Head of Cyber Defense Strategy & Operations

Altice USA; Norwalk (CT); On-site; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Optimum seeks a Lead, Cyber Defense Operations Strategy and Coordination to drive the strategic direction and align enterprise capabilities across SOC, Incident Response, Threat Intelligence, and Vulnerability Management to reduce cyber risk and improve resilience.

You will define the program roadmap, oversee cross-functional execution, develop playbooks, and report KPIs while leading crisis readiness drills and coordinating with IT, Legal, and business teams to strengthen incident response and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or related field; equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of experience in Cyber Security or related field.
• Demonstrated leadership in SOC, incident response, threat intelligence, or vulnerability management.
• Strong knowledge of cyber defense frameworks and standards (e.g., NIST CSF, MITRE ATT&CK, ISO 27001).
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional programs and influence outcomes without direct authority.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including executive-level reporting.

Responsibilities

• Define and evolve the cyber defense operations strategy, roadmap, and operating model.
• Coordinate priorities and execution across SOC, IR, Threat Intelligence, Vulnerability Management, and security engineering teams.
• Establish and lead oversight, including operational reviews, risk reviews, and post-incident reviews.
• Drive development and standardization of playbooks, runbooks, escalation paths, and response coordination protocols.
• Translate emerging threats into operational priorities, detection use cases, and control improvements.
• Develop and report KPIs/KRIs such as MTTR, detection coverage, and remediation SLA performance.
• Partner with Infrastructure, IT, Legal, Privacy, and business teams during incident response and readiness efforts.
• Lead improvement exercises and operational readiness drills (PTEs, Table tops, etc.) to strengthen crisis response.
• Identify process and tooling gaps and coordinate automation and operational improvement initiatives.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic planning

Communication skills

Cybersecurity frameworks

Education

Bachelor's degree (CS/Engineering/IT)

Tools

SIEM

SOAR

EDR

Case management

Vulnerability risk platforms

Job description

Optimum seeks a Lead, Cyber Defense Operations Strategy and Coordination to drive the strategic direction and align enterprise capabilities across SOC, Incident Response, Threat Intelligence, and Vulnerability Management to reduce cyber risk and improve resilience.

You will define the program roadmap, oversee cross-functional execution, develop playbooks, and report KPIs while leading crisis readiness drills and coordinating with IT, Legal, and business teams to strengthen incident response and