Remote Data Protection & Security Engineer

First Student; United States; Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

First Student is seeking a Data Protection & Security Engineer to own data protection capabilities and provide hands-on security engineering across cloud, on-premises, and application security. You will partner with IT, I&O, and Legal to design and operate controls protecting student, employee, and operational data.

The role requires ramping quickly into an active program and balancing responsibilities across data protection and security engineering domains, with occasional on-call rotation and

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or equivalent experience.
• 7+ years of cybersecurity experience with at least 4 years in data protection, cloud security, or cybersecurity engineering.
• Industry certifications such as SANS/GIAC (GDSA, GDAT, or equivalent), CISSP, CISM preferred.

Responsibilities

• Identify and assess: Own enterprise data protection risk assessments, classification standards, and control effectiveness evaluations.
• Securely build & protect: Design and define data protection control requirements and standards for DLP, encryption, key management, and data governance across cloud and on‑premises environments.
• Monitor for data misuse, exfiltration, and policy violations; integrate DLP with SOC workflows and support SIEM expansions.
• Lead Cybersecurity response activities for data exposure incidents with investigation direction and remediation oversight.
• Develop data protection policies aligned with FERPA, CCPA, and other privacy laws; own the data classification framework and reporting.
• Lead and coordinate: provide technical oversight of cybersecurity analysts and serve as escalation point.

Skills

Data protection

Cloud security

Security engineering

DLP platforms

SIEM integration

Python/PowerShell

Regulatory compliance

Vulnerability management

AWS security services

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent

Tools

M365 Purview

CrowdStrike Falcon Data Protection

KMS

Macie

CloudTrail

Rapid7

Job description

First Student is seeking a Data Protection & Security Engineer to own data protection capabilities and provide hands-on security engineering across cloud, on-premises, and application security. You will partner with IT, I&O, and Legal to design and operate controls protecting student, employee, and operational data.

The role requires ramping quickly into an active program and balancing responsibilities across data protection and security engineering domains, with occasional on-call rotation and