General Manager - Group Cyber Defense Operations at Equity Bank Kenya

Role Description:

The role is part of the Group Information Security department in Equity and has a direct reporting line to the Group CISO. This role will lead a team of experienced Analysts and senior Subject Matter Experts and will be responsible and accountable for the Cyber Defense processes and engineering capabilities which protect Equity’s information assets. 
The GM, Cyber Defense Operations will play a key role optimizing the technology, people and process portions of our defense in depth strategy, implementing standardization, automation, and innovation based on Equity’s Cyber threat profile.
The role must have an established background managing a security operations function, strong technical knowledge, experience handling a fast-paced operational cadence, and a results-driven mindset.

Job Responsibilities:

• Lead all group security detection and response activities with the goal of ensuring effective and consistent group posture; maintain and mature visibility requirements and standards, continuously improve SOC response capabilities.
• Manage, develop, retain, and mentor a talented group of approximately 35 internal security Specialists, Analysts, Engineers and senior Security SMEs who work within the Incident Response, Vulnerability Management, Endpoint protection, Network, Application, Data protection and Threat Intelligence / Hunt teams.
• Monitor and manage the threat lifecycle from identification via external and internal intelligence, prioritization of existing weaknesses and vulnerabilities, to containment and resolution of active threat.
• Provide leadership and direction to our Hybrid SOC external supplier in order to align their performance with Equity’s operational targets and desired outcomes.
• Be part of the Information Security senior leadership team, working closely with the Group CISO and peers to continuously mature security strategy and investments to align with Equity’s operating business model and threat environment, aiming to achieve maximum risk reduction while enabling Equity’s strategy and digital growth objectives.
• Collaborate with other IT and Business leaders including the Security GMs, CIOs, and IT Operational teams to deliver maximum Cyber resilience as a part of the overall security strategy.
• Develop key metrics to measure effectiveness of Cyber Defense capabilities and establish and facilitate forums to provide visibility to performance (e.g., threat briefings, response/detection metrics).
• Regularly report on the status and performance of the security capabilities and tasks assigned to your team.
• Remain current on cybersecurity threat landscape and mature SOC capabilities accordingly.
• Support customer facing teams as necessary on matters of Cyber Defense, including assisting with questionnaires, RFPs, or joining customer calls if appropriate.
• Support Equity’s compliance and regulatory audits, representing Cyber Defense capabilities.
• Support Equity’s business growth strategies by working closely with acquired companies when required to integrate them into Incident Response technologies and processes
• Responsible and accountable for the quality and coverage of the Cyber response function.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Computer Science, or a related field; Masters preferred.
• 10+ years of multi-disciplinary Information Security and Information Technology experience, with 5+ years in a technical leadership role.
• Demonstrated experience in creating communication channels and operational processes with external stakeholders and internal stakeholders within Commercial and Business support Units, to effectively manage incident response, insider threat, or any other violations.
• Ability to work in a highly dynamic environment, within an extremely fast paced, high growth company.
• Strong understanding of current and emerging trends and threats.
• Strong understanding of common best practices, frameworks, and regulations (NIST 800-53, ISO 27001, OWASP, MITRE ATT&CK, CIS, etc).
• Detailed understanding of offensive cybersecurity tactics, techniques, and procedures.
• Broad knowledge across all relevant facets of a holistic, modern cybersecurity program, including.