Lead Cybersecurity Specialist

Legence; Minneapolis (MN); Remote; USD 125,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Legence seeks a highly skilled Lead Cybersecurity Specialist to guide a team of analysts and advance the company’s security posture. This role combines architecture, risk strategy, and cross-functional leadership to protect enterprise systems, cloud environments, and data.

The ideal candidate has deep cyber experience, strong leadership, and expertise in ITGC audits, tool selection, and security engineering. Remote work within the United States is supported by Legence.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Security, or related field.
• 5–10+ years of experience in cybersecurity with progression into senior/lead roles.
• Deep expertise in cloud security, network security, and enterprise security architecture.
• Experience with security technologies such as SIEM, EDR, IDS/IPS, firewalls, and encryption.
• Proficiency in scripting or programming (e.g., Python, PowerShell, Bash).
• Experience with security frameworks and compliance standards (NIST, ISO 27001, CIS).
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills; excellent communication and leadership abilities.

Responsibilities

• Cloud Security & Architecture: ensure secure cloud architectures and governance across platforms.
• Develop and enforce cyber security controls including IAM and workload protection.
• Partner with engineering to embed security into cloud-native DevOps processes (DevSecOps).
• Evolve the organization’s security risk management program and conduct risk assessments.
• Translate technical risks into business impact and present recommendations to senior leadership.
• Develop automation frameworks to improve detection, response, and compliance capabilities.
• Lead integration of security tooling (SIEM, EDR, CSPM) into a cohesive ecosystem.
• Oversee monitoring, detection strategies across networks, endpoints, and cloud.
• Lead incident response including triage, containment, root cause analyses, and post-incident improvements.
• Drive continuous improvement of detection use cases and response playbooks.
• Lead vulnerability management lifecycle including scanning, prioritization, remediation.
• Coordinate penetration testing and adversary simulations; provide remediation guidance.
• Support governance, risk, and compliance initiatives (NIST, ISO, SOC 2) and audits.
• Contribute to cybersecurity strategy, roadmaps, and security metrics reporting.
• Act as mentor to junior analysts and collaborate with IT and business stakeholders.

Skills

Cloud security

Security architecture

Risk management

Incident response

Security automation

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

SIEM

EDR

IDS/IPS

Firewalls

Encryption

Job description

Location: Remote, United States. Near Legence office preferred.

The Lead Cybersecurity Specialist within the Legence IT Security organization will be responsible for helping advance the company’s overall security posture. This role goes beyond operational support to include architecture, risk strategy, and cross-functional leadership. This role will work with other IT pillars and team members to implement, and continuously improve security controls that protect enterprise systems, cloud environments, and data against evolving threats while aligning with business objectives and regulatory requirements. This role will provide team leadership to junior staff members

About the Role

We are seeking a highly skilled Lead Cybersecurity Specialist to lead a team of cyber analysts tasked with advancing Legence’s security posture and reducing risk. This role is critical to ensuring the integrity, reliability, and security of our IT systems and processes. The ideal candidate will bring deep cyber experience, the ability to develop team members, the ability to communicate with business and IT partners, and a focus in ITGC audits, tool selection, continuous improvement, and cross-functional project management.

Key Responsibilities

• Cloud Security & Architecture
  • Ensure the implementation and governance of secure cloud architectures across platforms.
  • Continue development, enforcement, and governance of cyber security controls (including identity, access management, and workload protection).
  • Partner with engineering teams to embed security into cloud-native development and DevOps processes (DevSecOps).
• Enterprise Risk Management
  • Evolve the organization’s security risk management program.
  • Conduct risk assessments, threat modeling, and control evaluations.
  • Translate technical risks into business impact and present recommendations to senior leadership.
• Security Engineering & Automation
  • Develop and maintain advanced automation frameworks and scripts to improve detection, response, and compliance capabilities.
  • Lead efforts to integrate security tooling (SIEM, EDR, CSPM, etc.) into a cohesive security ecosystem.
• Threat Detection & Incident Response
  • Oversee monitoring and detection strategies across networks, endpoints, and cloud environments.
  • Lead incident response efforts, including triage, containment, root cause analysis, and post-incident improvements.
  • Drive continuous improvement of detection use cases and response playbooks.
• Vulnerability Management & Offensive Security
  • Lead vulnerability management lifecycle, including scanning, prioritization, and remediation strategies.
  • Coordinate perform penetration testing and adversary simulations.
  • Provide expert guidance on remediation and risk prioritization.
• Governance, Compliance & Security Strategy
  • Support and help shape governance, risk, and compliance initiatives (e.g., NIST, ISO, SOC 2).
  • Lead security assessments, audits, and third-party risk reviews.
  • Contribute to long-term cybersecurity strategy, roadmap planning, and security metrics reporting.
• Leadership & Collaboration
  • Act as a technical mentor and escalation point for junior analysts and engineers.
  • Oversee the career development of security team members
  • Collaborate with IT, engineering, and business stakeholders to align security initiatives with organizational goals.
  • Stay ahead of emerging threats, technologies, and industry trends, bringing proactive recommendations to leadership.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Security, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 5–10+ years of experience in cybersecurity, with demonstrated progression into senior or lead responsibilities.
• Deep expertise in cloud security, network security, and enterprise security architecture.
• Strong experience with security technologies such as SIEM, EDR, IDS/IPS, firewalls, and encryption.
• Proven experience in risk management, incident response, and vulnerability management.
• Proficiency in scripting or programming (e.g., Python, PowerShell, Bash) for automation and security engineering.
• Experience with security frameworks and compliance standards (e.g., NIST, ISO 27001, CIS).
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to influence technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Industry certifications such as CISSP, CISM, CCSP, or GIAC.
• Experience leading security initiatives or small teams.

Compensation: $125k-$165k