Cyber Security Detection Engineer & SOC Escalation Analyst

Spektrum supports apex purchasers (NATO, UN, EU, and National Government and Defence) and their Tier 1 supplier ecosystem with a wide range of specialist services. We provide our clients with professional services, specialised aerospace and defence sales, delivery, and operational subject matter expertise. We are looking for personnel to join our team and support key client projects.

Who we are supporting

The NATO Communication and Information Agency (NCIA) is responsible for providing secure and effective communications and information technology (IT) services to NATO's member countries and its partners. The agency was established in 2012 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.

The NCIA provides a wide range of services, including:

• Cyber Security: The NCIA provides advanced cybersecurity solutions to protect NATO's communication networks and information systems against cyber threats.

• Command and Control Systems: The NCIA develops and maintains the systems used by NATO's military commanders to plan and execute operations.

• Satellite Communications: The NCIA provides satellite communications services to enable secure and reliable communications between NATO forces.

• Electronic Warfare: The NCIA provides electronic warfare services to support NATO's mission to detect, deny, and defeat threats to its communication networks.

• Information Management: The NCIA manages NATO's information technology infrastructure, including its databases, applications, and servers.

Overall, the NCIA plays a critical role in ensuring the security and effectiveness of NATO's communication and information technology capabilities.

The program

Assistance and Advisory Service (AAS)

The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) is NATO’s principal C3 capability deliverer and CIS service provider. It provides, maintains and defends the NATO enterprise-wide information technology infrastructure to enable Allies to consult together under Article IV, and, when required, stand together in the face of attack under Article V.

To provide these critical services, in the modern evolving dynamic environment the NCI Agency needs to build and maintain high performance-engaged workforce. The NCI Agency workforce strategically consists of three major categorise's: NATO International Civilians (NIC)'s, Military (Mil), and Interim Workforce Consultants (IWC)'s. The IWCs are a critical part of the overall NCI Agency workforce and make up approximately 15 percent of the total workforce.

Role ID – C005322

Role Background

This role acts as the technical escalation point within a Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC), reviewing and validating investigations from First-Line Analysts, performing deep-dive log and threat analysis, and building/tuning detection content across a modern SIEM/SOAR/EDR toolset, while mentoring junior analysts and contributing to a 24×7 monitoring roster.

Role Duties and Responsibilities

• Review and quality-check First-Line Analyst investigations, alert closures and escalations

• Serve as technical escalation point, performing in-depth log analysis and threat triage (Splunk ES, Splunk SOAR, Microsoft Sentinel)

• Provide on-call coverage as part of a 24×7 second-line roster

• Design, develop and continuously tune detection rules, alerts and analytics

• Coach and mentor First-Line Analysts; support onboarding of new team members

• Support the Duty Second-Line Analyst with weekly operational responsibilities

• Participate in purple teaming exercises and collaborate with the Threat Hunting Team to operationalize findings

• Write and maintain SOPs, runbooks and knowledge-base documentation

• Represent CSOC in project/transition planning for monitoring and detection requirements

Essential Skills, Experience and Certifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related field + 3 years post-related experience, or 5+ years of equivalent progressive experience

• Minimum 3 years' hands-on SOC/CSOC/GSOC or equivalent monitoring environment experience

• Expert-level incident analysis and reporting skills

• Strong log analysis skills across Windows Event Logs, Linux syslog, Sysmon, and EDR/XDR platforms (Defender, SentinelOne, CrowdStrike) using SIEM tools (Splunk, Sentinel, Kibana)

• Hands-on packet capture analysis (Wireshark, tcpdump, Zeek)

• Experience designing/maintaining detection rules across SIEM, EDR/XDR and cloud platforms (Azure, AWS)

• Experience mentoring or supporting less experienced analysts

• Practical SOAR/automation experience

• Strong written and verbal English communication (STANAG 6001 Level 3 equivalent)

Desirable:

• Bachelor's in Cyber Security, IT, Computer Science, or related field

• Experience in defence, government, financial services or other regulated environments

• Cloud-native security monitoring experience (Azure/AWS)

• Experience with network/edge security devices (Cisco, Fortinet/Fortigate, Palo Alto)

• Certifications: CISSP, CISM, GCIH, GCFA, GSEC, CompTIA CySA+

• Experience supporting military or government organizations

Working Location

• Mons, Belgium

Working Policy

• Full-time onsite

Travel

• Some travel to other NATO sites may be required

Security Clearance

• Valid National or NATO Secret personal security clearance