Senior Incident Handler

Yale University; New Haven (CT); On-site; USD 113,000 - 169,000; Full time

Job summary

The Yale Cancer Center in New Haven is seeking a Senior Incident Handler to act as a senior escalation point for complex security incidents and support the SOC leadership in incident flow and response.

This remote-capable role requires strong analytics, leadership, and hands-on incident analysis across host, network, cloud, identity, and applications, with opportunities to mentor analysts and contribute to playbooks and tabletop exercises.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree and seven years of related experience.
• Strong analytical, critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and organizational skills.
• Proven ability to lead and manage staff and multiple projects.

Responsibilities

• Act as senior escalation point for complex or high-impact security incidents.
• Support SOC leadership in incident flow prioritization and response.
• Lead investigations by correlating host, network, cloud, identity, and application data.
• Develop and refine incident response playbooks and workflows.
• Improve detection and response through collaboration with Security Engineering.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship across SOC operations.
• Facilitate post-incident reviews and remediation tracking.
• Participate in tabletop exercises and SOC readiness assessments.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Interpersonal skills

Leadership

Project management

Incident response

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Job description

Working at Yale means contributing to a better tomorrow. Whether you are a current resident of our New Haven-based community, eligible for opportunities through the New Haven Hiring Initiative, or a newcomer, interested in exploring all that Yale has to offer, your talents and contributions are welcome. Discover your opportunities at Yale!

Salary Range: $112,500.00 - $168,750.00

Job Requisition ID: 137298WD

Position Focus

Serve as Senior Incident Handler: Acts as a senior escalation point for complex or high-impact incidents, supporting the SOC Associate Director in managing incident flow, prioritizing response efforts, and ensuring consistent, effective incident handling across the SOC.

• Perform Advanced Incident Analysis: Performs and reviews complex investigations, correlating host, network, cloud, identity, and application data to determine root cause, attack path, and impact of security events. Ensures high-quality documentation and investigative rigor.
• Drive Incident Response Process Maturity: Leads the evolution of incident response playbooks, workflows, and automation to improve consistency, efficiency, and effectiveness across a wide range of threat scenarios.
• Enhance Detection and Response Enablement: Partners with Security Engineering team to identify response gaps, inform detection improvements, and advance automation that improves incident handling and operational effectiveness.
• Provide Technical Leadership and Mentorship: Provides senior-level technical guidance and mentorship across SOC operations, strengthening investigative skills, decision-making, and overall incident response capability.
• Lead Post-Incident Reviews and Knowledge Sharing: Facilitates lessons-learned activities, drives remediation tracking, and ensures insights from incidents are incorporated into detection improvements, response processes, and analyst development.
• Support Threat Intelligence and Readiness Activities: Translates emerging threats into actionable incident response improvements and participates in tabletop exercises and SOC readiness assessments.

Required Skills and Abilities

1. 1. Well-developed analytical, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
2. 2. Well-developed interpersonal, written, communication, presentation, and organizational skills.
3. 3. Proven ability to lead and manage staff.
4. 4. Proven ability to manage multiple/complex projects, meeting deadlines and budget.
5. 5. Expert knowledge of commonly used concepts, practices, and procedure.

Principal Responsibilities

1. 1. Actively develop solutions to detect and prevent network intrusions.
2. 2. Serve as lead for moderately complex risk assessments.
3. 3. Manage the development and implementation of actions plans.
4. 4. Oversee the periodic assessment of systems.
5. 5. Participate in the development of program control processes to ensure risk mitigation.
6. 6. Develop and deliver information security training material.
7. 7. Provide guidance to and may supervise level 1-3 analysts.
8. 8. Research the latest information security trends and emerging threats.

Required Education and Experience: Bachelor's Degree and seven years of experience or equivalent education and experience.

Skills and Abilities: Well-developed analytical, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.Well-developed interpersonal, written, communication, presentation, and organizational skills.Proven ability to lead and manage staff.Proven ability to manage multiple/complex projects, meeting deadlines and budget.Expert knowledge of commonly used concepts, practices, and procedures.

Original Job Posting Date: 07/31/2026

Job Category: Professional

Bargaining Unit: NON

Compensation Grade: GS-4

Compensation Grade Profile: GS-4i

Time Type: Full time

Duration Type: Staff

Work Model: Remote

Location: 221 Whitney Ave, New Haven, Connecticut

Background Check Requirements: All candidates for employment will be subject to pre-employment background screening for this position, which may include motor vehicle, DOT certification, drug testing and credit checks basedon the position description and job requirements. All offers are contingent upon the successful completion of the background check. For additional information on the background check requirements and process visit "Learn about background checks" under the Applicant Support Resources section of Careers on the It's Your Yale website.

Health Requirements: Certain positions have associated health requirements based on specific job responsibilities. These may include vaccinations, tests, or examinations, as required by law, regulation, or university policy.

Posting Disclaimer: The intent of this job description is to provide a representative summary of the essential functions that will be required of the position and should not be construed as a declaration of specific duties and responsibilities of the position. Employees will be assigned specific job-related duties through their hiring department. University policy is committed to affirmative action under law in employment of women, minority group members, individuals with disabilities, and protected veterans. Additionally, in accordance with Yale's Policy Against Discrimination and Harassment, and as delineated by federal and Connecticut law, Yale does not discriminate in admissions, educational programs, or employment against any individual on account of that individual's sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, disability, status as a special disabled veteran, veteran of the Vietnam era or other covered veteran. Inquiries concerning Yale's Policy Against Discrimination and Harassment may be referred to the Office of Institutional Equity and Accessibility (OIEA).

Note Yale University is a tobacco‑free campus.