NextGen Command Center Lead, Top Secret

About the role

The NextGen Command Center Lead is responsible for overseeing the operational delivery, performance, and readiness of the NextGen Command Center mission area under an upcoming government contract. This position leads teams delivering 24x7x365 cyber incident response, situational awareness, threat monitoring, operational reporting, and coordinated defensive action in support of national cyber resilience.

Responsibilities

• Operations Leadership & Command Center Execution
• Oversee teams responsible for operating a modernized, always-on incident response and cyber command center supporting 24x7x365 national cyber defense
• Maintain synchronized situational awareness through standardized watch-floor operations, including shift turnover, reporting cycles, operational summaries, and leadership updates
• Maintain staffing, training, certification, and surge readiness necessary to support incident management, crisis action teams, and cross-functional coordination
• Ensure the Cyber Command Center environment is fully functional, compliant, and capable of providing real-time visibility, decision support, and operational coordination
• Incident Response Delivery & Lifecycle Management
• Manage the full lifecycle of reported incidents across Critical Infrastructure, SLTT, and Federal Civilian Executive Branch partners, ensuring rapid triage, coordinated response, and timely escalation pathways
• Deliver coordinated, rapid incident response actions that reduce risk, minimize impact, and improve recovery timelines
• Provide victim notification, customer support, and unified communication throughout the incident lifecycle, ensuring a consistent, high-quality point of service
• Achieve accurate incident scoring in line with the National Cyber Incident Scoring System (NCISS)
• Threat Monitoring, Hunt Coordination & Defensive Action
• Persistent monitoring teams scan intelligence, media, law enforcement, and global events to identify emerging threats impacting national critical functions
• Integrate classified and unclassified intelligence into operations, request classification downgrades when appropriate, and incorporate insights into response workflows
• Engage in targeted hunt support, ensuring robust analysis, documented findings, and actionable reports that strengthen national defenses
• Mitigation strategies and defensive recommendations address capability gaps and strengthen enterprise, OT, and ICS environments
• Cross-Agency Coordination & National Defense Integration
• Coordinate response actions with federal agencies, SLTT partners, private sector entities, industry associations, and ISACs to support unified national cyber defense operations
• Integrate NextGen Command Center workflows with broader national defense planning functions
• Manage outreach activities, community briefings, and threat-update engagements
• Communications, Intelligence Integration & Reporting
• Prepare alerts, advisories, leadership notices, and operational communications enabling data-driven decision-making during normal and crisis operations
• Deliver rapid-turn operational briefings, slide decks, and incident communications
• Maintain quality, accuracy, and timeliness of all reporting, ensuring consistent escalation paths and shared operational insights
• Operational Governance, SOP Management & Performance Metrics
• Develop, update, and maintain SOPs, CONOPS-aligned processes, work instructions, and operational tools to ensure operational excellence
• Track, evaluate, and use mission-readiness metrics, operational performance indicators, and incident impact assessments to inform continuous improvement
• Identify and mitigate technical and operational risks
• Surge Support & Crisis Response Readiness
• Maintain surge-ready technical expertise capable of deploying rapidly to support hunt missions, incident response engagements, or elevated operational tempo events
• Coordinate crisis action team readiness to provide rapid response capabilities during high-impact national or global cyber events

Qualifications

• Experience operating or managing large-scale 24x7 cybersecurity operations centers (SOC, fusion center, watch floor, or incident command center)
• Strong understanding of incident response lifecycles, threat intelligence integration, command-center operations, and crisis management
• Experience leading technical and operational teams in high-tempo, mission-critical environments
• Knowledge of federal cyber operations, including CI, SLTT, and FCEB mission contexts
• Ability to manage performance metrics, operational workflows, and mission-readiness requirements
• 10 years of overall cybersecurity experience with 5 years of management of cybersecurity teams

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting CISA, DHS, DoD, or national-level cyber operations centers
• Familiarity with ICS/OT environments and national critical functions
• Certifications such as CISSP, GCIH, GCIA, GCTI, GICSP or similar
• Experience supporting national cyber campaigns, crisis surge operations, or interagency coordination

Benefits

GDIT offers a comprehensive benefits package including:

• 401(k) plan with company match
• Health and wellness packages
• Internal mobility team
• Growth opportunities including paid education and certifications
• Access to cutting-edge technology
• Paid vacation and holidays
• Short and long-term disability benefits
• Life, accidental death and dismemberment, personal accident, critical illness, and business travel and accident insurance

Pay

The likely salary range for this position is $170,000 - $230,000. This is not, however, a guarantee of compensation or salary. Rather, salary will be set based on experience, geographic location and possibly contractual requirements and could fall outside of this range.

Schedule

Scheduled Weekly Hours: 40

Travel

Travel Required: Less than 10%

Telecommuting

Telecommuting Options: Hybrid Work Location

Work Location

USA VA Herndon

Additional Work Locations

Total Rewards At GDIT: Our benefits package for all US-based employees includes a variety of medical plan options, some with Health Savings Accounts, dental plan options, a vision plan, and a 401(k) plan offering the ability to contribute both pre and post-tax dollars up to the IRS annual limits and receive a company match. To encourage work/life balance, GDIT offers employees full flex work weeks where possible and a variety of paid time off plans, including vacation, sick and personal time, holidays, paid parental, military, bereavement and jury duty leave. To ensure our employees are able to protect their income, other offerings such as short and long-term disability benefits, life, accidental death and dismemberment, personal accident, critical illness and business travel and accident insurance are provided or available. We regularly review our Total Rewards package to ensure our offerings are competitive and reflect what our employees have told us they value most.

About Our Work

We are GDIT. A global technology and professional services company that delivers technology solutions and mission services to every major agency across the U.S. government, defense and intelligence community. Our 26,000 experts extract the power of technology to create immediate value and deliver solutions at the edge of innovation. We operate across 50+ countries worldwide, offering leading mission-ready capabilities in AI, cloud, cyber and software development. Join our Talent Community to stay up to date on our career opportunities and events at gdit.com/tc.

Equal Opportunity Employer

We are an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.