Zero Trust Strategist

About the role

Our Cybersecurity Consultants are a team of business integrators with extensive consulting and industry experience who help our clients solve their complex business issues from strategy through execution. A career in an integrated team of developers and consultants provides the opportunity to grow and contribute to our clients' business issues every day, applying a collection of security spectrum capabilities, including security strategy and governance, IT risk, security technologies, and cybercrime and breach response.

Responsibilities

• Design, document, and maintain enterprise Zero Trust architectures spanning identity, device, network/environment, application/workload, and data pillars.
• Define strategic roadmaps and reference architecture aligned with organizational objectives and mission requirements.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to embed Zero Trust principles into technology modernization efforts, cloud transitions, and cybersecurity initiatives.
• Partner with cybersecurity, network engineering, cloud, DevSecOps, and governance teams to ensure cohesive implementation and maturity.
• Perform organizational assessments using the CISA Zero Trust Maturity Model.
• Develop and maintain comprehensive project plans, including timelines, milestones, budget tracking, and resource allocation.
• Identify, track, and mitigate project risks, issues, and dependencies to ensure successful, on-time, and within-budget project delivery.
• Provide regular project status updates to leadership, technical teams, and other key stakeholders.
• Manage cross-functional project teams, vendor relationships, and external consultants.
• Lead the development of comprehensive Zero Trust program strategies and executive level briefings tailored for CISO and senior leadership audiences.
• Independently design Zero Trust reference architectures and capability roadmaps without requiring hands on engineering support.
• Serve as the senior Zscaler and CrowdStrike product expert for the engagement, advising on platform capabilities, constraints, and adoption patterns across identity, device, network, workload, and data protection domains.
• Translate complex Zscaler and CrowdStrike technologies (e.g., ZIA/ZPA, Falcon Insight/XDR, Falcon DLP) into clear business outcomes and maturity recommendations.
• Coordinate with separate Zscaler and CrowdStrike engineering teams to ensure alignment while driving architectural decisions autonomously and without operational disruption.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited university
• Minimum of eight (8) years of overall work experience
• US Citizenship is contractually required
• Able to obtain and maintain a Federal or DoD "Public Trust"
• Experience in IT or managing large-scale deployments and cross-functional technical teams with US Federal government consulting experience
• Familiarity with federal compliance frameworks (e.g., FISMA, FedRAMP, NIST 800-53)
• Experience collaborating with teams for IT security operations, threat response, or security architecture development, including IAM system requirements, design, implementation, integration, testing, or change management
• Demonstrated expertise across all pillars of Zero Trust (identity, device, network/environment, application/workload, data)
• Hands-on experience with Zero Trust technology platforms (e.g., CrowdStrike Falcon, Zscaler, and Okta)
• Hands-on experience with automating security workflows and integrating Zero Trust technology platforms
• Deep understanding of identity-centric security, segmentation, continuous monitoring, and least privileged access
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills and verbal and written communication abilities
• Strong customer service and stakeholder management skills
• Attention to detail and commitment to security best practices
• Demonstrated ability to operate as an independent consultant—capable of leading strategic discussions, developing executive-ready deliverables, and facilitating program level decision making without reliance on product engineering teams
• Prior proven experience developing Zero Trust program roadmaps, maturity plans, and strategic capability adoption aligned to CISA and DoD Zero Trust frameworks
• Exceptional communication and client facing skills, including experience presenting to CISO level stakeholders and translating technical detail into strategic business guidance
• Experience driving multi vendor Zero Trust integration approaches involving identity, endpoint, cloud, and network platforms
• Active security clearance
• Knowledge of NIST 800-53, 800-207, RMF, FedRAMP, and related frameworks
• Experience with SIEM, SOAR, SASE, and identity threat detection and response technologies
• Familiarity with SDLC process, including designing and developing applications
• Previous consulting experience delivering Zero Trust architecture guidance, for instance around Data Loss Prevention modernization, secure access, or cross-platform telemetry enrichment

Qualifications

• Active security clearance
• Knowledge of NIST 800-53, 800-207, RMF, FedRAMP, and related frameworks
• Experience with SIEM, SOAR, SASE, and identity threat detection and response technologies
• Familiarity with SDLC process, including designing and developing applications
• Previous consulting experience delivering Zero Trust architecture guidance, for instance around Data Loss Prevention modernization, secure access, or cross-platform telemetry enrichment

Skills

• Hands-on experience with Zero Trust technology platforms (e.g., CrowdStrike Falcon, Zscaler, and Okta)
• Hands-on experience with automating security workflows and integrating Zero Trust technology platforms
• Deep understanding of identity-centric security, segmentation, continuous monitoring, and least privileged access
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills and verbal and written communication abilities
• Strong customer service and stakeholder management skills
• Attention to detail and commitment to security best practices
• Demonstrated ability to operate as an independent consultant—capable of leading strategic discussions, developing executive-ready deliverables, and facilitating program level decision making without reliance on product engineering teams
• Prior proven experience developing Zero Trust program roadmaps, maturity plans, and strategic capability adoption aligned to CISA and DoD Zero Trust frameworks
• Exceptional communication and client facing skills, including experience presenting to CISO level stakeholders and translating technical detail into strategic business guidance
• Experience driving multi vendor Zero Trust integration approaches involving identity, endpoint, cloud, and network platforms

Benefits

The annual salary range for this position is $149,000.00-$248,000.00. Compensation decisions depend on a wide range of factors, including but not limited to skill sets, experience and training, security clearances, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs.

About Guidehouse

Guidehouse is an Equal Opportunity Employer–Protected Veterans, Individuals with Disabilities or any other basis protected by law, ordinance, or regulation. Guidehouse will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable law or ordinance including the Fair Chance Ordinance of Los Angeles and San Francisco. If you have visited our website for information about employment opportunities, or to apply for a position, and you require an accommodation, please contact Guidehouse Recruiting at 1-571-633-1711 or via email at RecruitingAccommodation@guidehouse.com. All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodation. All communication regarding recruitment for a Guidehouse position will be sent from Guidehouse email domains including @guidehouse.com or guidehouse@myworkday.com. Correspondence received by an applicant from any other domain should be considered unauthorized and will not be honored by Guidehouse. Note that Guidehouse will never charge a fee or require a money transfer at any stage of the recruitment process and does not collect fees from educational institutions for participation in a recruitment event. Never provide your banking information to a third party purporting to need that information to proceed in the hiring process. If any person or organization demands money related to a job opportunity with Guidehouse, please report the matter to Guidehouse’s Ethics Hotline. If you want to check the validity of correspondence you have received, please contact recruiting@guidehouse.com. Guidehouse is not responsible for losses incurred (monetary or otherwise) from an applicant’s dealings with unauthorized third parties. Guidehouse does not accept unsolicited resumes through or from search firms or staffing agencies. All unsolicited resumes will be considered the property of Guidehouse and Guidehouse will not be obligated to pay a placement fee.