Senior OT Security Architect (ICS/SCADA)

Xcel Energy Inc; Denver, Minneapolis, Amarillo (CO, MN, TX); Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 183,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/Pharmacy Plan

Dental

Vision

Life Insurance

Health Savings Account (HSA)

Pension

401(k) plan

Paid time off (PTO)

Holidays

Job summary

Xcel Energy Inc, a leading utility in the United States, is seeking a Senior/Principal Security Architect to design and deliver secure IT and OT solutions for critical infrastructure. The role emphasizes collaboration with operations, engineering, and security teams to implement robust security controls across substations, generation sites, and associated OT assets.

The role requires hands-on experience in ICS/OT security and strong communication.

Qualifications

• 8+ years IT experience, including 5 years in IT engineering and cybersecurity.
• Strong verbal/written communication and presentation skills.
• Experience collaborating with internal stakeholders, 3rd parties, and management.
• Ability to influence without direct authority.
• Experience with technology implementation projects for enterprise-scale organizations.

Responsibilities

• OT/ICS Security Architecture: Define security patterns and reference architectures for industrial control environments (e.g., SCADA, DCS, PLC/HMI).
• Network Segmentation & Remote Access: Define segmentation, secure remote access, and monitoring for OT networks and vendor connectivity.
• Governance & Standards: Develop security baselines, hardening standards, and exception processes for OT assets and infrastructure; manage compliance drift.
• Operational Collaboration: Partner with controls engineering, field technicians, plant operations, and maintenance to implement security improvements.
• Incident Readiness: Improve detection and response for OT environments, including logging/telemetry, playbooks, and tabletop exercises.
• Documentation and Reusability: Create use cases and implementation patterns.
• Regulation and Compliance: Ensure adherence to NERC CIP and TSA directives for OT and IT/cloud services.

Skills

IT experience

IT engineering & cyber security

Communication skills

Stakeholder collaboration

Influence without authority

Enterprise-scale projects experience

Job description

Xcel Energy Inc, a leading utility in the United States, is seeking a Senior/Principal Security Architect to design and deliver secure IT and OT solutions for critical infrastructure. The role emphasizes collaboration with operations, engineering, and security teams to implement robust security controls across substations, generation sites, and associated OT assets.

The role requires hands-on experience in ICS/OT security and strong communication.