Manager, Cyber Readiness & Exercises

Citizens Financial; United States; Hybrid; USD 175,000 - 205,000; Full time

Job summary

Citizens Financial seeks a Manager, Cyber Readiness & Exercises to lead the enterprise security exercise program, guiding strategy, governance, and continuous improvement. You will oversee the design, execution, and evaluation of cyber exercises across technical, executive, and business audiences to validate preparedness.

The role requires 8–12 years in cybersecurity with leadership experience and certifications such as CISSP or CISM, in a large regulated environment.

Qualifications

• 8–12 years of progressive experience in cybersecurity, cyber operations, incident response, threat intelligence, resilience, security program management, or related discipline.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in security-related field; certifications encouraged.

Responsibilities

• Lead the strategy, governance, maturity, and continuous improvement of the enterprise Cyber Security Exercise & Simulation Program.
• Oversee design, development, execution, and evaluation of exercises across technical and business audiences.
• Develop and maintain a cyber scenario library reflecting current organizational functions and gaps.
• Establish program methodologies, playbooks, and documentation for audit readiness.
• Track, report, and drive improvements in preparedness and resilience.

Skills

Cybersecurity program management

Incident response

Threat intelligence

Resilience

Governance

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Security/CS/IT

Tools

NIST CSF knowledge

CRI Profile

Job description

Manager, Cyber Readiness & Exercises

The Manager, Cyber Exercises & Simulations is responsible for establishing, leading, and continuously maturing the enterprise wide cybersecurity exercise and simulation program. This role oversees the strategy, development, execution, governance, and continuous improvement of cyber exercises and simulations designed to validate organizational preparedness, response capabilities, operational resilience, and alignment with enterprise cyber defense objectives.

The Manager, Cyber Exercises & Simulations leads a team of cybersecurity professionals responsible for designing, developing, executing, and assessing exercises across multiple audiences and organizational levels. The role also oversees talent acquisition, development, workforce planning, program governance, documentation, metrics, reporting, and stakeholder engagement to ensure exercises produce measurable outcomes that strengthen organizational cyber resilience.

This position is well suited for a cyber exercise and simulation leader who understands how to build and execute realistic and impactful scenarios that strengthen response readiness against cyber threats.

Work Arrangement

Locations & Work Arrangement: Remote is not an option, candidates must be willing to commute to one of the following hub locations with a hybrid schedule of 4 days onsite and 1 day remote per week with flexibility in one of the following hubs:

• Phoenix, AZ
• Johnston, RI
• Boston or Westwood, MA
• Marlton, NJ

Primary Responsibilities

• Lead the strategy, governance, maturity, and continuous improvement of the enterprise Cyber Security Exercise & Simulation Program, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives.
• Oversee the design, development, execution, and evaluation of cyber exercises and simulations across technical, operational, executive, and business stakeholder audiences.
• Develop and maintain a cyber scenario library that incorporates the current state of organizational functions, capabilities, and known gaps.
• Establish and maintain program methodologies, procedures, templates, playbooks, and documentation to ensure consistency, quality, and audit readiness.
• Ensure exercise scenarios incorporate organizational risks, threat intelligence, emerging cyber threats, industry trends, and evolving adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures.
• Define, track, and report program metrics, maturity measures, and effectiveness measures to demonstrate improvements in organizational preparedness and resilience.
• Oversee the creation and delivery of exercise findings, after action reports, executive briefings, and recommendations that drive actionable risk reduction and capability enhancement.
• Ensure identified findings, gaps, and corrective actions are properly assigned, tracked, remediated, and validated through due diligence processes to achieve sustainable resolution.
• Manage and develop a high performing team through talent acquisition, workforce planning, coaching, mentoring, performance management, and career development initiatives.
• Partner and collaborate with Cyber Security, Enterprise Resilience, Technology, Risk Management, and senior leadership teams to ensure exercises align with enterprise strategies, policies, standards, regulatory expectations, and emerging threat landscapes.

Experience and Skills

• 8 to 12 years of progressive experience in cybersecurity, cyber operations, incident response, threat intelligence, resilience, security program management, or a related discipline.
• 3 or more years of people leadership and talent management experience.
• Experience designing, facilitating, executing, and evaluating cybersecurity exercises and simulations.
• Strong understanding of cyber defense, incident response, threat intelligence, vulnerability management, and operational resilience concepts.
• Experience developing and managing enterprise programs, governance processes, metrics, and reporting.
• Knowledge of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and Standards, CRI Profile, and cybersecurity exercise frameworks.
• Experience working within large, complex, highly regulated organizations.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders and drive collaboration across functions.

Education, Certifications and Other Professional Credentials

• Bachelor's Degree in Security, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• A combination of relevant industry certifications, including but not limited to CISSP, CISM, CRISC, CBCP, or emerging AI and security focused credentials.

Pay Transparency

The salary range for this position is from $175,000 to $205,000 per year, plus an opportunity to earn an annual discretionary bonus. Actual pay is based on various factors including but not limited to, the budget, work location, relevant skills, and experience.

We offer competitive pay, comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, retirement benefits, materni