Global mission

The Africa IT Operational Security Manager ensures the day-to-day planning, management, and monitoring of IT Operational Security throughout Africa. He is in charge of scaling, increasing performance, providing team leadership and guidance to help evolve the security programs in accordance with strategic objectives, identify and assist in engineering technology initiatives, to develop and enhance defensive measures, through the setup of security incident detection services and supervises the entire unit. He ensures the proper execution of security event supervision and management processes. He establishes the complete and accurate reporting of the key indicators and defines the axes of improvement of the services.

Needs to manage and coordinate with all the experts of the Security Operations Center (SOC) composed of analysts, security engineers, as well as managers supervising security operations.

KEY DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead a team of highly capable security engineering staff who maintain security for system environments.

• Ability to mentor and have the capability of influencing the Organization.

• Ensure relations with CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) or CSIRT (Computer

• Security Incident Response, particularly in a crisis situation to coordinate the various operational security teams.

• Plan, Maintain and organize the day-to-day operations of the SOC and configuration management platforms which include application deployment and settings distribution.

• Create and drive proactive monitoring and reporting for endpoint and health system including, patching, compliance, and other performance metrics.

• Manage and provide operational support for security vulnerability remediation, incident handling and crisis management across global resources.

• Implement new security technologies as required to support a dynamic/challenging business environment.

• Define the SOC strategy, ensure technical consistency, considering regulatory requirements.

• Identify operational opportunities to implement security orchestration and automation capabilities.

• Define and implement SOC tools for the enforcement of global security controls such as event collection, access to security platforms, searches for suspicious events, alert management, and security incident monitoring workflows.

• Evaluate and validate the effectiveness of the tools deployed in the SOC but also lead to any necessary corrective action plans.

• Effectively provide general information, security guidance & technology support to the business.

• Define, manage and implement notification and on call schedules for incident escalation processes.

• Work as the escalation point between various teams for security related activities.

• Drive client and system security model best practices.

• Feed the detection strategy from a global vision.

• Drive business decisions through data using tools like Splunk, CrowdStrike, Vectra etc.

• Manage transition plans for major upgrades or patches.

• Diagnose and investigate unique and complex systemic problems.

• Work proficiently with minimal daily guidance and bring mature seasoned skills when working.

• Evaluate and communicate security risk to a wide and varying audience.

• Assist in developing IT operational security awareness training and education programs, but also participate in local, regional, and worldwide awareness and education events.

• Create synergies with other security teams by sharing information on identified threats (internally and externally)

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

• A Diploma / Degree in IT would be a distinct advantage.

• Professional certification training, such as CISSP, CISM, CISA or other relevant information Security training preferred.

• ISO27001, ISO27002 and ISO27005 would be an advantage.

• ITIL Foundations Certified.

• At least 10 - 15 years of varied information technology experience is required, applicable experience includes, but is not limited to, computer, server and networking infrastructure, operating systems, applications software, project management, regulatory compliance, risk management, and providing training. Two years of direct experience in managed information systems duties.

• 5+ years’ experience, with an IT Security focused role.

• Previous involvement in the management of IT projects would be an advantage.

• Experience in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

• Familiar with security controls or concepts related to various security community groups or standards: CISSP, NIST cybersecurity & privacy frameworks, CIS benchmarks, OSI model.

• Experience within Incident Response situations and demonstrated ability to handle and maintain confidential information in a professional manner.

• Familiar with compliance and privacy regulations such as PCI, GDPR, CCPA, SOX, and other regulations/standards

HARD & SOFT SKILLS REQUIRED

• Managerial / Leadership ability to mentor and provide guidance.

• Supervisory skills to balance workloads, priority, but also boost productivity and efficiency.

• Team player with a high degree of initiative, dependability and ability to work with little supervision and cross-functional teams.

• Inherently demonstrate a high level of integrity and trustworthiness given the level of confidential information available to the person at all times.

• Adaptable and flexible to changes and various situations and scenarios.

• Ability to conceptualize IT networks and systems and identify potential risks in both the hardware and software environment.

• The ability to maintain confidentiality regarding information processed, stored, or accessed by the systems.

• The ability to manage multiple concurrent projects and to reason analytically.

• The ability to work with and train people possessing differing levels of technical knowledge.

• Strong verbal and written communication skills; interpersonal and collaborative skills and proficiency in writing, communicating, and presenting technical issues and specifications to a diverse group of stakeholders with varying degrees of technical expertise.

• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to build and maintain relationships.

• Develop knowledge of, respect for, and skills to engage with those of other cultures or backgrounds.

• Ability to handle various tasks at any given point in time.

• Ability to work under pressure