Director Of Security Operations

As BWE’s Director of Security Operations (SecOps), you are the senior hands-on security expert accountable for the engineering and operational effectiveness of BWE’s security program. You lead a three-person security team as a player-coach, staying deep in the technology yourself, leading incident response, tuning platforms, and making the technical calls. You protect an environment of over 600 users, 700 endpoints, and 30 office locations across a best-of-breed security stack layered over Microsoft 365 and Azure and delivered with an MDR partner, in a regulated commercial real estate finance business examined by GSEs, rating agencies, and clients.

Primary Responsibilities

Team Leadership

Lead a team of three security professionals as an active technical contributor, setting standards, reviewing work directly, coaching, and stepping into complex technical issues.

Security Engineering

Own, configure, tune, and troubleshoot BWE’s security stack, taking platforms beyond implementation into measurable coverage and enforced controls.

Platform Rationalization

Evaluate the security tool portfolio for coverage, overlap, and cost, and recommend consolidation or retirement.

Detection and Response

Own detection and response outcomes, including alert quality, tuning, escalation, and vendor accountability.

Detection Engineering

Set detection, logging, and telemetry standards across cloud, SaaS, endpoint, identity, and data platforms, and turn threat intelligence into actionable detections and hunts.

Incident Command

Serve as security incident commander from triage through recovery and post-incident review, building and rehearsing playbooks and taking part in the security on-call rotation.

Vulnerability Management

Drive vulnerability management from discovery and prioritization through remediation and verification, supported by asset inventory and attack surface management.

Security Architecture

Set security architecture standards for cloud, SaaS, infrastructure, applications, and data platforms, and define security-by-design requirements for new technology.

Data Protection

Implement and operate data protection controls for confidential financial information, including classification, encryption, retention enforcement, and data loss monitoring.

Application Security

Maintain secure SDLC practices for internally developed applications, including code scanning standards, software supply chain security, and application security assessments.

Vendor Security

Assess and monitor the security of third parties based on the sensitivity of the data and access involved, including due diligence and contractual security requirements.

Cyber Risk Assessment

Lead cyber risk assessment activities, including penetration tests, tabletop exercises, CIS control and identity reviews, and social engineering, driving findings to closure.

Security Governance

Partner with the Chief Digital Officer and Compliance on information security policies and standards, and own the technical standards and procedures that implement them.

Control Framework Alignment

Maintain BWE’s alignment to NIST CSF and CIS Controls, including periodic maturity assessment and tracking of control gaps to closure.

Audit Response

Implement, operate, and evidence technical controls for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD and FHA, rating agency, and client security requirements and examinations.

Security Automation

Use scripting, APIs, playbooks, and AI to automate detection, response, investigation, and reporting, reducing manual effort across security operations.

Cyber Resilience

Partner with Technology Operations to test and improve cyber resilience and recovery.

Security Awareness

Own the security awareness program, measured on behavior change.

Security Performance Reporting

Own operational security metrics, including control coverage, detection and response performance, and vulnerability remediation.

Business Partnership

Serve as a visible security partner to Legal, Compliance, HR, and business teams, and support the CDO in representing BWE’s security to clients, rating agencies, and GSEs.

Shared Responsibilities (with Director of Technology Operations)

Patching

Set patching standards, priorities, and compliance expectations and govern exceptions, with Technology Operations executing across supported platforms and endpoints.

Incident Response and Remediation

Lead security triage, investigation, and forensics and define corrective actions, while Technology Operations leads service restoration and tracks closure.

Vulnerability Identification and Remediation

Own discovery, prioritization, and validated closure, with Technology Operations remediating on the systems, platforms, and endpoints it manages.

Minimum Qualifications

• 10+ years of cybersecurity experience with significant recent hands-on security engineering and operations responsibilities.
• 3+ years leading technical security professionals while continuing to contribute technically.

Hands-on depth across most of

EDR, cloud security, email security, data security, privileged access, SIEM and detection engineering, and vulnerability management.

• Direct experience managing an MDR or MSSP and holding the provider accountable for measurable detection and response outcomes.
• Experience serving as technical lead for security incidents from triage through remediation and post-incident review.
• Experience implementing, operating, and evidencing technical security controls against financial services regulatory and contractual requirements.
• Ability to automate security work using PowerShell, Python, APIs, or equivalent technologies.
• Bachelor’s degree in a related field or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or another GSE, including translating GSE security requirements into evidenced technical controls.
• Experience in commercial real estate finance, multifamily or mortgage banking, or another lending environment subject to GSE, investor, and state regulatory requirements.
• Secure SDLC and application security experience in custom-development environments, including securing enterprise AI platforms.
• Demonstrated use of AI and automation to improve security operations, and hands-on certifications such as CISSP, GCIH, GCFA, or OSCP.
• Familiarity with platforms in BWE’s stack such as Expel, CrowdStrike, Wiz, Abnormal AI, Varonis, CyberArk, BeyondTrust, Recorded Future, Veeam, and Microsoft Purview. We encourage you to explore the career opportunities we have available here at BWE! Please note, BWE will not sponsor applicants for this position for immigration benefits, including but not limited to assisting with obtaining work permission for F-1 students, H-1B professionals, O-1 workers, TN workers, E-3 workers, among other immigration statuses. Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. BWE is a national, full-service commercial and multifamily mortgage banking company that puts people and communities first. Our people are our greatest assets and create the work environment that makes BWE a place of growth, productivity, and ingenuity.