OT Cybersecurity Strategy Leader, Data Centers

Verge Management Group; United States; Remote; USD 320,000 - 380,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote role with travel up to 40%

Equity in RSUs

Competitive compensation

Job summary

Verge Management Group is seeking a senior OT security leader to define the strategy for secure data center build-out, covering BMS, EPMS, power, cooling, and physical access systems. You will shape the reference architecture and governance across multiple sites, working with EPCs, integrators, and facilities teams.

The role is remote with up to 40% travel, offering a competitive package including base, bonus, and RSUs.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in OT/ICS security, including strategy/architecture across multi-site environments.
• Deep knowledge of ISA/IEC 62443 and NIST SP 800-82.
• Fluency in building and power controls: BMS, EPMS, SCADA, PLCs, and related protocols.

Responsibilities

• Own the OT security strategy and multi-year roadmap for data center build-out across BMS, EPMS, power, cooling, safety, and access systems.
• Define reference architecture with Purdue-aligned segmentation and IEC 62443 zoning.
• Integrate security into design standards, construction specs, procurement, and commissioning.
• Establish governance across sites: standards, risk acceptance, metrics, and OT IR plan.
• Build and lead the OT security team and brief senior leadership on OT risk.

Skills

OT/ICS security

ISA/IEC 62443

NIST SP 800-82

BMS/EPMS/SCADA/PLC

Capital projects through EPCs

Security in multi-site environments

Security governance

Job description

Verge Management Group is conducting a retained search on behalf of a confidential client, a global technology brand you've almost certainly used today. They're building data center capacity at a scale very few companies can match, and they need a senior leader to set the OT security strategy for the power, cooling, and building systems that keep all of it running.

Everyone wants to talk about the servers. Far fewer people want to talk about the chiller plant keeping them alive, the EPMS watching the switchgear, or the BMS controller an integrator left on a default password because commissioning wrapped on a Friday.

This client is putting up new capacity at a pace that's hard to describe without sounding like a press release. Every new campus is a stack of OT: BMS running the mechanical plant, EPMS monitoring medium‑voltage distribution and UPS, generators, fire and life safety, physical access, and more and more liquid cooling to handle AI workloads. They want one person to decide how all of it gets secured, and to make those calls before the concrete gets poured, which is the only time it's cheap.

To be clear about the seat: this is strategy. The people tuning sensors and writing firewall rules will exist, and they'll be working from your playbook. (Getting construction, facilities ops, the controls team, and corporate security to agree on anything is also part of the job. Bring snacks.)

Why This One

Most OT security leaders inherit somebody else's flat network and spend three years apologizing for it. Here the network isn't built yet, and the program you design gets stamped onto campus after campus. That's a rare thing to have on a resume, and an even rarer thing to have actually done.

It's remote with up to 40% travel (design reviews, site walks, and the occasional muddy construction trailer). Comp is $350k, base plus bonus and RSUs.

The Mission

The Mission: What You’ll Actually Do

• Own the OT security strategy and multi-year roadmap for the data center build-out, covering BMS, EPMS, power, cooling, fire and life safety, and physical access systems
• Define the reference architecture: Purdue-aligned segmentation, IEC 62443 zones and conduits, and a remote access model for the integrators and OEMs who need into these systems
• Get security written into design standards, construction specs, procurement, and commissioning, so every site goes live with a known asset inventory and controls already in place instead of a retrofit punch list
• Set governance that holds across sites: standards, risk acceptance, metrics, and an OT incident response plan that facilities operations actually signs off on
• Build and lead the OT security team that carries this out (team size grows with the build-out), and brief senior leadership on OT risk in plain English

Relevant Skills and Experience

Relevant Skills and Experience: What You Need to Bring

• 10+ years in OT/ICS security, including real time setting strategy or architecture across multi‑site critical environments. Data centers are ideal, but utilities, pharma, semiconductor, and oil and gas all count.
• Deep working knowledge of ISA/IEC 62443 (including 2-4 and 4-2, for holding integrators and vendors to a standard) and NIST SP 800-82
• Fluency in building and power controls: BMS, EPMS, SCADA, PLCs, and the protocols they run on, mainly BACnet and Modbus TCP. IEC 61850 or DNP3 exposure at the utility interconnect is a plus.
• A track record of getting security requirements into capital projects through EPCs, design firms, and integrators before go‑live, not after the auditor shows up
• GICSP, GRID, ISA/IEC 62443 Cybersecurity Expert, or CISSP are a plus. Credibility with controls engineers matters more than any of them.