Remote ISSO — Federal RMF & ATO Lead

Commence; Illinois; Remote; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Commence seeks an Information System Security Officer (ISSO) to own and lead the security posture of federal systems, applying RMF/NIST controls, continuous monitoring, and risk management across CMS, VA, DoD, and IRS programs.

You will collaborate with CIO, Cybersecurity Engineers, Compliance Analysts, and Project Managers to embed security milestones in projects, author SSPs, and drive remediation based on scans and audits. This is a remote role with travel; US citizenship is required.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of information assurance or cybersecurity experience, including 3+ years as an ISSO or A&A lead for federal information systems; bachelor’s degree in a related field or equivalent experience.
• Has personally taken at least one federal system through an initial ATO or reauthorization under NIST SP, including SSP authorship and POA&M management in various agency specific GRC platforms.
• Working knowledge of at least two of: CMS ARS/IS2P2, VA 6500, DoD RMF and NIST SP 800-171/CMMC, IRS Publication 1075 & 4812, DHS 4300A. Experience with FedRAMP and HIPAA a plus.
• Comfortable reading vulnerability and configuration scan output (Tenable/Nessus, Defender, AWS Inspector, SCAP/STIG Viewer) and translating findings into remediation tasks.
• Familiarity with AWS and Microsoft 365/Azure.
• A clear, precise writer who can run several systems and deadline clocks at once.
• CompTIA Security+ (or higher DoD 8140-qualifying certification) required. CISSP, CGRC (formerly CAP), CISA, or CCSP preferred.
• U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain federal Public Trust suitability required.

Responsibilities

• ISSO designation and liaison. Serve as the designated ISSO for assigned federal systems and the primary system-level security liaison to agency ISSOs, Authorizing Officials, assessors, and prime contractor security teams; carry out priorities set by the CIO and ISSM; escalade program-level issues, risk acceptances, and exceptions to the ISSM with a recommended path.
• Project and cross-functional coordination. Partner with Project Managers to build security and authorization milestones into project plans, assess the security impact of system changes before they ship, and keep federal deliverable dates visible to project and program teams.
• ATO packages. Run the Security Assessment and Authorization lifecycle under the NIST Risk Management Framework (SP 800-37) from FIPS 199 categorization through authorization, ongoing authorization, and reauthorization. Author and maintain the System Security and Privacy Plan, risk assessment, Privacy Impact Assessment, contingency plan and annual test, incident response plan, configuration management plan, and interconnection agreements, for ISSM review.
• Continuous monitoring and POA&M. Maintain POA&M in agency GRC platforms; review monthly vulnerability and configuration scans against DISA STIGs, CIS benchmarks, and agency baselines; assign and track remediation with Cybersecurity Engineers and IT Operations to agency timelines; prepare ongoing-authorization and ConMon reports.
• Agency assessments. Lead system-level preparation for CMS Security Controls Assessments and Adaptive Capabilities Testing, VA and DoD assessments, and IRS Safeguards reviews; work with Compliance Analysts on evidence collection and findings response.
• Agency-specific requirements. Maintain compliance with current and future agency requirements to include CMS ARS and IS2P2; VA Handbook 6500 and 6500.6; DFARS , NIST SP 800-171, and CMMC 2.0 for DoD/DHA; IRS Publication 1075 & 4812; DHS 4300A and Sensitive Security Information handling; plus CUI, FISMA, HIPAA, and the Privacy Act.
• Incident reporting. Act as first responder for security and privacy incidents affecting federal data on assigned systems; escalade immediately to the ISSM and CIO; meet agency notification clock in coordination with the Privacy Officer and prime contractors.
• Contract deliverables and personnel security. Complete system-level contract security deliverables; manage federal personnel security tasks (Public Trust and e-QIP processing, agency training, rules of behavior, access attestations).
• Internal audit and framework support. Support the CIO and ISSM with internal audits and control assessments against SOC 2, NIST (CSF, SP 800-53, SP 800-171), HIPAA, HITRUST, and ISO/IEC 27001 frameworks: control testing, evidence preparation, gap analysis, and corrective action tracking. Provide system-specific input to the ISSM and Compliance Analyst, who owns external audits and customer and prime contractor security questionnaires.
• This description is not all-inclusive and may be modified to meet the needs of the business.

Skills

Information security

Federal security compliance

Communication

Leadership

Vulnerability analysis

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a related field

Tools

Tenable Nessus

Defender

AWS Inspector

SCAP/STIG Viewer

Job description

Commence seeks an Information System Security Officer (ISSO) to own and lead the security posture of federal systems, applying RMF/NIST controls, continuous monitoring, and risk management across CMS, VA, DoD, and IRS programs.

You will collaborate with CIO, Cybersecurity Engineers, Compliance Analysts, and Project Managers to embed security milestones in projects, author SSPs, and drive remediation based on scans and audits. This is a remote role with travel; US citizenship is required.