Senior Security Operations Specialist

Job Summary

The Sr. Specialist – Managed Security Services continues second-level technical client support provided by the Analyst and Sr. Analysts. The Sr. Specialist has proven process experience in all technical disciplines supported by the Managed Security Services practice, specializing in at least one of three particular disciplines: Network Security, Information Security and/or Endpoint Security. The Sr. Specialist provides both technical and process mentorship in these areas to Analysts and Sr. Analysts. The Sr. Specialist continues to develop a platform of technical expertise.

What you will do

Service Delivery – 50% job weight

• Deliver tasks on time and with minimal or no supervision

• Monitors and resolving second-level support requests accurately and timely. Escalates unresolved issues to senior team members and/or manager(s)

• Develop, tune, and optimize security use cases, SIEM rules, and detection mechanisms across diverse client environments.

• Lead complex or Tier-3 security incident investigations, coordinate containment strategies, and provide expert remediation guidance.

• Performs security analytics and provides timely summarized findings and recommendations to clients

• Conduct vulnerability assessments, review threat intelligence feeds, and prioritize risk mitigation recommendations for discussion with clients.

• Lead and conduct hypothesis-based threat hunt across clients’ environments.

• Build custom AI agents within SIEM/EDR for autonomous incident investigation and response.

• Configure and administer SIEM and EDR platform for optimization

• Performs root cause analysis and collaborate with Consultants and Analysts to solve repetitive system performance or configuration problems

• Provide technical knowledge transfer to clients and internal department on low complexity problems

• Build investigation playbooks and automated workflows to drive efficiency across the MSSP operations center

• Carry out platform integrations for improved threat detection and response.

• Serve as a subject matter expert for internal teams and external clients, delivering security posture reports, briefings, and strategic recommendations

• Identifies, records, and escalates service performance trends, anomalies, and SLA breaches to senior leadership

• Applies Trusted Advisor techniques to build up client trust and influence loyalty

• Manages Great Client Communications

• Works towards confidently running Great Meetings, differentiating services per MSS positioning

• Handles technical account management responsibilities for assigned accounts

• Provides supervision over technical aspects of service delivery

• Prepare and deliver client facing quarterly, monthly meetings and tuning calls with designated accounts

Services Improvement and Enhancement - 30% job weight

• Identifies and provides recommendations for technical deficiencies, service performance issues, product utilization, bugs, and enhancements

• Assists in the development of reports and presentations and provides technical knowledge transfer and analysis to clients on performance status, trends, and metrics in a specific area of discipline.

• Mentor analysts and serve as an escalation point for their technical related issues

• Recommends process enhancements and drives efficiency by reducing average time to trouble-shoot, repetitive issues and problem service tickets, reducing false-positives

• Performs ongoing analysis and system testing of new system releases, upgrades, and/or patches in one or more specific technologies

• Makes recommendations to improve workflows and drive automation, creating efficiencies

• Develops Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and knowledge base articles

• Conduct technical and incident handling knowledge transfer sessions

• Carry out research on supported technologies and develop actionable threat advisory documentation

Professional Development – 20% job weight

• Attends training sessions or shadowing activities, and obtains industry related certifications as determined by Manager

• Participate notably in assigned self-paced training

What we expect of you

• Bachelor's degree (B.A./B.S.) or a 3-year diploma in Engineering, Computer Science, or a Technology related field and 3 to 5 years of security experience in a client-focused environment, and/or working in a security operations center, OR

• 8 years total of Information Technology experience to include 3 to 5 years of security experience in a client-focused environment, and/or working in a security operations center

• At least 2 administrator or expert level technical certifications in Managed Security Services disciplines, included but not limited to:

• Cortex: XDR Engineer or XSIAM Engineer; IBM QRadar Secuity - Certified Administrator, Deployment Professional; SANS: GCIA, GCIH, GSOC; Splunk, Crowdstrike Falcon - CCFA, CCIS, CCFH, CCCS, CCSE; Exabeam: Security Engineer Associate, Security Engineer Advanced, Associate Implementation Engineer; Tenable VM Specialist, Microsoft SC-200, SC-100, C|EH, C|CIH, or similar technology certifications

• The position is part of a 7-day per week, 24-hour per day managed services operations. To provide the required coverage; work weekends, holidays, and overtime must be available.

• Positive team influence, approachable, supportive, and actively participates in coaching and learning.

• Punctual and organized, ensures timely completion of tasks.

• Experience supporting and implementing IT infrastructure and Information Systems design or support involving hardware, software and services at an enterprise level for at least one discipline in the Managed Security Services portfolio

• Demonstrated ability to investigate increasingly complex problems where analysis of data requires evaluation of identifiable factors from multiple IT infrastructure systems

• Demonstrated ability to continuously identify resolutions and techniques that meet technical requirements within the context of best practices, and make recommendations to achieve targeted objectives

• Proven ability to establish collaborative approach to problem solving, ensuring that others’ input is gathered and discussed, and that solutions generated by the team are tested and proven

• Mentors team members and work independently with minimal supervision.

• Sets and achieves goals autonomously, contributing to team and organizational objectives.

• Demonstrated ability to achieve high level of Customer Satisfaction on all engagements

• Demonstrates strong verbal and written communication skills, as well as proficiency in Microsoft Office tools.

• Demonstrated ability to execute service delivery using productivity tools such as word processing, spreadsheet, diagram creation, presentation and email processing applications.

Pay range: $42.56 - $59.39/hour, depending on experience and skill set

At CDW, we strive to offer market-competitive total rewards packages to attract and retain talent. As such, we are committed to pay transparency and ensuring fair compensation for all our coworkers. Each of our roles is assigned a salary range that is informed by multiple sources of market data. We determine individual pay within a given range based on a candidate's prior experience, knowledge, skills and abilities. This approach allows us to offer competitive and equitable salaries that reflect the value and responsibilities of each role at CDW. Salaries are based on a 37.5 -hour workweek, and paid on a bi-weekly payroll schedule.

Current Opening: This posting reflects a currently available position within our organization for which we are actively recruiting.

CDW is committed to being an AI-fluent organization

We’re looking for people who bring curiosity, a learner’s mindset, and a willingness to engage with ever-evolving technology and tools. We value adopting AI as a partner, openness to experimentation, and a shared interest in learning together on AI.