SOC Analyst - Security Operations (Agency Contract)

About the role

This is a 1-year agency contract position for a security analyst covering security monitoring, incident response, data loss prevention and vulnerability management. The role involves triaging alerts, investigating incidents and coordinating with data owners, HR and compliance.

Key responsibilities

• Monitor alerts and dashboards across Trend Micro (Vision One, Deep Security, Apex One), Microsoft Sentinel and other tools; triage alerts and investigate suspicious activity with log analysis, KQL queries and threat intelligence
• Escalate confirmed incidents to L2/L3 or the incident response team, carry out initial containment and tune detection rules and alert thresholds
• Monitor and triage DLP alerts, investigate policy violations and coordinate with data owners, HR and compliance on confirmed leaks; report DLP trends
• Run and review vulnerability scans with Tenable, prioritise findings by CVSS and asset criticality, raise and track remediation tickets and manage risk acceptance requests
• Document incidents in the ticketing system (e.g. ServiceNow), maintain SOC playbooks, runbooks and SOPs, prepare shift handover notes and support audits and post-incident reviews

Required profile

• Diploma or Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, IT, Computer Science or a related field (or equivalent experience)
• 2-4 years in a SOC, security operations or IT security role
• Preferred certifications: CompTIA Security+, Microsoft SC-200, or Trend Micro certifications; CEH, GCIH, GCIA, Tenable or Azure/AWS security certifications are a plus

Required skills

• Hands-on experience with a SIEM (Microsoft Sentinel preferred) and endpoint or XDR tools (Trend Micro preferred)
• Experience with vulnerability scanners (Tenable preferred) and patch management
• Knowledge of network, endpoint, cloud and OS security (Windows, Linux); KQL queries and log analysis
• Understanding of DLP, incident response lifecycle and MITRE ATT&CK
• Ability to work with infrastructure and application teams and to work calmly under pressure in shifts