Cyber Defense Infrastructure Support Specialist - SME (Blue/Purple Team Lead)

Responsibilities & Qualifications

This role functions as a technical expert who provides a mix of strategic vision, hands-on technical expertise, and effective leadership to support dual-focused teams responsible for defending against and mitigating cyber threats within a fast paced technical and cybersecurity proactive and reactive environment.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Leadership and Planning
  • Support and coordinate advanced vulnerability assessments, incident response initiatives, and threat hunting operations for the Blue Team.
  • Support the collaborative activities of the Purple Team, combining offensive (Red Team) and defensive (Blue Team) strategies to identify security weaknesses and enhance defenses.
  • Support the development and subsequent execution of strategic plans that align with threat intelligence and operational realities, ensuring assessments are comprehensive and based on real-world risks.
• Threat Intelligence and Risk Assessment
  • Leverage threat intelligence to scope and prioritize projects, ensuring that assessments address true operational risks and are not limited by arbitrary system boundaries.
  • Support risk-based evaluations of the government customer critical systems, networks and infrastructure to uncover potential vulnerabilities that could impact missions.
  • Maintain up-to-date knowledge of the threat landscape and integrate this information into assessment and response activities.
• Threat Hunting Oversight
  • Support proactive threat hunting efforts to identify weaknesses and vulnerabilities to emerging threats on the government customer networks and systems.
  • Recommend best practices and advanced methodologies for tracking threat actors and reducing the organization’s exposure to attacks.
• Collaboration and Cross-Team Coordination
  • Facilitate collaboration between the Red, Blue, and Purple Teams, ensuring that insights from offensive operations are integrated into defensive strategies.
  • Work with SMEs across different technical domains to maximize the effectiveness of assessments and security planning.
• Tool and Technique Utilization
  • Guide the Blue and Purple Teams in conducting extensive vulnerability assessments using the government customer tools and techniques
  • Support evaluations across various technologies (e.g., network devices, databases, operating systems, applications) to identify vulnerabilities and recommend remediation strategies.
  • Stay current on technological advancements and support the integration of innovative security process improvements into the government customer operations.
• Team Skill Development
  • Mentor team members, enhancing their technical expertise, analytical skills, and knowledge of threat actor tactics.
  • Foster a learning culture that encourages professional growth and continuous improvement in threat detection, mitigation, and response capabilities. Promote cross-training between team members to maintain flexibility.
• Reporting and Communication
  • Prepare detailed reports and briefings for stakeholders on assessment outcomes and security improvements.
  • Translate technical findings into actionable recommendations that can be understood by both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Continuous Improvement and Innovation
  • Promote continuous evaluation and improvement of security measures through lessons learned from past assessments and incidents.
  • Encourage innovative thinking to develop adaptive defenses against evolving threats, enhancing the security posture over time.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Active Top Secret Clearance Required
• Experience: At least 14+ years of experience with at least 6 years in a management capacity or equivalent experience.
• Certifications preferred include:
  • CISSP
  • CISM
  • CISA
  • SANS GIAC certification (e.g., GPEN or GW APT)
  • OSCP
  • CEH

Overview

We are seeking a Cyber Defense Infrastructure Support Specialist-SME (Blue/Purple Team Lead) to join our team supporting a government customer.

TekSynap is a fast-growing high-tech company that understands both the pace of technology today and the need to have a comprehensive well planned information management environment. “Technology moving at the speed of thought” embodies these principles – the need to nimbly utilize the best that information technology offers to meet the business needs of our Federal Government customers.

TekSynap offers our full-time employees a competitive benefits package to include health, dental, vision, 401K, life insurance, short-term and long-term disability plans, vacation time and holidays.

Visit us at www.TekSynap.com. 

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Additional Job Information

WORK ENVIRONMENT AND PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of the job.  Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

• Location: Washington, DC
• Type of environment: Office - 100% on-site required
• Noise level: Medium
• Work schedule: Schedule is day shift Monday – Friday 
• Amount of Travel: Less than 10%

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

WORK AUTHORIZATION/SECURITY CLEARANCE

• U.S. Citizen
• Active Top Secret Clearance 

OTHER DUTIES

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

In order to provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all individuals, employment decisions will be based on merit, qualifications, and abilities. TekSynap does not discriminate against any person because of race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law (referred to as “protected status”). This nondiscrimination policy extends to all terms, conditions, and privileges of employment as well as the use of all company facilities, participation in all company-sponsored activities, and all employment actions such as promotions, compensation, benefits, and termination of employment.