Senior Director, Cyber Defense & AI Risk

Upbound Group Inc.; Plano (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Upbound Group Inc. is seeking a Sr. Director of Cyber Security to lead the cyber defense program, including security operations, incident response, threat hunting, and exposure management.

You will govern vulnerability management, PCI DSS alignment, and AI governance while acting as a deputy to the CISO and shaping the security strategy. The role requires deep leadership, 15+ years in cybersecurity, and experience with major incidents in consumer finance or retail contexts.

Qualifications

• 15+ years in cybersecurity, with senior governance and operations experience.
• 8+ years in people management and leadership of security teams.
• Led major incident responses with executive briefing experience.
• Managed a scalable vulnerability management program with SLAs and audits.
• Established risk governance with risk registers and reporting to executives and boards.
• Built or rebuilt detection engineering and managed outsourced detection/response partners.
• Applied AI and automation to security operations and governed AI risk.

Responsibilities

• Own security operations center performance and monitoring SLAs.
• Lead end‑to‑end incident response with playbooks and executive updates.
• Oversee detection engineering and threat hunting aligned to attacker techniques.
• Manage exposure inventory, risk prioritization, and remediation tracking.
• Govern vulnerability management, SLAs by risk tier, and audit evidence.
• Govern AI risk, approvals, and reporting to governance forums.
• Maintain a risk‑driven defense backlog with clear ownership and dates.
• Scale team with AI‑assisted triage and automation, and manage external partners.
• Hire, develop, and lead the security team and contract engineers.

Skills

Cybersecurity leadership

Security operations

Exposure management

Incident response

Threat hunting

Detections engineering

AI governance

Risk governance

Team leadership

Vendor management

Education

CISSP or equivalent certification

Job description

Upbound Group Inc. is seeking a Sr. Director of Cyber Security to lead the cyber defense program, including security operations, incident response, threat hunting, and exposure management.

You will govern vulnerability management, PCI DSS alignment, and AI governance while acting as a deputy to the CISO and shaping the security strategy. The role requires deep leadership, 15+ years in cybersecurity, and experience with major incidents in consumer finance or retail contexts.