Technical Leadership and Incident Handling
- Act as the primary point of escalation for Level 1 analysts for complex security events and potential incidents.
- Perform in-depth investigation and analysis of security alerts using SIEM, EDR and other security tools.
- Lead the response to confirmed security incidents, including containment, eradication, and recovery efforts.
- Conduct advanced threat hunting to identify indicators of compromise (IOCs) and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) that evade traditional detection methods.
- Perform detailed analysis of malware and attacker tools.
Team Management & Mentorship
- Provide daily guidance, supervision, and technical direction to a team of Level 1 SOC Analysts.
- Develop and execute a formal training and mentorship program to groom Level 1 analysts into proficient Level 2 analysts.
- Work with the team-lead to create and review shift schedules to ensure 24/7 coverage.
- Foster a collaborative, knowledge-sharing, and high-performance team culture.
- Conduct regular performance reviews and provide constructive feedback.
Process Improvement & Documentation
- Develop, refine, and document SOC standard operating procedures (SOPs), playbooks, and runbooks for alert triage and incident response.
- Analyze alert trends and false positives to provide feedback for tuning SIEM rules, use cases, and correlation logic.
- Assist the SOC Manager in evaluating new security technologies and tools.
- Contribute to the creation of detailed incident reports for management and clients.
Required Qualifications & Skills
Experience: 5+ years of experience in a cybersecurity operations role, with at least 2 years in a senior or escalation analyst (Level 2) position.
Technical Proficiency:
- Deep understanding of network protocols, traffic analysis, and network-based attacks.
- Strong knowledge of operating systems (Windows, Linux) and their internals.
- Hands-on experience with SIEM platforms (e.g., NetWitness & DEVO).
- Proficient with EDR tools (e.g., Trend Micro, CrowdStrike, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint).
- Solid understanding of the Cyber Kill Chain, MITRE ATT&CK framework, and incident response lifecycle
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in a managed security service provider (MSSP) environment.
- One or more relevant industry certifications such as: GCIA, GCIH, CySA+, or OSCP.
- Level 2 Security Analyst experience.
- Knowledge of cybersecurity, cloud security, and associated monitoring tools.