Senior Cyber Defense Lead | SOC, IR & Security Engineering

Selective Insurance; Charlotte (NC); On-site; USD 130,000 - 176,000; Full time

Job summary

Selective Insurance is seeking a senior ITS Cyber Defense Specialist in Charlotte to strengthen our cyber posture across SOC, incident response, and security engineering. You will independently lead complex initiatives, improve controls, and guide teams and partners through detection and response activities.

The role requires 7+ years in IT/security, 5+ years in cybersecurity, and certifications preferred. You will work with stakeholders across IT and business units, including after-hours

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in information technology, cybersecurity, or related field.
• 7+ years in information technology or information security roles.
• 5+ years in cybersecurity, including security operations and incident response.
• Experience coordinating across teams and driving security initiatives.
• Certs such as CISSP/GIAC/GCFA are preferred.
• Knowledge of NIST CSF, SOX, HIPAA, NYDFS 23 NYCRR 500; on-call availability.

Responsibilities

• Serve as senior SME and escalation point for Cyber Defense, providing leadership.
• Monitor and respond to security alerts across endpoints, networks, identities, email, and cloud.
• Triage alerts, document findings, assess impact, and escalate per procedures.
• Lead incident response activities including scoping, evidence review, and containment.
• Administer and optimize EDR, SIEM, NAC, and vulnerability tools.
• Tune alerts to reduce false positives and close visibility gaps.
• Manage improvement initiatives and report progress to stakeholders.
• Collaborate with internal teams and vendors on defense capabilities.
• Contribute to Cyber Defense policies, standards, and regulatory alignment.
• Participate in IT Security on-call rotations for high-priority events.

Skills

Security operations

Incident response

Threat detection

Leadership

Communication

Project coordination

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

EDR

SIEM

NAC

Vulnerability mgmt

Job description

Selective Insurance is seeking a senior ITS Cyber Defense Specialist in Charlotte to strengthen our cyber posture across SOC, incident response, and security engineering. You will independently lead complex initiatives, improve controls, and guide teams and partners through detection and response activities.

The role requires 7+ years in IT/security, 5+ years in cybersecurity, and certifications preferred. You will work with stakeholders across IT and business units, including after-hours