Security Operations Manager

Optimize Search Group; Plano (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Optimize Search Group is seeking a Security Operations Manager to lead enterprise security monitoring, incident response, and security operations. This hands-on role collaborates with infrastructure, cloud, IT, risk, and business stakeholders to strengthen detection, response, and recovery from cybersecurity threats.

The role reports to cybersecurity leadership and focuses on building robust incident response, security awareness, and operational efficiency across a hybrid cloud environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.
• 7+ years in cybersecurity with at least 2 years leading SOC, IR, or related function.
• Experience coordinating with MDR/MSSP/IR vendors.
• Strong knowledge of detection, monitoring, automation in cloud/hybrid environments.
• Experience leading security awareness and phishing simulations.
• Excellent incident management, communication, and cross-functional leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Act as primary incident commander for major cybersecurity events and drive structured response.
• Oversee the full incident lifecycle: communications, coordination, forensics, remediation, reviews.
• Lead post-incident lessons-learned to improve controls and defenses.
• Collaborate with tech and business teams to improve remediation and detection coverage.
• Maintain and improve incident response playbooks across threat scenarios.
• Manage relationships with external security service providers and ensure SLAs.
• Monitor third-party security operations for detection quality and response times.
• Provide visibility into telemetry and alerting for leadership reporting.
• Coordinate threat hunting, threat intel integration, and response automation.
• Lead Cybersecurity Awareness and Training programs and phishing simulations.

Skills

Security leadership

Incident response

Security monitoring

Cross-functional leadership

Phishing simulations

Communication of security risks

Automation & detection engineering

Education

Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity/CS/IT

Job description

Duration: Direct Hire

Position Summary

The Security Operations Manager will lead enterprise security monitoring, incident response, and security operations processes while helping drive the strategic and technical direction of the organization's cybersecurity program.

This is a hands-on technical management role responsible for day-to-day security operations, incident response, security monitoring, third-party security services, and employee security awareness initiatives.

The Security Operations Manager will serve as a key member of the cybersecurity leadership team and will work closely with infrastructure, cloud, application, IT, risk, and business stakeholders to strengthen the organization's ability to detect, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity threats.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary incident commander for significant cybersecurity events, ensuring structured response and recovery in accordance with established incident response frameworks and organizational playbooks.
• Manage the cybersecurity incident lifecycle, including communications, stakeholder coordination, forensic support, remediation oversight, and post-incident review.
• Lead post-incident lessons-learned activities to identify control gaps, process improvements, and opportunities to strengthen security defenses.
• Partner with technology and business teams to ensure timely remediation and improve security detection and response coverage.
• Maintain and continuously improve incident response playbooks and procedures across a range of potential threat scenarios.
• Manage relationships with external managed security service providers and security partners, ensuring appropriate service levels, escalation procedures, performance expectations, and reporting.
• Monitor and evaluate third-party security operations performance, including detection quality, false-positive rates, escalation effectiveness, and response times.
• Ensure appropriate visibility into enterprise security telemetry, detection capabilities, alerting, and response mechanisms.
• Collaborate with security service providers to prioritize improvements in threat detection and adversary technique coverage.
• Partner with internal and external security teams to coordinate threat hunting, threat intelligence integration, detection engineering, and response automation.
• Lead the organization's Cybersecurity Awareness and Training Program, including enterprise training, targeted security education, and recurring awareness campaigns.
• Design and manage phishing simulation exercises to measure employee security awareness and improve security behaviors.
• Develop operational metrics and reporting to communicate security operations performance, incident trends, response effectiveness, and areas of risk to cybersecurity leadership.
• Identify opportunities to improve security monitoring, incident response processes, automation, and operational efficiency.
• Partner with cybersecurity leadership to support the ongoing development and maturity of the organization's security operations program.

Required Skills & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• 7+ years of cybersecurity experience, including at least 2 years leading a security operations, incident response, or related cybersecurity function.
• Demonstrated experience coordinating with external security service providers, including MDR, MSSP, managed detection, or incident response vendors.
• Strong working knowledge of security detection, incident response, monitoring, and automation concepts across cloud and hybrid environments.
• Experience managing enterprise security awareness and phishing simulation programs.
• Strong incident management, communication, problem-solving, and cross-functional leadership skills.
• Ability to translate technical security events and risks into clear business communications and actionable recommendations.