Senior Director, Security and Safety

About the role

The Senior Director, Security & Safety is an enterprise-wide executive leadership role within the Security Department, reporting directly to the Vice President of Security. This position exercises absolute governance and strategic ownership over NYRA’s comprehensive security matrix, shielding thousands of personnel, high-profile guests, and multi-million-dollar assets across all facilities.

Responsibilities

• Enterprise Risk Governance & Strategic Vision: Architect and govern the enterprise-wide risk management framework; continuously forecast emerging threat landscapes, quantify vulnerabilities, and deploy long-term strategic mitigation roadmaps to immunize the organization against financial, operational, and reputational risks.

• Policy Architecture & Regulatory Compliance: Author, formalize, and mandate comprehensive security and safety policies, corporate standards, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs); establish rigorous internal compliance matrices that strictly align operations with evolving federal, state, and local regulatory statutes.

• Physical & Digital Security Infrastructure Management: Drive the strategic design, capital investment strategy, and deployment of integrated physical security matrices, including advanced access control architectures and state-of-the-art surveillance technologies (CCTV, intrusion detection), maximizing the protection of high-value assets and multi-site infrastructure.

• Crisis Management, Resiliency & Incident Leadership: Command the global incident command structure; design, test, and activate enterprise-wide crisis management and business continuity plans to ensure instantaneous, decisive containment and institutional recovery during catastrophic events or security breaches.

• Continuous Security Optimization & Audit Control: Systematically mandate and oversee rigorous, data-driven security audits, red-team penetration testing, and structural site vulnerability assessments to continuously validate operational readiness, optimize system efficiencies, and enforce absolute accountability.

• Fiscal Governance & Capital Allocation: Direct the strategic formulation, execution, and optimization of departmental operating and capital expenses and budgets; pioneer cost-efficiency frameworks, participate in high-value enterprise vendor contract negotiations, and align resource allocation with overarching corporate safety priorities to maximize return on security investments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice, Emergency Management, Security Administration, Business Administration, or a related field required; Master’s degree (MBA, MS) highly preferred.

• Minimum of 10–12 years of progressive, high-level corporate security or law enforcement command experience; includes at least 5 years managing multi-tiered management teams and complex labor environments.

• Formal mastery and advanced certification in FEMA Incident Command System (ICS) protocols (e.g., ICS-300, ICS-400) and National Incident Management System (NIMS) frameworks.

• Active possession of premier industry certifications, such as Certified Protection Professional (CPP) or Physical Security Professional (PSP) from ASIS International preferred.

• Demonstrated success directing massive crowd dynamics, guest safety operations, and event logistics for high-capacity sports, entertainment, or horse racing venues hosting 20,000+ attendees.

• Proven history managing multi-million dollar capital (CapEx) and operational (OpEx) budgets alongside an acute understanding of New York State gaming and safety regulations.

• Ability to secure and maintain necessary state licensing and high-level corporate security clearances as mandated by state regulatory commissions and organizational governance.