SIEM and Data Management Engineer – Managed Security

Thinkahead; United States; On-site; USD 130,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, Vision Insurance

401(k)

Paid company holidays

Paid time off

Parental and caregiver leave

Job summary

AHEAD is seeking a highly skilled SIEM/Data Management Engineer for its Managed Security program in the United States. The role centers on Palo Alto Cortex XSIAM, data onboarding, parsing, normalization, and storage management across client environments.

You will collaborate with analysts, detection engineers, and client teams to enable reliable, scalable security data pipelines. The engineer will onboard data sources, develop parsers, and optimize ingestion while ensuring data standards and

Qualifications

• Experience with Palo Alto Cortex XSIAM, data onboarding, ingestion pipelines, parsing, normalization, and storage management.
• Familiarity with security telemetry across client environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead and perform configuration and development for XSIAM data onboarding, ingestion, parsing, normalization, and storage lifecycle management.
• Onboard client/internal data sources into Managed Security SIEM via APIs, syslog, agents, file-based collection, connectors.
• Develop, tune parsers, field extractions, transformations, and normalization logic.
• Partner with analysts and client tech teams to define log source requirements.
• Establish data standards for source naming, field usage, tagging, metadata, and normalization.
• Support and optimize ingestion pipelines for reliability, scale, and performance.
• Troubleshoot data collection, transport, parser, and indexing issues.
• Manage data tiering, storage allocation, retention strategies, and index lifecycle.
• Perform storage optimization and capacity planning within the SIEM.
• Analyze data quality across sources and identify improvement opportunities.
• Build dashboards, reports, and health checks related to ingestion performance.
• Create tooling in Python to automate onboarding checks and data quality assessments.
• Participate in client-facing security meetings to coordinate onboarding.

Skills

XSIAM

SIEM

Data onboarding

Parsers/normalization

Python

Security data engineering

Cloud security analytics

Troubleshooting data ingestion

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in CS/Info Security/Engineering

Tools

Palo Alto Cortex XSIAM

Elastic Security

Job description

AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together advances in cloud infrastructure, automation and analytics, and software delivery, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation.

AtAHEAD, we prioritize creating a culture of belonging,where all perspectives and voices are represented, valued, respected, and heard. We create spaces to empower everyone to speak up, make change, and drive the culture at AHEAD.

We are an equal opportunity employer,anddo not discriminatebased onan individual's race, national origin, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, maritalstatus,or any other protected characteristic under applicable law, whether actual or perceived.

We embraceall candidatesthatwillcontribute to the diversification and enrichment of ideas andperspectives atAHEAD.

The Managed Security Team at AHEAD monitors client environments and performs incident detection, validation, and reporting. The SIEM and Data Management Engineer will be responsible for the implementation, maintenance, and continuous improvement of the data management capabilities that support our cloud-based security analytics platforms, with a primary focus on Palo Alto Cortex XSIAM, and the broader Managed Security program success across AHEAD.
This is a technical hands-on position that requires someone with a strong understanding of the needs of a 24/7 SOC (Security Operations Center). We are looking for a candidate with XSIAM, SIEM, log management, and security data engineering experience who will work closely with the Managed Security staff and other highly technical members across multiple teams, both within AHEAD and in client environments, to continuously improve and enhance AHEAD’s Managed Security data onboarding, normalization, storage, and optimization capabilities, with Palo Alto Cortex XSIAM serving as the primary platform.
Incumbents will possess strong technical and analytical skills while providing accurate analysis of security-related problems. They will have a well-rounded networking and infrastructure background and will be responsible for troubleshooting data ingestion issues, parser behavior, storage utilization, and client onboarding challenges. This individual is user focused and works to resolve client needs in a timely manner. These needs may involve onboarding new data sources, improving parsing and normalization, optimizing storage and retention strategies, and supporting the reliability and performance of the data pipelines that power Managed Security operations.
The SIEM and Data Management Engineer is responsible for the day-to-day management of the security data platform used by the Managed Security Team to monitor client environments and detect security threats, with a primary emphasis on Palo Alto Cortex XSIAM and supporting familiarity with platforms such as Elastic Security. This includes data source onboarding, ingestion pipeline configuration, parser development and tuning, normalization and enrichment, data tier and retention management, storage optimization, and standardization of security telemetry across client environments. The SIEM and Data Management Engineer is expected to be familiar with a wide range of security tools and understand core security and logging fundamentals.

Lead and perform configuration and development activities related to XSIAM data onboarding, ingestion, parsing, normalization, enrichment, and storage lifecycle management within the primary security analytics platform
Onboard new client and internal data sources into the Managed Security SIEM environment through a variety of collection and transport methods, including API-based ingestion, syslog, agents, file-based collection, forwarders, cloud-native connectors, and other supported methods
Develop, maintain, and tune parsers, field extractions, transformations, and normalization logic to ensure incoming telemetry is usable, consistent, and aligned to Managed Security standards
Partner with Managed Security analysts, detection engineers, and client technical teams to define log source requirements for visibility, detection content, investigations, and reporting
Establish and maintain data standards for source naming, field usage, tagging, metadata, categorization, and normalization across multiple client environments
Support and optimize ingestion pipelines to ensure reliability, scale, and performance across diverse client log sources and varying data volumes
Perform troubleshooting of data collection, transport, parser, and indexing issues, including validation of connectivity, format, mapping, field extraction, and downstream search usability
Manage data tiering, storage allocation, retention strategies, and index lifecycle practices to ensure telemetry is retained appropriately and efficiently based on operational, contractual, and cost requirements
Perform storage optimization and capacity planning activities within the SIEM platform to ensure ingestion remains within contracted scope while preserving the data needed for security operations and investigations
Analyze data quality and data health across sources, including completeness, timeliness, parsing success, normalization coverage, duplication, and consistency
Identify and implement opportunities to improve data pipeline efficiency, reduce noise, eliminate unnecessary data, and improve search and analytics performance
Partner with SIEM, detection, and SOAR engineering resources to ensure standardized and enriched data supports dashboards, detections, automations, and incident workflows
Build and maintain dashboards, reports, and health checks related to ingestion performance, parser quality, storage consumption, retention compliance, and onboarding progress
Create tooling and scripts in Python or similar languages to automate onboarding checks, parser validation, data quality assessments, and platform administration tasks
Assist with the development of processes and procedures to improve onboarding consistency, parser governance, data quality, and overall Managed Security functions
Participate in client-facing security and technical meetings to support onboarding efforts, explain data requirements, review issues, and coordinate implementation activities

Experience with Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSIAM, with a strong emphasis on data onboarding, data pipeline management, parsing, normalization, and platform data operations; experience with Elastic Security and its components is also valuable
XSIAM or SIEM administration and configuration experience with a strong emphasis on data onboarding, ingestion pipelines, parsing, normalization, and storage management
Working knowledge of common log collection and transport techniques, including API integrations, syslog, agent-based collection, file shipping, cloud connectors, webhooks, and related ingestion patterns
Experience developing or tuning parsers, field mappings, regular expressions, transformation logic, and normalization processes for security telemetry
Understanding of data lifecycle and storage concepts such as index lifecycle management, hot-warm-cold or tiered storage, retention strategy, archive considerations, and cost-performance tradeoffs
Experience performing capacity planning, storage optimization, and ingestion governance in SIEM or log management platforms
Experience writing tools to automate tasks and integrate systems in Python or another language
The ability to think creatively to find elegant solutions to complex problems
Excellent verbal and written communication skills
The desire to work both independently and collaboratively with a larger team
A willingness to be challenged along with a strong appetite for learning

Experience with Palo Alto Cortex XSIAM in multi-tenant Managed Security or MSSP environments
Experience with data onboarding and normalization across a wide variety of network, endpoint, identity, cloud, and application log sources
Familiarity with common schemas or data models used in security analytics and event standardization
Experience supporting detection engineering and SOC operations through improved telemetry quality and consistency
Familiarity with automation of onboarding validation, parser testing, and data health monitoring

Education
Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Security, Engineering, or related/equivalent educational or work experience
One or more of the following certifications preferred: Palo Alto Networks certifications, Elastic Certified Engineer, CISSP, GCIA, GCIH, GMON, cloud certifications, or other security/data platform related credentials

The compensation range indicated in this posting reflects the On-Target Earnings (“OTE”) for this role, which includes a base salary and any applicable target bonus amount. This OTE range may vary based on the candidate’s relevant experience, qualifications, and geographic location.

Why AHEAD:

Through our daily work and internal groups like Moving Women AHEAD and RISE AHEAD, we value and benefit from diversity of people, ideas, experience, and everything in between.

We fuel growth by stacking our office with top-notch technologies in a multi-million-dollar lab, by encouraging cross department training and development, sponsoring certifications and credentials for continued learning.

USA Employment Benefits include:

• - Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• - 401(k)
• - Paid company holidays
• - Paid time off
• - Paid parental and caregiver leave
• - Plus more! See benefits https://www.aheadbenefits.com/ for additional details.

Use of AI:

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, assessing responses, or to capture recordings and create transcriptions or summaries during interviews. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans.

If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please refer to the Candidate Privacy Notice or contact us at [e-mail].

You may opt-out of the review or analysis of your application and resume by AI tools by using the General Application. Please include the role you wish to apply for in the Additional Information field. You may also choose to opt-out of recording and transcription at any time, including after joining an interview. Candidates will not be penalized for choosing to opt-out.