Cyber Defense Specialist - Detection & Monitoring

Location: On-site – Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Contract/engagement: Project-based managed cybersecurity services (13-month RFP term)

Minimum experience: 7+ years

Role Purpose

Strengthen SOC detection and monitoring capabilities across SIEM, SOAR, EDR, DLP, email security, and other security platforms.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and enhance security detection capabilities across SIEM, SOAR, EDR, DLP, and email security platforms.
• Design correlation logic, detection rules, threat-detection use cases, alerts, and supporting response workflows.
• Integrate telemetry and logs from security systems to improve monitoring coverage.
• Continuously tune detections to improve accuracy and reduce false positives.
• Analyze security events and suspicious activity and escalate validated threats through approved processes.
• Maintain SOC policies, procedures, workflows, and operational playbooks.
• Map detection coverage to MITRE ATT&CK and coordinate improvements with cybersecurity, governance, and technical teams.
• Support security assessments, regulatory compliance, reporting, and security-vendor coordination.

Requirements

Technical and Professional Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Security, or a related field.
• At least 7 years of experience in SOC operations or cyber defense.
• Hands-on experience with SIEM, SOAR, EDR, DLP, email security gateways, and log/telemetry integration.
• Proven experience developing detection use cases and tuning security rules.
• Knowledge of cyberattack techniques, threat detection, MITRE ATT&CK, NCA requirements, and SOC operating models.

Personal Requirements

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Clear communication, documentation, and cross-team coordination.
• Persistent, quality-focused, and comfortable working with vendors and technical partners.
• Able to prioritize alerts and improvements in a high-volume operational environment.

Professional Certifications

Preferred: CISSP, GCIA, GSEC, GCIH, CISM, or equivalent.