands-on example of how Splunk can drive real security outcomes at scale.

You’ll lead strategy and execution across Splunk product operations, search engineering, and SOAR automation, while shaping our internal practices and influencing the future of Splunk products through operational insight. This role blends engineering depth, operational awareness, and people leadership — all within an environment that values experimentation, learning, and practical outcomes.

You’ll work across time zones and functions, managing senior technical leaders and partnering closely with Security Operations, Product Management, Engineering, and Customer Success.

**Key Responsibilities**

+ Direct the **Splunk Security Center of Excellence (SSCOE)** across three core teams:

+ **Splunk Product Operations** – responsible for the daily health and stability of our Splunk platforms, including upgrades, support, and service delivery.

+ **Search Engineering** – focused on scaling the environment through capacity planning, SPL optimization, data modeling, and architectural improvements.

+ **SOAR Automation** – delivering orchestration capabilities that enable faster, more consistent security operations across environments.

+ Ensure alignment between the SSCOE and broader security strategy, infrastructure reliability, and product adoption goals.

+ Partner with detection engineering, incident response, and threat hunting teams to improve outcomes through smarter data, better content, and more effective automation.

+ Establish and maintain key metrics that measure platform reliability, engineering impact, and service quality.

+ Provide operational feedback that helps shape product roadmaps, drawing on direct experience with complex Splunk deployments.

+ Represent our Splunk environment externally — through SOC tours, technical deep dives, and discussions with customers and partners.

+ Evolve internal processes, standards, and tooling using a combination of ITIL, SRE, and automation practices.

+ Hire, support, and grow technical managers and individual contributors across geographies and specialties.

**What We’re Looking For**

+ **10+ years** in Security Operations, Engineering, or Platform roles, with **5+ years** managing cross-functional or multi-disciplinary teams.

+ Deep experience with Splunk — including Splunk Cloud, Enterprise, ES, and SOAR — and a track record of maintaining and evolving complex deployments.

+ Confidence managing both **operational reliability** and **engineering scale** , with awareness of how they intersect.

+ A strategic thinker who balances near-term needs with long-term systems design.

+ Experience working across boundaries — partnering with security, product, and engineering teams to drive shared outcomes.

+ Familiarity with frameworks like ITIL and SRE, and how they apply in practical, real-world settings.

+ Strong communicator, capable of moving between detailed technical discussions and high-level briefings.

+ A thoughtful leader who invests in team growth, inclusion, and continuous learning.

+ Bonus: Hands-on experience with COE programs or acting as a “Customer Zero” for security tooling and platforms.

**Why This Role Matters**

This role sits at the intersection of engineering, operations, and security — with the chance to influence not only how Splunk works inside our environment, but how it’s seen by customers around the world. You’ll have real ownership, real impact, and a team of curious, capable professionals ready to build something great with you.

**Splunk is an Equal Opportunity Employer**

At Splunk, we believe creating a culture of belonging isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s also the smart thing. We prioritize diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging to ensure our employees are supported to bring their best, most authentic selves to work where they can thrive. Qualified applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, age, physical or mental disability or medical condition, genetic information, veteran status, or any other consideration made unlawful by federal, state, or local laws. We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.

Note:

**Base Pay Range**

SF Bay Area, Seattle Metro, and New York City Metro Area

Base Pay Range: $212,400.00 - 292,050.00 per year

California (excludes SF Bay Area), Washington (excludes Seattle Metro), Washington DC Metro, and Massachusetts

Base Pay Range: $191,160.00 - 262,845.00 per year

All other cities and states excluding California, Washington, Massachusetts, New York City Metro Area and Washington DC Metro Area.

Base Pay Range: $172,000.00 - 236,500.00 per year

Splunk provides flexibility and choice in the working arrangement for most roles, including remote and/or in-office roles. We have a market-based pay structure which varies by location. Please note that the base pay range is a guideline and for candidates who receive an offer, the base pay will vary based on factors such as work location as set out above, as well as the knowledge, skills and experience of the candidate. **In addition to base pay, this role is eligible for incentive compensation and may be eligible for equity or long-term cash awards.**

Benefits are an important part of Splunk's Total Rewards package. This role is eligible for a competitive benefits package which includes medical, dental, vision, a 401(k) plan and match, paid time off and much more! Learn more about our next-level benefits at https://splunkbenefits.com .