IT/OT Cybersecurity Lead

Freese and Nichols; Orlando (FL); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive benefits package

Annual bonus

Hybrid schedule with up to 40% remote

Paid overtime for salaried employees

Company cabins in Red River, NM and S.

Job summary

Freese and Nichols is seeking an IT/OT Cybersecurity Lead to guide strategic cybersecurity consulting for enterprise IT networks and OT environments across critical infrastructure. The role emphasizes building client relationships in water and utility sectors, leading growth of cybersecurity services, and shaping staffing and delivery across offices.

You will drive pursuits from identification to award, coordinate with firm leadership, and embed security in design work, while mentoring staff

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required or equivalent experience.
• 20+ years of cybersecurity experience across IT and OT environments.
• CISSP, CISM, or CISA certification.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain relationships with key water, wastewater, and critical infrastructure clients.
• Own cybersecurity services growth strategy and annual growth goals.
• Lead pursuits from opportunity identification through award, including capture planning and proposals.
• Partner with client service leaders to integrate cybersecurity into larger pursuits.
• Develop staff and mentorship to create project leads and client-facing advisors.
• Set technical direction, methodologies, and quality standards for cybersecurity services.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity, information technology, computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, information systems, or closely related discipline.

Job description

Freese and Nichols seeks an IT/OT Cybersecurity Lead to lead strategic cybersecurity consulting for enterprise IT networks and OT environments across critical infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain relationships with key water, wastewater, and critical infrastructure clients, serving as a trusted advisor at executive, IT, and operations levels.
• Own cybersecurity services growth strategy, including target clients, service offerings, pricing approach, and annual growth goals in coordination with firm leadership.
• Lead pursuits from opportunity identification through award, including capture planning, win strategy, scopes, fees, proposals, and interviews.
• Partner with client service leaders and project managers across offices to bring cybersecurity into larger pursuits such as SCADA master plans, treatment plant designs, and AWIA assessments.
• Monitor regulatory and funding drivers and convert them into new cybersecurity offerings for clients.
• Increase firm visibility through conference presentations, technical papers, webinars, and committee leadership in AWWA, WEF, ISA, and similar organizations.
• Develop the cybersecurity team by defining staffing needs, participating in hiring, and shaping a skills mix to support growth.
• Mentor staff and grow them into project leads and client-facing advisors through stretch assignments, technical review, and certification planning.
• Delegate project delivery to developing staff while maintaining quality oversight and focus on client outcomes.
• Establish career paths and succession plans for cybersecurity roles.
• Raise cybersecurity capability across I&C, SCADA, and electrical teams by embedding security into internal training and design work rather than retrofitting later.
• Set technical direction, methodologies, and quality standards for cybersecurity services across the firm.
• Serve as technical lead on complex, high-visibility engagements and provide senior review on other work.
• Develop repeatable assessment methods, templates, and tools to improve consistency and enable scaling.
• Provide senior direction on secure IT/OT architecture and technology selection, accounting for OT availability, safety, and legacy constraints.
• Advise firm leadership on contractual, liability, and risk considerations tied to cybersecurity work, including input to contract language and service terms.
• Ensure security requirements reach drawings, specifications, testing, and commissioning on design and construction projects.
• Communicate cyber risk in terms that resonate with utility leadership, operations staff, and technical teams to build support for decisions and funding.
• Build and lead a high-performing cybersecurity team by shaping staffing needs, hiring well, and creating an environment where people want to grow and stay.
• Turn assessment findings into policies, plans, and roadmaps aligned to client staffing, budget, and uptime constraints.
• Be recognized by clients as a credible technical authority, capable of executive briefings and detailed design discussions.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity, information technology, computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, information systems, or closely related discipline.
• 20+ years of cybersecurity experience, including significant experience across both IT and OT or industrial control system environments.
• Current CISSP, CISM, or CISA credential.
• Proven track record of winning and growing work with utility or critical infrastructure clients, including serving as primary client contact and leading scopes, fees, proposals, and interviews.
• Experience leading complex, high-visibility cybersecurity engagements from pursuit through delivery.
• Experience building or growing a cybersecurity service offering, including defining services, staffing, and market positioning.
• Experience building and leading teams, including hiring staff and developing them into project and technical leads.
• Experience applying cybersecurity frameworks and regulatory requirements to assessments, policies, plans, and roadmaps.
• Experience serving water, wastewater, or other critical infrastructure utilities, including AWIA risk and resilience assessments and water-sector cybersecurity guidance.
• Ability to travel to client sites including treatment facilities, pump stations, control rooms, and industrial environments as assignments require.

Technologies

• SCADA, PLC, RTU, HMI, historian
• Identity and access management
• Endpoint protection, vulnerability management, logging and monitoring
• Security operations
• NIST
• ISA/IEC 62443, CIS Controls
• AWIA
• Cloud-connected SCADA, IoT, AI

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits package
• Paid overtime for salaried employees
• Annual bonus
• Access to company cabins in Red River, New Mexico and Banner Elk, North Carolina
• Flexible work environment with a hybrid schedule and up to 40% remote work

Preferred

• Master’s degree in cybersecurity, information systems, engineering, or related field.
• Consulting experience leading client-facing assessments, gap analyses, roadmaps, and advisory engagements.
• Existing relationships with water and wastewater utilities or other critical infrastructure clients in Freese and Nichols markets.
• Working knowledge of industrial protocols such as Modbus, DNP3, OPC UA, and EtherNet/IP, including ability to explain security limits to clients.
• Experience selecting and specifying OT security technologies, including OT monitoring and asset discovery, segmentation, secure remote access, firewalls, and SIEM platforms.
• Experience securing cloud and hybrid environments, including cloud-connected SCADA, edge computing, and IoT data pipelines.
• Experience leading incident response planning, tabletop exercises, post-incident reviews, and recovery planning for operational environments.
• Experience using approved AI tools responsibly to improve quality and efficiency of deliverables.
• Leadership roles in professional organizations such as AWWA, WEF, ISA, ISACA, (ISC)2, InfraGard, or WaterISAC, including committee work, presentations, or publications.

Location and Work Arrangement

• Orlando, FL (onsite)
• Hybrid schedule includes up to 40% remote work