Information Security Analysts

University of Utah; Salt Lake City (UT); On-site; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Participating employer with Utah Retirement Systems

Veterans' preference extended to qualified applicants

Job summary

The University of Utah is looking for an experienced Information Security Analyst to support its cybersecurity initiatives. This Tier 3 position involves leading incident response and detection engineering efforts while mentoring junior analysts.

To excel in this role, candidates must have substantial experience in information security and technical expertise. The role offers a dynamic work environment and aims to enhance the overall security posture of the university.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in information security with a bachelor's degree.
• Experience in incident response and threat hunting.
• Strong analytical skills and attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Lead incident response lifecycle from triage to analysis.
• Develop and maintain detection strategies across threat domains.
• Conduct threat hunting and identify advanced adversarial activities.

Skills

Operational security background

Hands-on analysis of logs and network data

Experience with SIEM and SOAR

Understanding of network threat lifecycle

Experience administering cloud environments

Proficiency in scripting and programming

Education

Bachelor's degree in a relevant field or equivalent

Job description

Job Summary

Information Security Analysts (Cybersecurity Analyst Tier 3, Security Operations Center) support the University’s Information Security and Compliance goals. The Tier 3 SOC analyst is the senior escalation point, leading complex investigations while driving detection engineering, automation, and continuous improvement initiatives. The role blends investigative expertise with technical capabilities to improve detection fidelity, reduce response times, and strengthen organizational security.

The University Information Technology (UIT) is the central IT service provider for the University of Utah. It reports to the Chief Information Officer and manages IT services including security.

Responsibilities

Incident Response

• Lead the end‑to‑end incident response lifecycle, including triage, investigation, containment, eradication, and post‑incident analysis across endpoint, network, cloud, and identity domains.
• Serve as the senior escalation point for Tier 2 analysts, providing technical direction and oversight for complex investigations.
• Perform digital forensics to support root‑cause analysis, adjust security detections to address identified gaps, and develop post‑incident plans of action.

Detection Engineering

• Own detection strategy and coverage across key threat domains.
• Define telemetry requirements in partnership with security engineering and platform owners.
• Lead development of detection standards and quality metrics.
• Design and maintain detection logic across SIEM, EDR, and cloud platforms, ensuring high‑fidelity alerting through tuning, enrichment, and correlation of multi‑source telemetry.
• Identify detection gaps based on threat intelligence and incident‑response needs.
• Design, build, and maintain automation (SOAR) to improve triage, data enrichment, and response efficiency.
• Operationalize threat hunting and incident findings into scalable detection use cases and playbooks.

Threat Analysis

• Lead hypothesis‑driven threat hunting campaigns informed by threat intelligence, transforming findings into durable detections and response playbooks.
• Conduct proactive threat hunting to detect advanced adversarial activity not detected by existing controls.
• Analyze attacker behavior and map to known tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP).
• Continuously evaluate detection coverage, proactively reducing false positives while increasing detection quality.

Leadership

• Assist in mentoring and developing Tier 1/2 SOC analysts; conduct periodic investigation reviews to ensure quality.
• Drive improvement in SOC processes, workflows, and incident‑response playbooks.
• Produce clear, actionable after‑action reports and executive‑ready summaries for findings.
• Partner with internal IT teams to improve logging, telemetry, and observability across the environment.

Minimum Qualifications

EQUIVALENCY STATEMENT: One year of higher education can be substituted for one year of directly related work experience (e.g., bachelor’s degree equals four years of directly related work experience).

Information Security Analyst, IV: Requires a bachelor’s (or equivalency) and 8 years, or a master’s (or equivalency) and 6 years of directly related work experience.

Information Security Analyst, V: Requires a bachelor’s (or equivalency) and 10 years, or a master’s (or equivalency) and 8 years of directly related work experience.

Information Security Analyst, VI: Requires a bachelor’s (or equivalency) and 12 years, or a master’s (or equivalency) and 10 years of directly related work experience.

Information Security Analyst, VII: Requires a bachelor’s (or equivalency) and 14 years, or a master’s (or equivalency) and 12 years of directly related work experience.

Preferences

• Strong operational security background.
• Experience conducting hands‑on analysis of large volumes of logs, network data, and other attack artifacts during incident investigations.
• Extensive experience leveraging SIEM and SOAR platforms to analyze diverse log types and events across multiple data sources, applying behavioral, statistical, and machine learning techniques to detect and respond to advanced threats.
• Strong understanding of the network threat lifecycle, attack vectors, and exploitation methods, including attacker tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).
• Experience monitoring, defending, and administering cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP), including the use of cloud‑native security tools and strategies to protect data, and identifying and mitigating cloud‑specific threats.
• Proficiency in scripting and programming.

Additional Information

The University of Utah is a participating employer with Utah Retirement Systems (URS). Eligible new hires with prior URS service may elect to enroll in URS if they make the election before they become eligible for retirement. Individuals who previously retired and are receiving monthly retirement benefits from URS are subject to URS post‑retirement rules and restrictions.

This position may require the successful completion of a criminal background check and/or drug screen.

The University of Utah values candidates who have experience working in settings with students and possess a strong commitment to improving access to higher education.

Veterans’ preference is extended to qualified applicants, upon request and consistent with University policy and Utah state law. Reasonable accommodations in the application process will be provided to individuals with disabilities.

Consistent with state and federal law, the University of Utah does not discriminate based upon race, ethnicity, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy‑related conditions, genetic information, or protected veteran’s status. The University does not discriminate on the basis of sex in the education program or activity that it operates, as required by Title IX and 34 CFR part 106. The requirement not to discriminate in education programs or activities extends to admission and employment. Inquiries about the application of Title IX and its regulations may be referred to the Title IX Coordinator, the Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, or both.

To request a reasonable accommodation for a disability or if you or someone you know has experienced discrimination or sexual misconduct, you may contact the Director/Title IX Coordinator in the Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX (OEO). More information, including the Director/Title IX Coordinator’s office address, electronic mail address, and telephone number can be located at the University of Utah Non‑Discrimination page.

Contact

Human Resources: [e-mail] / (801) 581‑2169