Senior Watch Officer (SWO) / Active Secret

Peraton; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 80,000 - 128,000; Full time

Job summary

Peraton is seeking a Senior Watch Officer to support the DHS 24x7 SCIF/Operations Center in Washington, DC. The role focuses on coordinating cyber and physical incidents affecting critical infrastructure and briefing government leadership on developing situations.

The SWO will lead a team of analysts, manage incident data, and communicate across federal stakeholders to ensure timely reporting. On-site shifts occur across a 24x7 schedule in DC.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with 6+ years of related technical experience, or a Master’s degree with 4 years of related experience.
• Experience managing time-sensitive event reporting, cyclic reporting, and briefing products.
• Ability to multitask in a 24x7x365 operations support environment.
• Active Secret clearance with the ability to obtain a Top Secret Security Clearance with SCI eligibility.
• Experience with open-source analysis and alerting systems.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate cyber and physical incidents affecting critical infrastructure and produce various levels of incident reporting.
• Lead a team of analysts during the shift and coordinate tasks through completion.
• Communicate with federal staff, law enforcement, and partners to ensure coordinated reporting.
• Monitor classified databases, ticket systems, alert services, and open sources for threats.
• Support the Operations Manager in day-to-day operations of a 24x7 Cyber Operations Center.

Skills

Open-source analysis

Incident management

Multi-tasking under pressure

Stakeholder communication

Security clearance readiness

Education

Bachelor’s degree with 6+ years or Master’s with 4 years

Tools

Open-source alerting systems

Threat monitoring tools

Job description

Peraton Overview

Peraton is a next-generation national security company that drives missions of consequence spanning the globe and extending to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. As the world’s leading mission capability integrator and transformative enterprise IT provider, we deliver trusted, highly differentiated solutions and technologies to protect our nation and allies. Peraton operates at the critical nexus between traditional and nontraditional threats across all domains: land, sea, space, air, and cyberspace. The company serves as a valued partner to essential government agencies and supports every branch of the U.S. armed forces. Each day, our employees do the can’t be done by solving the most daunting challenges facing our customers. Visit peraton.com to learn how we’re keeping people around the world safe and secure.

Responsibilities

Peraton is seeking a Senior Watch Officer (SWO) to support its Federal Strategic Cyber group in Washington, DC. This position is part of the DHS Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) 24x7 SCIF/Operations Center. Through this operation center, the federal government coordinates situational awareness and response to protect national cyber and infrastructure security.

Location: Washington, D.C. (on-site)

Description:

• The SWO candidate coordinates cyber and physical incidents affecting critical infrastructure and produces various levels of incident reporting. SWOs gather information from multiple sources and varying levels of classification to provide accurate, timely, and actionable information to our government leadership, law enforcement, federal stakeholders and partners.
• The SWO candidate should be an experienced Operations/Intelligence/Cyber practitioner with the ability to work in a time-sensitive operational environment.
• The SWO candidate will possess the ability to effectively assess and manage incidents impacting critical infrastructure in collaboration with federal staff. The SWO candidate will identify the severity of impact to critical infrastructure and help federal staff determine the level of reporting or briefing required.
• The SWO candidate will coordinate incident operational data collection and analysis and monitor the event through competition.
• In addition, the SWO is responsible for leading a team of several analysts throughout the shift and coordinating all tasks through completion.
• SWOs will act as liaisons with internal divisions, federal stakeholders, law enforcement, intelligence agencies, regional personnel, industry partners, and internal partners to ensure coordinated reporting for events that have cascading cross-sector impacts on critical infrastructure.
• SWOs must be prepared to communicate on multiple platforms and brief management and senior leadership on developing situations during daily briefings or on an ad hoc basis.
• The candidate monitors classified databases, the ticket management system, subscription-based alerting services, cable and local news, social media, and other open source for threats to the nation’s critical infrastructure and global operations impacting national security.
• SWOs must be able to multitask, make quick decisions, and utilize critical thinking skills in a fast paced and time sensitive environment under the direction of a federal CISA Duty Officer.
• The candidate must understand the operation of all communications and information technology hardware, software, and firmware utilized to perform daily functions. The candidate should have the ability to troubleshoot all equipment issues as needed and coordinate a resolution with the help desk.
• The SWO will provide direct support to the Operations Manager (OM) in overseeing day-to-day operations of a 24x7 Cyber Operations Center, with a focus on team development, process improvement, and mission delivery.
• Assist the OM in developing and maintaining a requirements measurement framework, providing feedback to team members on customer service, communication, and technical skills to enhance deliverable quality.
• Support the optimization of operations center resources and workflows while contributing to high-quality white papers, briefings, and recommendations for senior U.S. government officials.
• Shifts are assigned based on the needs of the team and may include rotating assignments.
  • Shift 1: M-F 0600 - 1400
  • Shift 2: M-F 1400 - 2200
  • Shift 3: M-F 2200 - 0600
  • Shift 4: Sat/Sun 0600 – 1800 and two 8-hour weekday shifts
  • Shift 5: Sat/Sun 1800 – 0600 and two 8-hour weekday shifts

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 6 years related technical experience, or a master’s degree with 4 years of related experience.
  • An additional 4 years of experience may be substituted in lieu of a degree.
• Demonstrated ability to manage the production and publishing time-sensitive event driven reporting, cyclic reporting, and briefing products.
• Demonstrated ability to manage and triage group email accounts while multitasking and performing steady states shift functions.
• Must be flexible and able to work within a 24x7x365 operations support environment.
• Experience with open-source analysis and alerting systems.
• An active Secret with the ability to obtain a Top Secret Security Clearance with SCI eligibility.
  • In addition, selected candidates must be able to obtain and maintain a favorably adjudicated DHS background investigation for continued employment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience as an Operations Officer/Action Officer/Incident Manager.
• Experience in drafting and publishing national level reporting.
• Experience with email triage and requests for information (RFIs).
• Experience as an All-Source Intelligence Analyst in Joint Operations Center and/or Fusion Center.
• Experience with cyber incident management and analysis.
• Obtained Cyber certifications (i.e., CompTIA Security+).

Target Salary Range

$80,000 - $128,000. This represents the typical salary range for this position. Salary is determined by various factors, including but not limited to, the scope and responsibilities of the position, the individual’s experience, education, knowledge, skills, and competencies, as well as geographic location and business and contract considerations. Depending on the position, employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, and a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay.

Benefits Statement

Peraton offers eligible employees a variety of benefits including medical, dental, vision, life, health savings account, short/long term disability, EAP, parental leave, 401(k), paid time off (PTO) for vacation, and company paid holidays. A full listing of available benefits can be viewed athttps://www.careers.peraton.com/benefits.

EEO

EEO: Equal opportunity employer, including disability and protected veterans, or other characteristics protected by law.