SOAR and AI Engineer - Managed Security

AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together advances in cloud infrastructure, automation and analytics, and software delivery, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation.

At AHEAD, we prioritize creating a culture of belonging, where all perspectives and voices are represented, valued, respected, and heard. We create spaces to empower everyone to speak up, make change, and drive the culture at AHEAD.

We are an equal opportunity employer, and do not discriminate based on an individual's race, national origin, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, marital status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law, whether actual or perceived.

We embrace all candidates that will contribute to the diversification and enrichment of ideas and perspectives at AHEAD.

The Managed Security Team at AHEAD monitors client environments and performs incident detection, validation, response support, and reporting. The SOAR and AI Engineer will be responsible for the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of automation capabilities that increase the scale, speed, and consistency of our Managed Security operations. This role is heavily focused on security automation across SOAR, SIEM, case management, telemetry pipelines, and AI-assisted workflows that support the success of AHEAD’s Managed Security program.

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Position Overview This is a technical hands-on position that requires someone with a strong understanding of the needs of a 24/7 SOC (Security Operations Center). We are looking for a candidate with deep experience in security operations, SOAR engineering, scripting, systems integration, and applied AI who will work closely with the Managed Security staff and other highly technical members across multiple teams, both within AHEAD and in client environments, to continuously improve and enhance AHEAD’s automation-first Managed Security capabilities. Incumbents will possess strong technical and analytical skills while providing accurate analysis of security-related problems. They will have a well-rounded networking and security background and will be responsible for automating operational workflows, improving analyst efficiency, reducing mean time to respond, and helping teams troubleshoot complex client issues. This individual is client- and user-focused and works to resolve needs in a timely manner. These needs may involve automating repetitive analyst tasks, orchestrating security response actions, improving enrichment and triage workflows, integrating security tools, and applying AI to improve the speed and quality of security operations. The SOAR and AI Engineer is responsible for the day-to-day management and evolution of the automation platforms used by the Managed Security Team to monitor client environments and support security investigations and response. This includes workflow design and development, tool integrations, case enrichment, automated triage, alert-to-case orchestration, playbook creation and tuning, chatbot or analyst-assist workflows, and continuous optimization of automation performance and reliability. The SOAR and AI Engineer is expected to be familiar with a wide range of security tools and understand core security operations fundamentals.

Roles and Responsibilities Design, develop, and maintain security automation workflows within the SOAR platform, with a strong emphasis on scalable, reliable, and auditable automation Build and maintain automated playbooks for alert triage, enrichment, containment, escalation, evidence gathering, and case management Partner with SOC analysts, SIEM engineers, threat detection engineers, and incident responders to identify repeatable processes and convert them into high-value automation workflows Design and implement integrations between SOAR, SIEM, ticketing systems, collaboration tools, endpoint tools, identity platforms, firewalls, threat intelligence sources, and cloud security platforms Develop automation that improves incident handling speed, consistency, and quality across the Managed Security service Apply AI and machine learning capabilities where appropriate to improve analyst efficiency, alert summarization, triage recommendations, investigation support, knowledge retrieval, workflow decisioning, and operational reporting Evaluate, test, and operationalize AI-assisted security use cases in a secure, measurable, and supportable manner Establish guardrails, quality controls, and validation methods for AI-enabled workflows to ensure output accuracy, consistency, security, and auditability Partner with AHEAD Managed Security SIEM and SOAR resources to improve alert-to-action workflows and strengthen end-to-end detection and response processes Engage with client security and IT infrastructure teams for integration and onboarding activities related to automation, orchestration, and response enablement Create tooling and scripts in Python or similar languages to automate operational tasks, support integrations, normalize data, and improve platform functionality Monitor and manage the health, performance, and reliability of automation platforms and workflows used by the Managed Security Team Perform workflow tuning, exception handling, and optimization to reduce false starts, improve success rates, and minimize unnecessary analyst touchpoints Build and maintain dashboards, reports, and metrics related to automation adoption, workflow effectiveness, case throughput, response time improvements, and platform health Assist with the development of processes and procedures to improve incident response times, analysis quality, automation maturity, and overall Managed Security functions Participate in client-facing security meetings to review automation capabilities, implementation progress, service improvements, and operational outcomes Contribute to the roadmap for automation and AI within Managed Security, including identification of use cases, platform enhancements, and process standardization

Position Requirements Strong experience with SOAR platforms, preferably Swimlane and Palo Alto XSOAR, including playbook/workflow development, integrations, and operational support Strong experience with security automation, orchestration, and systems integration in enterprise or managed security environments Experience writing tools to automate tasks and integrate systems in Python or other languages Experience working with APIs, webhooks, JSON, authentication methods, and event-driven integrations Experience with SIEM platforms and common security operations workflows, with the ability to translate analyst needs into automation opportunities Familiarity with AI-assisted operations, LLM-enabled workflow patterns, or practical uses of AI in security operations and automation The ability to think creatively to find elegant solutions to complex problems Excellent verbal and written communication skills Incident handling and response experience The desire to work both independently and collaboratively with a larger team A willingness to be challenged along with a strong appetite for learning 2–4 years of experience in Information Security, Incident Response, SOAR engineering, security automation, detection engineering, or related disciplines Hands-on experience with common security technologies such as IDS, Firewall, SIEM, SOAR, EDR, IAM, email security, and cloud security tools Knowledge of common security analysis tools and techniques Understanding of common security threats, attack vectors, vulnerabilities, and exploits Knowledge of regular expressions and data transformation concepts Customer service focused and portrays energy, professionalism, and welcoming characteristics Strong ability to work in a highly sensitive and confidential environment Ability to meet deadlines and handle sensitive and pressured situations Ability to identify issues and help develop strategy and tactical plans for various department initiatives Ability to use good judgment and decision-making skills

Preferred Qualifications Experience with Swimlane, Palo Alto XSOAR, Elastic, and related Managed Security tooling Experience building analyst-assist workflows, case summarization, or AI-powered enrichment pipelines Familiarity with cloud environments such as AWS, Azure, or GCP and their native security tooling Experience integrating ServiceNow, collaboration tooling, and case management systems into security operations workflows Understanding of governance and risk considerations for production AI usage in security operations

Education Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Security, Engineering, or related/equivalent educational or work experience One or more of the following certifications preferred: CISSP, GCIH, GCIA, GMON, GPYC, relevant SOAR certifications, cloud security certifications, or security automation-related credentials

\n$120,000 - $160,000 a year

\nThe compensation range indicated in this posting reflects the On-Target Earnings (“OTE”) for this role, which includes a base salary and any applicable target bonus amount. This OTE range may vary based on the candidate’s relevant experience, qualifications, and geographic location.

Why AHEAD:

Through our daily work and internal groups like Moving Women AHEAD and RISE AHEAD, we value and benefit from diversity of people, ideas, experience, and everything in between.

We fuel growth by stacking our office with top-notch technologies in a multi-million-dollar lab, by encouraging cross department training and development, sponsoring certifications and credentials for continued learning.

USA Employment Benefits include:

- Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance

- 401(k)

- Paid company holidays

- Paid time off

- Paid parental and caregiver leave

- Plus more! See benefits https://www.aheadbenefits.com/ for additional details.

Use of AI:

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, assessing responses, or to capture recordings and create transcriptions or summaries during interviews. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans.

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You may opt-out of the review or analysis of your application and resume by AI tools by using the General Application. Please include the role you wish to apply for in the Additional Information field. You may also choose to opt-out of recording and transcription at any time, including after joining an interview. Candidates will not be penalized for choosing to opt-out.