Security Operations Specialist

University of North Carolina Charlotte; Charlotte (NC); On-site; USD 70,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

University of North Carolina Charlotte is seeking a Security Operations Specialist to defend the University’s digital infrastructure. The role leads AI-enabled security initiatives, integrates AI within toolsets, and drives proactive threat hunting and rapid containment.

The position supports SIEM operations, vulnerability management, and incident response in a fast-paced higher education environment. Occasional evening/weekend hours may be required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, computer engineering, information security, or related field.
• 2+ years of relevant work experience or equivalent.
• Equivalent combination of education and relevant work experience.

Responsibilities

• Support SIEM monitoring, alerting, detection, and response for on‑premise and cloud systems.
• Threat hunt using AI/ML; design AI-assisted alert triage and automated responses.
• Develop and test offensive/defensive tooling and automation for security operations.
• Participate in incident response and post‑incident analysis across the University.

Skills

Coding Experience

Experience with Large Language Models

Experience with security tools

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science / computer engineering / information security or related field

Tools

EDR

XDR

SIEM

Vulnerability Scanning

SOAR

Job description

Security Operations Specialist

Please see Special Instructions for more details.

Special Notes to Applicants

• Download documents: If there is a document you feel is relevant to this position that you would like reviewed with your resume and application, you may upload it to the "Other Documents" section of the Applicant Documents.
• The finalist will be subject to a Criminal Background Check and/or a Motor Vehicle Report.
• The Search Committee will not contact references without first verifying permission with the finalist.
• Please ensure your resume reflects the knowledge, skills, abilities, and experiences to support your answers to the supplemental questions.
• UNC Charlotte Benefits Information: https://hr.charlotte.edu/benefits/benefits-overview/

Position Information

• Position Number: 008132
• Vacancy Open To: All Candidates
• Working Title: Security Operations Specialist
• Position Designation: EHRA Non-Faculty
• Employment Type: Permanent - Full-time
• Months per Year: 12
• Work Schedule: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm; Monday - Friday with occasional evening and weekend hours required, as necessary.
• Hours per week: 40
• FLSA Status: Exempt
• Division: OneIT
• Department: Office of OneIT (Adm)
• Work Location: Kennedy
• Primary Purpose of Department: The Office of OneIT provides highly reliable information technology infrastructure, tools, and services to empower the University to achieve its academic, research, administrative, and service goals.
• Primary Purpose of Position: The Security Operations Specialist is a highly technical, action-oriented role focused on defending the University's digital infrastructure from active threats. This position will lead the initiative to integrate AI within the University's security toolset. Instead of relying on passive compliance checklists, this position leverages cutting-edge artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automated orchestration to enable proactive threat hunting, accelerate real-time threat containment, and lower alert fatigue.

Summary of Position Responsibilities

Security Operations Support

• Contribute to continuous improvement of the security information and event management (SIEM) system, developing processes and procedures for monitoring, alerting, detection, and response functions for on-premise, cloud-based, and, as appropriate, third‑party systems and services.
• Review system logs and real-time alerts to identify trends, investigate abnormalities, and report exceptions.
• Tune and create analytic detection policies for detecting and monitoring anomalous and malicious activity across the University Information Technology ecosystem.
• Contribute to continuous improvement in Security Operations tasks and functions.
• Support vulnerability management operations for the University and affiliates.
• Create and maintain data dashboards and reports based on various systems of record to help the University IT community identify vulnerabilities, enabling them to focus their efforts to mitigate IT security risks across our environment.

Proactive Defense & AI-Augmented SOC Support

• Threat Hunting:Deploy machine learning models and AI-driven behavior analytics to actively hunt for hidden threat actors.
• SOC Augmentation: Design and maintain AI-assisted agents to triage alerts and automate response, reducing alert fatigue and response time.
• Dynamic Optimization:Continuously build, tune, and refine policies across the Security tools to accurately catch modern, fast-moving attacker techniques.

Engineering Offensive & Defensive Tooling

• Automated Defense: Assist Security Engineers to optimize and maintain Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) systems.
• Adversarial Simulation: Develop and automate scripts and AI attack simulations to test existing defenses.

Incident Response

• Perform the role of an incident response team member in the event of a successful attack to support technical response actions, incident mitigation, and recovery activities.
• Participate in investigations of security incidents and provide resolutions based on alerts and events provided by security dashboards ranging from a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system to vulnerability scans or penetration testing assessments.
• Contribute to procedures for proactive and reactive Incident Response to be used University-wide.

Minimum Education/Experience

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, computer engineering, information security, or other closely related field and
• 2+ years of relevant work experience; or an
• Equivalent combination of education and relevant work experience.

Preferred Education, Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Coding Experience
• Experience working with Small and Large Language Models
• Experience in a higher education environment
• Experience within a security operations team
• Understanding of how to utilize automation tools to increase the productivity and responsiveness of a SOC.
• Ability to perform comfortably in a fast‑paced, deadline‑oriented work environment.
• Ability to successfully execute many complex tasks in rapid succession.
• Experience with security tools (EDR, XDR, SIEM, Vulnerability Scanning)
• One or more information security certifications such as GCIH, GPEN, SSCP are preferable, but not required.

Preferred Certifications/Licenses

Security+, CASP, ISC2 SSCP, GIAC GCIH, GPEN.

Posting Information

• Posting Open Date: 07/27/2026
• Open Until Filled: Yes

Posting Specific Questions

1. * How did you hear about this employment opportunity?
   • UNC Charlotte Website
   • HERC Job Board
   • Inside Higher Education
   • Mitratech Circa (formerly known as Local JobNetwork)
   • Another Website
   • Agency Referral
   • Advertisement/Publication
   • Personal Referral
   • Other
2. Where did you learn about this posting?

   (Open Ended Question)

3. * Do you have a bachelor's degree in computer science, computer engineering, information security, or another closely related field and 2+ years of relevant work experience, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant work experience?
   • Yes, at least a bachelor's degree in computer science, computer engineering, information security, or another closely related field and 2+ years of relevant work experience.
   • Yes, an associate's degree in computer science, computer engineering, information security, or another closely related field and 4+ years of relevant work experience.
   • Yes, a high school diploma/GED and 6+ years of relevant work experience.
   • No

Applicant Documents

Required Documents

1. Resume / Curriculum Vitae
2. Cover Letter / Letter of Interest

Optional Documents

1. Other Document