Senior Manager – Cyber Defence

We have partnered with a global, Irish-owned organisation to appoint a Senior Manager of Cyber Defence. This is a key leadership role responsible for shaping and delivering a modern, intelligence-led cyber defence capability, protecting the business against evolving threats.

Reporting to the CISO, you will lead advanced defensive services across detection, response, exposure management, and continuous control improvement.

This is a 12-month day rate contractor role

Key Responsibilities

• Define and execute Cyber Defence strategy aligned to business goals, regulatory requirements, and emerging threats.
• Lead the incident response programme, acting as Incident Commander during major cyber events.
• Oversee a hybrid delivery model (outsourced SOC and internal CSIRT), ensuring effective 24x7 monitoring and rapid response.
• Govern third-party security providers, ensuring performance against SLAs/KPIs and driving continuous improvement.
• Manage enterprise-wide vulnerability and exposure management, including prioritisation and remediation governance.
• Enhance controls through adversary simulation and threat intelligence-led testing.
• Drive real-time detection and response capabilities using SIEM, EDR, SOAR, and automation.
• Own reporting, assurance, and audit readiness (incident records, lessons learned, continuous improvement actions).
• Build and lead high-performing teams and partners, fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous learning.
• Define and report on Cyber Defence KPIs/KRIs to senior stakeholders.
• Maintain and test defence playbooks to ensure organisational readiness.
• Collaborate across Technology and Cyber teams to drive improvements in security controls (e.g., patching, hardening, identity).
• Ensure effective use of threat intelligence across SOC and CSIRT workflows.
• Support incident communications and regulatory reporting with Legal, Privacy, and external stakeholders.
• Participate in an on-call escalation rota for major cyber incidents.

What We’re Looking

• For15+ years’ experience in cybersecurity/IT, with strong expertise in incident response and defensive operations.
• Proven leadership experience (5+ years), managing teams, services, and third-party providers.
• Hands-on experience acting as Incident Commander during complex cyber incidents.
• Strong knowledge of Cyber Defence technologies (e.g., SIEM, SOAR, EDR, Threat Intelligence platforms such as CrowdStrike, Splunk, etc.).
• Experience managing outsourced security services and driving SLA/KPI performance.
• Relevant qualifications (e.g., Degree/Masters, CISM, GIAC, OSCP, CEH, or similar).
• Strong stakeholder management, communication, and crisis leadership skills.
• Experience developing and maturing cyber defence capabilities, processes, and playbooks.
• Ability to translate threat intelligence and incident learnings into measurable control improvements.
• Familiarity with adversary simulations (red/blue/purple teaming).
• Knowledge of regulatory requirements (e.g., NIS2, GDPR, aviation standards).
• Understanding of MITRE ATT&CK and modern attack techniques.
• Experience defining KPIs/KRIs (e.g., MTTD, MTTR, detection coverage, exposure reduction).