Principal Cyber Security Engineer

Ally-Financial; Detroit (MI); Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Time off and holidays

401K matching and financial wellness

Health insurance

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Ally Financial is seeking a Principal Cyber Security Engineer to lead end‑to‑end SIEM design, deployment, and optimization. You will own data onboarding, content engineering, automation, and continuous improvement across SIEM platforms, collaborating with SOC analysts, incident responders, threat hunters, IT operations, and application teams.

The role requires hands‑on expertise across SIEM ecosystems, data parsing, detection logic, and cloud logging.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in SIEM engineering or related security engineering roles.
• Proven expertise with enterprise SIEM platforms end-to-end (Splunk preferred).
• Strong scripting and automation skills (Python, PowerShell).

Responsibilities

• Design and maintain SIEM architecture including data ingestion pipelines and retention strategies.
• Onboard logs from diverse sources (EDR, IAM, cloud, networks) and optimize data quality.
• Implement RBAC, multi-tenancy, and data governance in SIEM.
• Collaborate with SOC, IT, and cloud teams to ensure detections are high‑fidelity and compliant.

Skills

SIEM engineering

Regex/Grok/KQL

Python scripting

Cloud platforms (AWS/Azure)

Incident response understanding

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Splunk

Cribl

Microsoft Sentinel

QRadar

Elastic Security

Job description

Ally and Your CareerAlly Financial only succeeds when its people do - and that’s more than some cliché people put on job postings. We love this stuff! We see our people as, well, people - with interests, families, friends, dreams, and causes that are all important to them. Our focus is on the health and safety of our teammates as well as work-life balance and diversity and inclusion. From generous benefits to a variety of employee resource groups, we strive to build paths that encourage employees to stretch themselves professionally. We want to help you grow, develop, and learn new things. You’re constantly evolving, so shouldn’t your opportunities be, too?Work Schedule : Ally designates roles as (1) fully on-site, (2) hybrid, or (3) fully remote. Hybrid roles are generally expected to be in the office a certain number of days per week as indicated by your manager. Your hiring manager will discuss this role's specific work requirements with you during the hiring process. All work requirements are subject to change at any time based on leader discretion and/or business need.The OpportunityWe are seeking a Principal Cyber Security Engineer with hands-on experience designing, deploying, and optimizing SIEM (Security Incident & Event Management) platforms at scale. The individual will own the end-to-end lifecycle of SIEM capability—from architecture and data onboarding to content engineering, automation, and continuous improvement. The individual will collaborate with SOC analysts, incident responders, threat hunters, IT operations, and application teams to ensure high-fidelity detections, actionable visibility, and reliable, compliant log management.The Work ItselfDesign and maintain the SIEM architecture, including data ingestion pipelines, parsers, normalization schemas, storage tiers, and retention strategies.Evaluate and implement SIEM platform features and integrations; drive upgrades and migrations as needed.Onboard logs from diverse sources (EDR, firewalls, IDS/IPS, IAM, AD, DNS, proxies, email security, cloud platforms like AWS/Azure/GCP, SaaS apps, containers/Kubernetes, DBs, identity providers).Implement data quality monitoring and SLA-driven dashboards for ingestion health, parser accuracy, and data latency.Optimize SIEM performance: indexing, search speed, hot/warm/cold storage, retention, and cost control.Implement role-based access control, multitenancy (if applicable), and data governance.Ensure high availability and disaster recovery; document and test failover procedures.Define KPIs/KRIs (e.g., MTTD, alert quality, data freshness, coverage, false positive rate).Handle purple-team exercises and detection gap assessments; drive remediation.Provide runbooks, knowledge base articles, and training to SOC and IT teams.Align SIEM data handling with regulatory and contractual requirement (e.g., SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, GDPR).Implement data minimization, masking, and retention policies, support audits and eDiscovery.Partner with IT/Cloud/Data teams to implement logging at source and ensure secure, reliable transport.Contribute to security architecture reviews for new systems and applications.The Qualifications We’re Looking For5+ years of experience in SIEM engineering or closely related security engineering roles.Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Security, or related field; or equivalent experience.Proven expertise with at least one enterprise SIEM platform end-to-end, preferably Splunk and Cribl (e.g., Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, QRadar, Elastic Security, Exabeam, Sumo Logic, LogRhythm, Chronicle).Strong proficiency in:Data parsing and normalization (e.g., regex, grok, KQL, SPL, AQL, Lucene).Detection rule creation, correlation logic, and tuning.Scripting/automation (e.g., Python, PowerShell, REST APIs, Terraform/Ansible preferred).Log source onboarding from Windows/Linux, AD, network devices, cloud services, EDR, and SaaS.Hands-on experience integrating SIEM with SOAR, ticketing (e.g., ServiceNow, JIRA), and case management.Good understanding of security operations, incident response workflows, and threat detection frameworks (MITRE ATT&CK, NIST 800-61).Experience with public cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, etc.)Experience with cloud logging and security services (e.g., AWS CloudTrail/CloudWatch/GuardDuty, Azure Defender/M365, GCP Audit Logs).Knowledge of data pipelines and messaging (e.g., Kafka, Kinesis, Event Hubs) and storage tiers (object storage, hot/warm/cold).Experience with Agile methodologies and collaborative work environments.Familiarity with identity and access management, network security, endpoint security, and common enterprise architectures.Strong documentation skills and experience with IaC/CI-CD for detection content a plus.Preferred Qualifications:Multiple SIEM platform experience (migrations, hybrid environments).Experience with UEBA/behavior analytics and anomaly detection.Experience with EDR/XDR integrations and telemetry correlation.Exposure to data lakes, lakehouses, or security data fabrics (e.g., Snowflake, BigQuery).Certifications: GCDA, GCIA, GCFE, GCIH, GMON, Splunk Certified Architect, Microsoft Certified: Cybersecurity Architect, AWS/Azure security certs, CISSP.Experience operating in regulated environments (e.g., financial services, healthcare).Background in purple teaming, threat hunting, or malware analysis.How We'll Have Your BackAlly's compensation program offers market-competitive base pay and pay-for-performance incentives (bonuses) based on achieving personal and company goals. Our Total Rewards program includes industry-leading compensation and benefits plus additional incentives that are designed to meet your needs and those of your family so you can get the most out of your career and your life, including:Time Away: Program starts at 20 paid time off days in addition to 11 paid holidays and 8 hours of volunteer time off yearly (time off days are prorated based on start date and program varies based on full or part-time status and management level).Planning for the Future: plan for the near and long term with an industry-leading 401K retirement savings plan with matching and company contributions, student loan pay downs and 529 educational save up assistance programs, tuition reimbursement, employee stock purchase plan, and financial learning center and financial coach access.Supporting your Health & Well-being: flexible health and insurance options including medical, dental and vision, employee, spouse and child life insurance, short- and long-term disability, pre-tax Health Savings Account with employer contributions, Healthcare FSA, critical illness, accident & hospital indemnity insurance, and a total well-being program that helps you and your family stay on track physically, socially, emotionally, and financially.Building a Family: adoption, surrogacy and fertility assistance as well as paid parental and caregiver leave, Dependent Day Care FSA back-up child and adult/elder care days and childcare discounts.Work-Life Integration: other benefits including Mentally Fit Employee Assistance Program, subsidized and discounted Weight Watchers program and other employee discount programs.Other Compensations: depending on the role for which you are considered, you may be eligible for travel allowances, relocation assistance, a signing bonus and/or equity.To view more detailed information about Ally’s Total Rewards, please visit this link: https://www.ally.com/content/dam/pdf/corporate/ally-total-rewards-snapshot.pdfWho We Are :Ally Financial is a customer-centric, leading digital financial services company with passionate customer service and innovative financial solutions. We are relentlessly focused on \"Doing it Right\" and being a trusted financial-services provider to our consumer, commercial, and corporate customers. For more information, visit www.ally.com .Ally is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy status, marital status, military or veteran status, genetic disposition or any other reason protected by law.In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if after review of the position expectations, you believe that you may need a medical accommodation to fulfill the duties of this role, please email [e-mail] with details of your accommodation request.Base Pay Range$110,000.00 - $180,000.00An individual's position in the range is determined by the specific role, the scope and responsibilities of the role, work experience, education, certification(s), training, and additional qualifications. We review internal pay, the competitive market, and business environment prior to extending an offer.Incentive Compensation:This position is eligible to participate in our annual incentive plan.