Cybersecurity Advisory & Assurance Lead

The Cybersecurity Advisory & Assurance Lead is a senior, hands-on cybersecurity professional responsible for leading complex cybersecurity assessments, advisory engagements and transformation programmes for enterprise and government customers.The role independently leads comprehensive, framework-based assessments (NIST CSF, NIST SP 800-series, ISO/IEC 27001, CIS Controls and applicable UAE/GCC regulatory requirements), taking engagements from initial customer workshops and evidence collection through technical assessment, control testing, maturity evaluation, gap analysis, risk identification, target-state design, remediation planning and executive presentation.Drawing on broad expertise across defensive security, offensive security, governance, risk and compliance (GRC), security architecture and security operations, the jobholder acts as a technically credible adviser to CISOs, SOC, infrastructure, cloud and architecture teams, and senior management.
DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:
Lead enterprise-wide cybersecurity maturity and capability assessments, including NIST CSF-based current-state and target-state assessments covering governance and the Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond and Recover functions.
Conduct control design and operating-effectiveness assessments, evaluating whether technical controls are effectively implemented rather than relying solely on policy documentation.
Review cybersecurity policies, standards, procedures and operating models, and evaluate them against NIST CSF, NIST SP 800-series, ISO/IEC 27001/27002, CIS Critical Security Controls, UAE Information Assurance requirements, UAE/GCC cybersecurity regulations, PCI DSS, SWIFT CSP, cloud security frameworks and sector-specific requirements.
Assess and advise on defensive security and SOC capabilities, including SOC operating models, SIEM and security monitoring, EDR/XDR, detection engineering, threat intelligence, threat hunting, security logging, incident response, vulnerability management, IAM/PAM, network, endpoint, email and web security, ransomware resilience, cyber crisis management, and business continuity and cyber recovery.
Assess security architecture across enterprise infrastructure, cloud and hybrid environments, network, identity, endpoint, data, application security, security monitoring and, where applicable, OT/ICS environments.
Assess the effectiveness and maturity of cybersecurity processes, including asset, risk, vulnerability, patch and change management, identity lifecycle and privileged access management, security monitoring, incident response, third-party risk, secure development, threat management, security architecture governance, data protection, business continuity and cyber recovery.
Scope, challenge and interpret penetration-testing and red-team assessments; review vulnerability and penetration-testing results and assess vulnerability management and remediation processes.
Validate whether technical findings represent material business risks and work with offensive-security specialists to translate them into risk and remediation programmes, supporting purple-team and control-validation activities where required.
Conduct cybersecurity governance and cyber-risk assessments, assess governance structures and accountability, evaluate cyber-risk management methodologies, support regulatory and compliance readiness, and map controls across multiple regulatory frameworks.
Identify security gaps, risks, control weaknesses and capability deficiencies, and develop prioritised remediation roadmaps and cybersecurity improvement programmes.
Develop maturity models, heatmaps, risk registers and management dashboards, and produce executive, management and detailed technical assessment reports.
Present findings and recommendations to CISOs, CIOs, executives and governance committees, translating highly technical issues into business-risk language and practical remediation recommendations.
Lead customer workshops and stakeholder interviews; define assessment methodologies and evidence requirements, and maintain evidence traceability between findings and conclusions.
Manage assessment workstreams and guide junior consultants, challenging customer assumptions professionally and constructively.
Support proposals, RFP responses, statements of work and customer presentations, and assist Account Managers in identifying follow-on cybersecurity opportunities.
Education
Required:
Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Systems or Engineering (Electronics, Computer or Telecom).
Desirable:
Master's degree such as an MSc in Cybersecurity or Information Security, or an MBA with a technology focus. For a lead role this is a plus, not usually a must.
Professional certifications such as CISSP, CISM, CRISC, ISO 27001 Lead Auditor / Lead Implementer, CISA, CCSP, GIAC or NIST-related training/certification
Technical/offensive certifications such as OSCP, PNPT or CEH (or equivalent practical experience)
Experience
Required:
8 years of cybersecurity experience spanning multiple disciplines
Demonstrable experience leading enterprise cybersecurity assessments
Experience conducting stakeholder interviews and evidence-based assessments
Experience producing executive-level reports and presenting to senior customer stakeholders
Desirable:
12+ years of cybersecurity experience
Experience in government, critical infrastructure, financial services, aviation, energy or other highly regulated sectors

Employment type
Full-time

Work arrangement
No