Security Operations Manager
Position Overview
Rapidly growing FinTech company seeking an accomplished Cybersecurity Operations Manager to take full ownership of its cloud-first security operations function. This is a high-impact, hands-on leadership role with end-to-end responsibility for managing the Security Operations Centre (SOC), incident detection and response, threat intelligence, and cloud-native security engineering-with a strong focus on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
Operating in a highly regulated, Real Time financial services environment, this role requires deep technical knowledge, operational maturity, and experience applying security best practices across a fast-moving cloud infrastructure.
What You'll Do
SOC Leadership & Threat Detection
- Lead and mentor a team of SOC analysts and engineers, ensuring high-quality coverage across all GCP workloads.
- Establish and maintain 24/7 detection and response capabilities, fine-tuning alerting rules and monitoring strategies.
- Deploy and maintain detection rules using Chronicle SIEM, YARA, Sigma, and GCP-native logging tools.
- Define and maintain runbooks, incident playbooks, and escalation procedures.
Incident Response & Threat Intelligence
- Own the full life cycle of security incidents from detection to remediation and post-incident review.
- Perform advanced threat hunting and root cause analysis across cloud workloads, Kubernetes clusters, APIs, and user activity. Integrate external threat intelligence feeds, aligning TTPs with the MITRE ATT&CK framework.
- Drive continuous improvement by conducting regular purple team exercises and scenario-based tabletop tests.
Cloud Security Engineering
- Work hands-on with GCP security controls, including:
- Security Command Center
- VPC Service Controls
- IAM (Identity & Access Management) Cloud Logging and Monitoring
- Workload Identity Federation
- Automate security response using Python, Terraform, or XSOAR.
- Collaborate with infrastructure and DevOps teams to embed security into CI/CD pipelines, containers (GKE), and API services.
Compliance & Risk Alignment
- Ensure operational alignment with PCI-DSS, ISO 27001, SOC 2, NIST, and GDPR requirements.
- Support internal and external audits with relevant security evidence and reports.
- Work closely with GRC teams to implement controls and technical safeguards for ongoing compliance.
Who You Are
A cybersecurity professional who thrives in high-velocity, cloud-native, and heavily regulated environments. You're both a strategist and a practitioner: able to lead people and projects, while staying hands-on with modern tools and incident response workflows. You bring both technical acumen and operational discipline, with a deep understanding of GCP security and experience protecting high-value fintech applications.
Essential Qualifications
- Experience as SOC lead, cyber operations manager, or similar role.
- Hands-on experience in securing Google Cloud Platform (GCP) environments across multiple projects/accounts.
- Strong expertise in:
- SIEM management (Chronicle, Splunk, Elastic) Incident response and recovery
- Security orchestration (SOAR), preferably Chronicle + XSOAR
- IAM, policy enforcement, logging, and access reviews in GCP
- Proven experience working in FinTech or financial services, ideally under PCI-DSS, ISO 27001, or SOC 2. Strong Scripting or automation experience (Python, Terraform, Bash).
- Knowledge of threat modelling and attack frameworks (MITRE ATT&CK, Kill Chain). Familiarity with Kubernetes (GKE), container security, API hardening.
Nice to Have
Certifications such as:
- Google Professional Cloud Security Engineer CISSP, CISM, GCIH, or GCIA
- Experience implementing Zero Trust Architecture in a cloud-native environment. Familiarity with OPA/Gatekeeper, Kubernetes Admission Controllers.
- Background in red teaming or adversary simulation (MITRE Caldera, Atomic Red Team).
- Experience working with BigQuery, Data Loss Prevention (DLP) tools, and Key Management Systems (KMS).
Why This Role?
- Work directly with engineering, DevSecOps, and compliance leadership.
- Lead cybersecurity strategy and execution in a cloud-native, greenfield fintech platform. Influence architecture decisions at scale while keeping a hands-on role.
- Flexible, remote-first working culture with global talent.
- A chance to build a security function from the ground up, automate deeply, and scale securely.
- Company
- Barclay Simpson
- Location
- Coventry, UK
Hybrid / WFH Options - Employment Type
- Full-time
- Posted
- Company
- Barclay Simpson
- Location
- Coventry, UK
Hybrid / WFH Options - Employment Type
- Full-time
- Posted