Job Description & Details
This is a high-stakes coordination role where you will act as the operational backbone for cyber incident response teams in New York. You won't be writing code or analyzing malware, but you will be the one driving timelines and keeping stakeholders aligned when a breach hits. If you thrive under pressure and can herd cats across technical and business units during a crisis, this is a solid long-term contract.
What You'll Actually Be Doing
Your day-to-day revolves around managing the chaos of cyber incidents and keeping strategic security initiatives on track. You'll coordinate containment and remediation efforts, bridge the gap between deeply technical security teams and non-technical business leaders, and run post-incident reviews to ensure lessons actually turn into process improvements. Expect to maintain tight project governance while constantly pivoting as new vulnerabilities or incidents emerge.
The Core Tech Stack
You need a rock-solid understanding of the incident response lifecycle and cybersecurity governance frameworks like NIST and ISO 27001. Experience with workflow tools like ServiceNow and Jira is non-negotiable because you'll live in them tracking action items and reporting status to senior leadership. Familiarity with how a Security Operations Center operates will save you a massive learning curve here.
Interview Expectations
Be ready for behavioral and scenario-based grilling, such as being asked how you handle a critical disagreement between panicked business executives and an incident response team during an active breach. The hiring manager is testing your emotional intelligence, ability to stay calm under fire, and how well you translate technical jargon into business risk. Another classic question will probe your experience running tabletop exercises, specifically looking for how you measure readiness and drive post-exercise remediation.
Application Advice
Your resume needs to scream 'cybersecurity project management' right out of the gate rather than generic agile delivery. Make sure keywords like 'cyber incident response lifecycle', 'NIST CSF', 'ServiceNow', and 'stakeholder communication' are explicitly woven into your experience bullets. Highlight specific instances where you managed high-pressure, cross-functional projects in heavily regulated industries like financial services to immediately check their must-have boxes.