Overview

This role owns the operational side of the Vulnerability Detection & Response (VDR) program, focusing on the response discipline that ensures vulnerabilities are evaluated, remediated, and verified within strict SLA timeframes — as little as 12 hours for the most critical exploitable, internet-reachable findings. The Security Engineer will design and implement response playbooks, build on-call and emergency-patch processes, execute them during a parallel-run period, and train internal security and platform teams to operate them post-cutover. The role requires close coordination with engineering teams to drive real findings through the full lifecycle from triage to verified closure, while also establishing SLA telemetry, drift alerting, and operator-quality documentation for long-term program sustainability.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop the runbook library for vulnerability response, including triage and evaluation runbooks, standard remediation workflows per finding type (container image, host, dependency, code), emergency-patch runbooks for PAIN-5 LEV+IRV findings (12h–2d SLAs), and verification/closure procedures.
• Design and implement the on-call and escalation model, including PagerDuty alerting rules tied to PAIN/LEV/IRV thresholds.
• Operate the response process during the parallel-run and cutover period: drive real findings through evaluation → prioritization → remediation → verification, proving SLAs are achievable before the deadline.
• Build the remediation verification step, ensuring fixes are confirmed in the deployed environment — not just in a rebuilt image — before findings close (runtime reconciliation as an operational practice).
• Define SLA telemetry and drift alerting: dashboards and alerts that show when findings are approaching or breaching their timeframe class.
• Coordinate remediation with engineering teams: patching guidance, upgrade paths, compensating controls, and clear acceptance criteria for fixes.
• Run tabletop exercises for the emergency-patch scenario and refine runbooks from lessons learned.
• Train internal security and platform teams on the runbooks and produce operator-quality documentation for handoff.

Required Skills

• 5+ years in security operations, vulnerability management operations, or detection & response roles.
• Hands-on remediation experience: personally driven patching campaigns, container image updates, and dependency upgrades across engineering teams.
• Experience writing operational runbooks and incident/response procedures that other people successfully execute.
• Working knowledge of exploit intelligence and prioritization (CISA KEV, EPSS, vendor advisories) and how it changes urgency.
• Experience with alerting and on-call tooling (PagerDuty or equivalent) and SLA-driven workflows.
• Cloud and container fluency: comfortable reasoning about how a fix reaches production in an EKS/ECS + ECR + CI environment.

Preferred Skills

• Experience in a FedRAMP or other regulated environment where remediation timeframes are compliance obligations.
• Familiarity with DefectDojo or similar platforms as the system of record for response workflows.
• Incident response background, particularly for emergency-patch discipline.
• Experience running tabletop exercises and operational readiness reviews.

Qualifications

• Engagement Mode: contract (6 months)
• Location: Remote
• Experience: 5-7 years