Incident Responder - Tier 2

Position Summary

The Tier 2 Incident Responder performs in-depth investigation, containment, and remediation of security incidents escalated from Tier 1, applying the NIST SP 800-61 incident response life cycle and mentors Tier 1 analysts on investigative technique.

Clearance

TS/SCI with CI Poly

Location

Ft. Meade, MD (Onsite)

Work Schedule and Conditions

Primary shift assignment within the 24/7/365 coverage model.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Investigate escalated alerts and incidents through log analysis, malware analysis, and digital forensics, determining scope, root cause, and impact.
• Support execution of containment and eradication actions.
• Support recovery of affected systems to a known-good, hardened baseline.
• Document incident timelines and findings, create and track POA&M entries to closure and contribute to after-action reviews that feed back into detection content and playbooks.
• Review and remediate findings.
• Provide technical mentorship to Tier 1 Analysts and serve as a secondary escalation point during major incidents or surge conditions.

Required Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Cybersecurity, or a related field preferred, or equivalent experience;
• Three to five years of hands-on incident response, digital forensics, or security operations experience.

Required Certifications

• DoD 8570/8140 IAT Level III or CSSP Incident Responder certification (e.g., GCIH, GCFA, or CySA+) required;
• Working knowledge of endpoint detection and response (EDR) tooling, packet analysis, and at least one scripting language (e.g., Python, PowerShell, or Bash) preferred.

Salary Range

$115-$147k based on experience and shift