Security Operations Manager

About the Role

A partner company is seeking a Security Operations Manager based in Germany to lead and enhance a cutting-edge cyber defense team. This role is a blend of strategic leadership and operational management focused on protecting a dynamic technological landscape by overseeing security operations, incident response, threat detection, and vulnerability management. The ideal candidate will work collaboratively across multiple teams to ensure swift threat containment and overall risk mitigation while nurturing and expanding a skilled security team.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage all aspects of security operations, including Security Operations Center (SOC) activities, detection engineering, incident response, and managing security exposures.
• Ensure effective management of alerts through triage, escalation, coordination of incidents, and rapid containment of threats.
• Assess and prioritize vulnerabilities based on business impact, exploitability, and asset importance to reduce risk.
• Maintain operational tools such as dashboards, playbooks, runbooks, remediation tracking, and cybersecurity performance indicators.
• Collaborate with IT, engineering, IAM, product, GRC, legal, and business divisions during incident handling and remediation.
• Lead talent acquisition, onboarding, coaching, and retention efforts to build a high-performing Cyber Defense team.
• Drive continuous enhancements in detection capabilities, incident response protocols, and security controls informed by threat intelligence and lessons learned.
• Provide comprehensive reporting on security operations, incident patterns, and cyber risk status to senior leadership and stakeholders.

Qualifications and Experience

• Over 10 years’ experience in information security.
• Minimum of 3 years managing security teams with direct leadership responsibilities.
• Demonstrated expertise in overseeing SOC operations, incident response, and improving key metrics like MTTD and MTTR.
• Strong background in designing and maintaining detection logic for SIEM, EDR, and cloud security platforms; ability to develop clear response runbooks.
• In-depth knowledge of attack methodologies including account takeover, credential theft, privilege escalation, and data exfiltration; familiar with frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK.
• Experience prioritizing vulnerabilities using CVSS, as well as understanding asset criticality and business impact assessments.
• Hands-on proficiency with enterprise SIEM tools such as Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, Chronicle, or Elastic and SOAR solutions.
• Good grasp of cloud security monitoring in AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform environments.
• Understanding of IAM, PAM, SSO, and relevant identity-based attack vectors.
• Skilled at defining and communicating cybersecurity KPIs and operational metrics to both technical teams and executives.
• Proficient in English at an upper-intermediate (B2) level or above.
• Experience in fintech, e-commerce, or comparable high-risk sectors is advantageous.
• Previous hands-on roles such as SOC Analyst, Incident Responder, or Detection Engineer are a plus.
• Experience establishing or significantly advancing a Security Operations or Cyber Defense function is highly regarded.
• Familiarity with threat intelligence platforms and threat-informed defense strategies is a benefit.
• Relevant certifications like CISSP, CISM, GSOM, GCED, GCIH, or equivalents are preferred.

Benefits

• Work fully remotely from any location.
• Entitled to 20 days of paid annual leave and 10 days of paid sick leave.
• Company-observed public holidays based on the official holiday calendar.
• Medical allowance provided to employees.
• Allocated budgets for professional development, education, language learning, and wellness activities including gym memberships and sports gear.

Additional Information

This opportunity is posted by a partner company handling applications independently. The employer utilizes an AI-based candidate matching system focused on objective assessments to shortlist candidates best fitting the role requirements. Final hiring decisions and subsequent steps, such as interviews and evaluations, are managed directly by the hiring organization.

Applicants should be aware that personal data submitted will be processed in compliance with data protection regulations, including GDPR. AI technology may be used to aid recruitment tasks but will not replace human decision-making.