Lead engineer

This Senior Cyber Incident Commander position drives incident response on major incidents with executive-level participants, and is also accountable for security engineering solutions, framework, roadmap, program optimization, process engineering, risk remediation, and mitigation of operational risk in a high-velocity culture by introducing technology, requirements, deliverables, gaps, and systems design. Analyzes competitive strategies, cyber technologies, metrics models, and performance indicators.

Position Compensation Range

$125,000.00 - $214,000.00

Pay Rate Type

Salary

Compensation may vary based on the job level and your geographic work location. Relocation support is offered for eligible candidates.

• Senior Cyber Incident Commander**
  
  

We seek a highly experienced Senior Cyber Incident Commander to lead our enterprise-wide response to significant cybersecurity events. This role is critical in ensuring a disciplined, coordinated, and effective approach during high-severity incidents that could impact our operations, customers, and reputation.

In this position, you will serve as the central leader during critical incidents, making decisive decisions, ensuring clear communication across stakeholders, and guiding the organization from detection through recovery. You will work closely with executives, technical teams, and cross-functional partners to minimize risk, manage communications, and enhance overall resilience.

The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of managing complex incidents in large organizations, a strong understanding of incident response frameworks, and excellent communication skills that bridge technical details with executive decision-making. Certifications such as CISSP, CISM, or GIAC are strongly preferred.

This is a high-visibility leadership role where your expertise will have a direct impact on our organization's security and resilience. We encourage you to apply if you thrive in high-pressure environments, excel at cross-functional collaboration, and bring a calm, authoritative presence to cyber crisis management.

Specialized Knowledge & Skills Requirements

• Demonstrated experience providing customer-driven solutions, support or service.
• Solid knowledge and understanding of software engineering architectures, system/software designs, and system deployments.
• Working knowledge and of Cyber Security, Cyber Engineering, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electrical / Computer Engineering.
• Extensive knowledge and understanding of security technologies and application development methodologies.
• Demonstrated experience performing cyber threat analysis, incident response, forensics analysis, penetration testing, and ethical hacking.
• Extensive knowledge and understanding of directory services and identity stores.
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience managing major incidents at large organizations.
• Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field; Master’s degree preferred.
• 7–10+ years of progressive experience in cybersecurity, with at least 3 years in incident response or security operations leadership roles.
• Proven experience directing high-impact cyber incident response efforts in enterprise or government environments.
• Strong knowledge of incident management frameworks and methodologies (NIST 800-61, ISO 27035, SANS).
• Hands-on expertise with SIEM, EDR/XDR, threat intelligence, and forensic tools.
• Industry-recognized certifications include CISSP, CISM, GCIH, GCIM, GCFA, or equivalent.
• Exceptional crisis management, decision-making, and leadership skills under pressure.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex technical information clearly to executives, business stakeholders, and technical teams.
• Experience leading tabletop exercises, after-action reviews, and continuous improvement programs.
• Familiarity with compliance and regulatory obligations (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, SOX).
• Collaborating effectively with cross-functional stakeholders, third-party vendors, and government or law enforcement agencies.
  
  

Additional Information

• Offer to selected candidate will be made contingent on the results of applicable background checks
• Offer to selected candidate is contingent on signing a non-disclosure agreement for proprietary information, trade secrets, and inventions
• Sponsorship will not be considered for this position unless specified in the posting
  
  

In this hybrid role you will be expected to work a minimum of 10 days per month out of the Boston, MA office (02210).

We provide benefits that support your physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing. You will have access to comprehensive medical, dental, vision and wellbeing benefits that enable you to take care of your health. We also offer a competitive 401(k) contribution, a pension plan, an annual incentive, 9 paid holidays and a paid time off program (23 days accrued annually for full-time employees). In addition, our student loan repayment program and paid-family leave are available to support our employees and their families. Interns and contingent workers are not eligible for American Family Insurance Group benefits.

We are an equal opportunity employer. It is our policy to comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws pertaining to non-discrimination, non-harassment and equal opportunity. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law.

American Family Insurance is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. If a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please email [email protected] to request a reasonable accommodation.