Security Analyst/Engineer

Position: Security Analyst/Engineer

Location: Columbia, SC (100% Remote)

Contract: 12+ Months

Client: State of SC (United States Department of Health and Human Services)

Description:

• Continuously review and correlate security event data across SIEM, EDR, IDS/IPS, and threat intelligence sources to identify complex attack patterns, emerging threats, and security incidents.
• Perform deep-dive analysis of suspicious activity, validate incidents, determine root cause and impact, and escalate critical incidents with detailed context to Tier 3 as required.

• Create detailed incident reports, timelines, and post-incident summaries; contribute to lessons-learned documentation and recommendations for remediation and preventative measures.
• Investigate user-reported phishing, malware infections, and potential policy violations; advise users and internal/external teams on containment and recovery actions.
• Recommend updates to SOC playbooks and workflows based on real-world INVESTIGATIONS, fine-tune detection rules. Alert thresholds, and correlation logic to reduce false positives and improve threat coverage.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to ensure monitoring tools are properly configured and tuned. Integrate new threat intelligence feeds into workflows and proactively hunt for threats using up-to date tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs)
• Serve as a customer-facing SME, "selling” the value of Client services by demonstrating

capabilities and resolving issues.

• Document processes, runbooks, and troubleshooting steps related to SOC operations.
• Coordinate with engineering, SOC, and agency staff as needed to meet goals.
• Other duties as needed.

Required Skills (rank in order of Importance):

• 2+ Years of Experience with Security Monitoring and Incident Response.
• 2+ Years of Experience with MITRE Telecommunication &CK framework.
• 2+ Years of Experience with dashboard creation and reporting.

Required Education/Certifications:

• Associate''s degree in an information technology or information security related field
• Four years of relevant work experience may be substituted in lieu of education
• Two years of experience in supporting large soc operations.

Preferred Skills (rank in order of Importance):

• Experience with the Palo Alto Cortex XSIAM/XDR platform.
• Knowledge of Linux, network administration and network design.
• Experience in administration of firewalls, VPN technology, Active Directory, Intrusion Detection/Prevention systems.
• Candidate is local to Columbia, SC or surrounding city in South Carolina

Preferred Education/Certifications:

• CISSP, CISA, CISO or equivalent advanced security certification.
• Additional relevant certifications (e.g., CEH, OSCP, GPEN).
• Vendor certifications related to information security.