Security Engineering Manager

Northwood Space; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Northwood Space in Torrance, CA is seeking a Manager of IT Security & Operations to lead corporate IT and security. This position involves building IT operations from the ground up and managing a team focused on security and compliance.

The ideal candidate has extensive experience in IT security, identity management, and compliance frameworks. Applicants must have a background in DevSecOps and the ability to obtain TS/SCI clearance. This role reports to the Head of Security and offers opportunities for company-wide leadership.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in IT security and team leadership.
• Hands-on knowledge of identity and endpoint management.
• Familiarity with compliance frameworks like NIST and SOC.

Responsibilities

• Own corporate IT and helpdesk operations.
• Deploy and manage SIEM for security operations.
• Build detection and response capabilities for security.

Skills

IT Security

DevSecOps

Identity Management

Endpoint Management

Automation

Education

5+ years in IT, security, or DevSecOps engineering

CISSP, CISM, CISA or similar certifications

Tools

Okta

SaaS

AWS

Splunk

Job description

ABOUT NORTHWOOD

Northwood is deploying a global network of phased array ground stations that will fundamentally change how satellites communicate with Earth. These systems support real-time, high-throughput communications that commercial and government customers rely on for mission‑critical operations.

ROLE OVERVIEW

As Manager of IT Security & Operations, you will build and own our corporate IT, security operations from the ground up. This is the pathway to company wide leadership as the company scales – you will define how Northwood secures infrastructure that simply does not exist anywhere else.

Your immediate priorities are owning corporate IT and helpdesk operations and standing up our SIEM. You are the person responsible for keeping the company running day‑to‑day‑endpoint management, identity, access, onboarding, helpdesk. Building the security monitoring foundation we need as a dual‑use company handling mission‑critical space communications. At the start you will manage our IT operations engineer and hire to build out the team: security engineers, IT operations staff, and additional roles as Northwood grows. You bridge hands‑on DevSecOps and IT work with security and compliance strategy, progressively automating corporate IT while standing up detection, response, and capabilities. This role reports to the Head of Security.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Corporate IT & Helpdesk

• Own all corporate IT: identity management (Okta), device management (Intune/Jamf/FleetDM), endpoint security, SaaS administration, and helpdesk.
• Provide and oversee hands‑on IT support for new‑hire setup, desk deployment, A/V, asset management—while building automation to eliminate manual work over time.
• Drive Infrastructure as Code for IT systems, building self‑service tooling and integrations that scale operations without scaling headcount linearly.

SIEM & Security Operations

• Stand up Northwood’s SIEM—platform selection, log ingestion across ground stations and cloud infrastructure, correlation rules, and automated alerting.
• Work with our product infrastructure engineers on building out things properly.
• Build SOC capabilities: detection and response playbooks, incident response processes, and continuous monitoring for distributed space communications infrastructure.
• Deploy and manage endpoint detection/response, email security, DLP, and zero‑trust controls.

Team Building

• Hire and develop a team across security engineering and IT operations, building the organization from the ground up and serving as the primary IT and security subject‑matter expert across engineering, network operations, and mission management.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• 5+ years in IT, security, or DevSecOps engineering with experience leading or building teams.
• Hands‑on corporate IT background: identity providers (Okta, Azure AD), endpoint management, SaaS administration, and helpdesk operations.
• Experience deploying and operating SIEM platforms and building security monitoring programs.
• Basic knowledge of compliance frameworks (i.e., NIST 800, SOC 2, FedRamp).
• Technical depth with Infrastructure as Code, scripting (Python, Bash, PowerShell), and cloud environments (AWS).
• Experience in regulated or compliance‑heavy environments.
• Ability to obtain and maintain TS/SCI clearance.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Active TS clearance or higher.
• Experience in aerospace, defense, or critical infrastructure industries.
• Hands‑on with SIEM platforms (Splunk, Sentinel, Panther) and EDR solutions (CrowdStrike, SentinelOne).
• Experience scaling IT and security from startup to enterprise.
• ITAR compliance experience.
• CISSP, CISM, CISA, or similar certifications.

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Northwood is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Northwood is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.