IT/OT Cybersecurity Lead

Freese and Nichols, Inc.; Orlando (FL); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work schedule with remote work

Annual bonus

Job summary

Freese and Nichols, Inc. is seeking an IT/OT Cybersecurity Lead to guide strategic direction, growth, and technical quality of cybersecurity consulting across IT and OT environments.

The role leads business development, builds client relationships, and develops a team of cybersecurity professionals while delivering secure solutions for utility and critical infrastructure clients. The candidate will shape service offerings, participate in pursuits from identification to award, and oversee

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in cybersecurity, information technology, computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, information systems, or a closely related discipline.
• 20+ years of cybersecurity experience, including significant experience in both IT and OT or industrial control system environments.
• A current CISSP, CISM, or CISA credential.
• A proven track record of winning and growing work with utility or critical infrastructure clients, including serving as the 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 leads 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, treatment facilities, pump stations, control rooms, and industrial environments as project assignments require.
• 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, and the ability to explain their 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 the 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.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain relationships with key water, wastewater, and critical infrastructure clients, serving as their trusted cybersecurity advisor at the executive, IT, and operations levels.
• Shape the growth strategy for cybersecurity services, 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.
• Track regulatory and funding drivers and turn them into new service offerings for clients.
• Build firm visibility through conference presentations, technical papers, webinars, and committee leadership in AWWA, WEF, ISA, and similar organizations.
• Build the cybersecurity team by defining staffing needs, participating in hiring, and shaping the skills mix needed to support growth.
• Develop staff into project leads and client-facing advisors through mentoring, stretch assignments, technical review, and certification planning.
• Delegate project delivery to developing staff while maintaining oversight of quality and client outcomes.
• Establish career paths and succession plans for cybersecurity roles.
• Raise cybersecurity capability across I&C, SCADA, and electrical teams through internal training, so security is built into design work rather than added later.
• Set the 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 all others.
• Develop repeatable assessment methods, templates, and tools that let the team deliver consistently and scale.
• 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 issues tied to cybersecurity work, and help shape contract language and service terms.
• Build and leads a high-performing cybersecurity team by shaping staffing needs, hiring well, and creating an environment where people want to grow and stay.
• Develops staff into project leads and client-facing advisors through mentoring, stretch assignments, and clear career paths.
• Builds long-term client relationships and is the trusted cybersecurity advisor for utility leadership and operations staff.
• Grows the cybersecurity service line by shaping offerings, partnering across offices, and winning new work.
• Communicates cyber risk in terms that resonate with utility leadership, operations staff, and technical teams, and builds support for decisions and funding.
• Is recognized as an industry voice through conference presentations, technical papers, and leadership roles in professional organizations.

Education

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

Master's degree in cybersecurity, information systems, engineering, or a related field

Job description

Freese and Nichols is looking for an IT/OT Cybersecurity Lead to join our team. As our national footprint continues to grow, we are considering qualified candidates in any Freese and Nichols location. This company-wide leadership role is responsible for the strategic direction, growth, and technical quality of the IT and OT cybersecurity consulting services that Freese and Nichols delivers to clients. The role leads business development by building strategic client relationships and identifying, shaping, and winning new pursuits; builds and develops a team of cybersecurity professionals; and provides senior technical leadership on complex client engagements. Working with firm and market leadership, the IT/OT Cybersecurity Lead expands our service capabilities and guides the delivery of practical cybersecurity solutions that protect client operations across enterprise networks, control systems, and field infrastructure.

What You'll Do:

Business Development

Build and maintain relationships with key water, wastewater, and critical infrastructure clients, serving as their trusted cybersecurity advisor at the executive, IT, and operations levels.

Shape the growth strategy for cybersecurity services, 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.

Track regulatory and funding drivers and turn them into new service offerings for clients.

Build firm visibility through conference presentations, technical papers, webinars, and committee leadership in AWWA, WEF, ISA, and similar organizations.

Team Development

Build the cybersecurity team by defining staffing needs, participating in hiring, and shaping the skills mix needed to support growth.

Develop staff into project leads and client-facing advisors through mentoring, stretch assignments, technical review, and certification planning.

Delegate project delivery to developing staff while maintaining oversight of quality and client outcomes.

Establish career paths and succession plans for cybersecurity roles.

Raise cybersecurity capability across I&C, SCADA, and electrical teams through internal training, so security is built into design work rather than added later.

Technical Leadership

Set the 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 all others.

Develop repeatable assessment methods, templates, and tools that let the team deliver consistently and scale.

Provide senior direction on secure IT/OT architecture and technology selection, accounting for OT availability, safety, and legacy constraints.(This merges your two current architecture and technology bullets.)

Advise firm leadership on contractual, liability, and risk issues tied to cybersecurity work, and help shape contract language and service terms.

Leadership and Growth

Build and leads a high-performing cybersecurity team by shaping staffing needs, hiring well, and creating an environment where people want to grow and stay.

Develops staff into project leads and client-facing advisors through mentoring, stretch assignments, and clear career paths.

Builds long-term client relationships and is the trusted cybersecurity advisor for utility leadership and operations staff.

Grows the cybersecurity service line by shaping offerings, partnering across offices, and winning new work.

Communicates cyber risk in terms that resonate with utility leadership, operations staff, and technical teams, and builds support for decisions and funding.

Is recognized as an industry voice through conference presentations, technical papers, and leadership roles in professional organizations.

Qualifications

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

20+ years of cybersecurity experience, including significant experience in both IT and OT or industrial control system environments.

A current CISSP, CISM, or CISA credential.

A proven track record of winning and growing work with utility or critical infrastructure clients, including serving as the 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 leads 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, treatment facilities, pump stations, control rooms, and industrial environments as project assignments require.

Preferred Master's degree in cybersecurity, information systems, engineering, or a 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, and the ability to explain their 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 the 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.

About Freese and Nichols

At the heart of our culture is our LEADS values (Learn continuously, Engage as family, Act with integrity, Deliver quality, and Serve always). Each year, our employee engagement survey confirms that our leaders and our employees live our values. We strive to be the firm of choice for clients and employees through innovative approaches, practical results, and outstanding service. For more than 130 years, we have been planning and designing the infrastructure our communities need: developing water supplies, designing roadways and bridges, preparing for natural disasters, and much more. Besides our comprehensive benefits package (see more at Benefits That Work for You), we offer paid overtime for salaried employees, an annual bonus, and access to company cabins in Red River, New Mexico and Banner Elk, North Carolina. We are proud of our flexible work environment which includes a hybrid schedule with up to 40% of remote work. Join our team of 1,400+ employees as we grow from Virginia to Colorado. Freese and Nichols is firmly committed to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and prohibits employment discrimination for employees and applicants based upon race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, pregnancy, genetic information, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other protected category under applicable federal, state, and local laws. Freese and Nichols provides reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants with disabilities. If you need an accommodation to participate in our application or interview process, please submit a request through our Contact Us form. Freese and Nichols is a professional planning, consulting and engineering firm serving clients across the United States. With client service and continuous improvement in mind, we plan, design and manage sustainable water and infrastructure projects.