Senior Threat Detection Engineer

Dragos, Inc.; United States; On-site; USD 129,000 - 175,000; Full time

Job summary

Dragos is seeking a Senior Detection Engineer to join our Detection Engineering team, driving high-fidelity detections for OT environments and turning threat intelligence into actionable analytics.

As part of a global ICS cybersecurity leader, you will mentor junior engineers, collaborate with engineering, OT Watch, and quality teams, and help advance the Dragos Platform to identify, triage, and respond to evolving threats across critical infrastructure worldwide.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in security operations, threat hunting, or detection development.
• 2+ years operationalizing cyber threat intelligence to defend networks from emerging threats.
• 1+ years of direct experience with SCADA, DCS, building automation, or other industrial control system devices and environments.
• Advanced network packet analysis and manipulation using tools such as Wireshark, Tshark, ngrep, tcpdump, Zeek, and Scapy.
• Working knowledge of Windows Event Logging fundamentals, including enabling and reviewing event logs, adjusting log size and retention settings, and enabling Advanced Audit Policies.
• Awareness of common operating system internals and the ability to identify analytic opportunities.
• Comfortable working with multi-gigabyte host and network datasets.
• Applied knowledge of network communication fundamentals.
• Proven ability to mentor and develop junior detection engineers.
• Adept at both verbal presentation and technical writing.

Responsibilities

• Create ICSS-focused threat detections (atomic, component, composite, and events) and Asset Identification analytics based on assigned tickets.
• Mentor ICSS Detection Engineers by engaging them in your detection development process and delegating portions of detection development they are ready to own.
• Engage with Principal Detections Engineers to support their detection development initiatives through analysis of packet captures and Windows host logs.
• Test, validate, and tune detections created by the ICSS Detection team, including rules submitted by trusted advisors and industry partners, for analytic quality control.
• Lead the review, triage, and response for detection requests submitted to the ICSS Detection Support board, enriching tickets with PCAPs, links, tags, and documentation.
• Drive documentation of processes for authoring, validating, and testing analytics released in the Dragos Platform Knowledge Packs (KPs), and keep the knowledgebase current on reported issues, false positives, and detection questions.
• Analyze artifacts collected from ICSS equipment, embedded devices, firewalls, network devices, and ICSS software, and support staging and artifact collection within the Dragos ICSS Cyber Range.
• Analyze cyber threat intelligence reporting to create detection ideation tasks for threat behavior-based detections and Asset Identification.
• Partner with the Engineering, OT Watch, and Quality Engineering teams to identify protocol coverage gaps and resolve detection issues in the Dragos Platform.
• Give and receive peer feedback on a normal cadence as part of our review cycle.

Skills

Security operations

Threat hunting

Detection development

Network packet analysis

Windows Event Logging

ICSS devices

Mentoring juniors

Verbal presentation

Technical writing

Programming (Python Go Rust)

Tools

Wireshark

Tshark

Zeek

Suricata

Snort

YARA

Scapy

Splunk

Elasticsearch

ECS schema

Python

Rust

Go

Lua

Job description

At Dragos, the mission is personal. The systems we protect deliver the water you drink, power your home, and keep the hospitals your community depends on running. Those critical infrastructure systems that power our civilization around the world are under attack every day by adversaries. When those systems fail, people are immediately at risk. We are the global leader in xOT cybersecurity, combining technology, threat intelligence, and expert services. The people here chose this work because they understand what is at stake. Here, you will find a remote-first mission-driven team across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and APAC built on authenticity, transparency, and trust. If safeguarding the systems that protect your family, friends, and community is the kind of work that matters to you, you are in the right place.

About The Role

Dragos is seeking a Senior Detection Engineer to join our Detection Engineering team, which plays a pivotal role in our customers' ability to identify and respond to threats targeting their OT environments by turning cyber threat intelligence into high-fidelity, performant detections. Backed by the industry’s largest and most experienced team of industrial control systems (ICS) cybersecurity practitioners, Dragos ICSS Cyber Threat Intelligence provides in-depth visibility of threats targeting industrial environments globally. As emerging threats to ISC environments are identified, the Detection team studies those threat behaviors and creates atomic, component, and composite detections for the Dragos Platform. To be successful at Dragos you will need to:

• Be self-motivated, persistent, and creative in the face of complex technical challenges.
• Align with the thought process of a cyber adversary and the ICSS Cyber Kill Chain to predict the desired outcome of an attack.
• Be a team player on a fast-moving team focused on rapidly innovating the state of industrial security.
• Openly share information at every opportunity to enhance the knowledge of your team.
• Continuously invest in and expand your knowledge of ICSS technologies.

At Dragos, we don’t hire engineers whose only mission in life is to write detection rules. We are looking for detection engineers who yearn to contribute to more than just an analytic portfolio and who are willing to stretch themselves to accomplish the mission.

Responsibilities

• Create ICSS-focused threat detections (atomic, component, composite, and events) and Asset Identification analytics based on assigned tickets.
• Mentor ICSS Detection Engineers by engaging them in your detection development process and delegating portions of detection development they are ready to own.
• Engage with Principal Detections Engineers to support their detection development initiatives through analysis of packet captures and Windows host logs.
• Test, validate, and tune detections created by the ICSS Detection team, including rules submitted by trusted advisors and industry partners, for analytic quality control.
• Lead the review, triage, and response for detection requests submitted to the ICSS Detection Support board, enriching tickets with PCAPs, links, tags, and documentation.
• Drive documentation of processes for authoring, validating, and testing analytics released in the Dragos Platform Knowledge Packs (KPs), and keep the knowledgebase current on reported issues, false positives, and detection questions.
• Analyze artifacts collected from ICSS equipment, embedded devices, firewalls, network devices, and ICSS software, and support staging and artifact collection within the Dragos ICSS Cyber Range.
• Analyze cyber threat intelligence reporting to create detection ideation tasks for threat behavior-based detections and Asset Identification.
• Partner with the Engineering, OT Watch, and Quality Engineering teams to identify protocol coverage gaps and resolve detection issues in the Dragos Platform.
• Give and receive peer feedback on a normal cadence as part of our review cycle.

Qualifications

Required:

• 8+ years in security operations, threat hunting, or detection development, OR offensive operations, threat emulation, or security tool development
• 2+ years of experience operationalizing cyber threat intelligence to defend networks from emerging threats
• 1+ years of direct experience with SCADA, DCS, building automation, or other industrial control system devices and environments
• Advanced network packet analysis and manipulation using tools such as Wireshark, Tshark, ngrep, tcpdump, Zeek, and Scapy
• Working knowledge of Windows Event Logging fundamentals, including enabling and reviewing event logs, adjusting log size and retention settings, and enabling Advanced Audit Policies
• Awareness of common operating system internals and the ability to identify analytic opportunities
• Comfortable working with multi-gigabyte host and network datasets
• Applied knowledge of network communication fundamentals
• Proven ability to mentor and develop junior detection engineers
• Adept at both verbal presentation and technical writing

Preferred

• Experience creating detections using technologies such as Suricata, Snort, YARA, or Zeek
• Prior experience producing cyber threat intelligence reports or working with threat intelligence to understand and counter adversary operations
• Development experience with programming languages such as Python, Rust, Ruby, Go, or Lua
• Experience with SOC platforms such as Splunk or Elasticsearch (including the ECS schema)
• Experience incorporating AI tools, models, or services into detection engineering workflows
• Prior experience with ICSS network assessments or ICSS penetration testing
• Windows and Linux system administration, networking and firewalls, and virtualization experience
• Cybersecurity certifications such as SANS GICSP, GRID, GCTI, GCIA, GCIH, or GCDA; Offensive Security OSCP, OSEP, or OSED; CompTIA CySA+ or PenTest+; or similar
• Ability to travel (less than 10%) for internal team activities, conferences, and customer sites to collect and analyze data

Compensation

• Salary: $152,000
• Competitive Equity Package
• Comprehensive Benefits Plan

Dragos is an Equal Opportunity Employer and considers applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetics, or any other basis forbidden under federal, state, or local laws. All new hires must pass a background check as a condition of employment.