Senior Cyber Defense Engineer

Selective Insurance; Millburn (NJ); On-site; USD 130,000 - 176,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

Retirement Savings

Stock Purchase Program

Tuition Assistance

Paid Time Off

Job summary

Selective Insurance seeks a Cyber Defense Senior Specialist to strengthen our security posture through SOC, incident response, and security engineering. This role leads complex cybersecurity initiatives from planning to implementation, coordinating across IT and business units while guiding threat detection and response activities.

The role requires 7+ years in IT/security, 5+ years in cybersecurity, and certifications such as CISSP/GIAC.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in IT, Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Systems, Risk Management, or related field (or equivalent).
• 7+ years of progressive experience in IT, information security, or risk-related roles.
• 5+ years of direct cybersecurity experience in security operations, incident response, cyber defense, or related security disciplines.
• Experience independently managing complex technical work, coordinating across teams, and driving security initiatives from assessment through implementation.
• Industry certifications such as CISSP, GIAC, GCIH, GCFA, or equivalent are preferred.
• Knowledge of NIST CSF, SOX, HIPAA, and NYDFS 23 NYCRR 500.
• Availability to support after-hours or on-call activities when needed.

Responsibilities

• Provides senior leadership and escalation support for Cyber Defense.
• Monitors and responds to security alerts and events across endpoints, networks, identities, email, and cloud environments.
• Performs alert triage and case management, documents findings, and escalates as needed.
• Leads incident response activities including scoping, evidence review, and containment actions.
• Administers and improves Cyber Defense technologies (EDR, SIEM, NAC, vulnerability tools).
• Drives detection and response improvements by tuning alerts and reducing false positives.
• Manages improvement initiatives and communicates progress to stakeholders.
• Partners with internal teams and vendors to support tooling and capabilities.
• Contributes to Cyber Defense policies, standards, and compliance alignment.
• Participates in IT Security on-call rotation for high-priority events.

Skills

Cybersecurity

Security Operations

Incident Response

Detection Engineering

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in IT / Cybersecurity

Tools

CISSP

GIAC

GCIH

GCFA

Job description

Selective Insurance seeks a Cyber Defense Senior Specialist to strengthen our security posture through SOC, incident response, and security engineering. This role leads complex cybersecurity initiatives from planning to implementation, coordinating across IT and business units while guiding threat detection and response activities.

The role requires 7+ years in IT/security, 5+ years in cybersecurity, and certifications such as CISSP/GIAC.