NETWORK OPERATIONS & SECURITY DIRECTOR

About the role

Quantum Research International, Inc. provides national defense and federal civilian and industry customers with services and products in cybersecurity and information operations, space operations and control, aviation systems, ground/air/missile defense and fires support systems, intelligence programs support, experimentation and test, program management, and audio/visual technology applications.

This senior leadership role oversees integrated network infrastructure, applications, cybersecurity, and cloud environments in Huntsville, AL, supporting the Army Critical Incident and Exposure Reporting System (ACIERS). The Director leads a multidisciplinary team including network and system administrators, cloud infrastructure specialists, application support engineers, and cybersecurity professionals, ensuring 24/7 system availability, configuration management, and pursuit of Authorities to Operate (ATOs) under the Risk Management Framework (RMF).

Responsibilities

• Direct the daily operations of the Network Operations & Security Center (NOSC), including monitoring network performance, incident response, and resolution of outages, security breaches, or system failures across on-premise and cloud-hybrid environments.
• Supervise and mentor a team of network/system administrators, cloud/application engineers, and security specialists; conduct performance evaluations, training, and resource allocation to maintain operational excellence.
• Oversee the pursuit and maintenance of ATOs for on-premises and cloud instantiations (e.g., cArmy/ECMA, IL5/6) using RMF processes, including risk assessments, security controls implementation, and coordination with authorizing officials.
• Develop and enforce network security policies, procedures, and architectures, integrating tools like SIEM, IDS/IPS, firewalls, and vulnerability scanners to defend against threats.
• Manage cloud infrastructure migrations, optimizations, and operations in environments such as AWS, ensuring compliance with Army Enterprise Cloud Management Agency (ECMA) and Cloud Modernization Approval Process (CMAP) guidelines.
• Coordinate incident response, threat hunting, and forensic analysis; collaborate with DoD stakeholders for cyber defense and reporting.
• Establish and recommend NOSC budgets, maintain vendor relationships, and conduct strategic planning for network/cloud enhancements, aligning with Army digital transformation strategies.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Cybersecurity, or a related field (Master’s preferred).
• Active DoD Secret or Top Secret/SCI security clearance.
• 10+ years of progressive technical experience in IT/Network Operations/Security (NOSC), Security Operations (SOC), or ISSO/ISSM.
• Expert knowledge of network protocols (TCP/IP, DNS, VLANs), security architecture concepts (defense-in-depth, zero trust), and security tools (firewalls, SIEM, IDS/IPS).
• Strong familiarity with the NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF), Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMCC), and FedRAMP.
• Strong leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills for cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder management.
• Ability to locate, hire, train, and retain cybersecurity and network operations talent.
• Knowledge of configuration/change management concepts, Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) and Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) scanning, and vulnerability management/remediation, along with Plan of Action and Milestone (POA&M) generation.

Qualifications

• DoD 8140/8570 compliant certifications at IAT/IAM Level III or CSSP Manager level, such as CISSP, CISM, CASP+ CE, CCNP Security, CGRC.
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect, Microsoft Azure Administrator, or CCSP (Certified Cloud Security Professional).

Skills

• Experience with Army-specific cloud initiatives (cArmy, ECMA) and leading on-premise/cloud-hybrid infrastructure deployments.
• Proven leadership in a NOSC/SOC/ISSM role supervising hybrid teams.
• Familiarity with DevSecOps, automation tools such as Terraform and Ansible, and containerization (Kubernetes, Docker).
• Prior military or DoD contractor experience in cyber operations, security engineering, or as an ISSO/ISSM leading a system through the ATO process.
• Experience deploying and maintaining SIEM and other network/system monitoring tools (Splunk, Elastic, Solarwinds, etc.).
• Experience in highly virtualized multi-tenant environments/architecture.
• Experience with VMWare virtualization, vCenter, ESXi vSphere, Tanzu, Horizon.
• Experience deploying and maintaining Cisco Network and Cisco UCS compute.
• Experience with NetApp storage encrypted volumes, key management, hosted CIFS, NFS.