Senior Manager, Security Operations

COGNNA is shaping the future of cybersecurity through innovation, intelligence, and a relentless drive to protect. Our platforms integrate cutting-edge AI, real-time threat detection, and deep security insights to help organizations proactively defend against evolving cyber threats.

A Senior Manager of Security Operations is responsible for leading frontline security operations teams, driving operational excellence across detection, triage, and response workflows, and ensuring that analyst teams consistently deliver high-quality outcomes aligned with customer SLAs and evolving threat landscapes.

You will lead and scale our SOC operations function, owning the day-to-day execution of detection, investigation, and incident response workflows. You will build high-performing analyst teams, define operational processes and quality standards, and serve as the critical bridge between frontline operations and platform engineering.

🔧 What You’ll Do

• Lead, mentor, and scale a team of SOC analysts and incident responders across multiple tiers, fostering a culture of accountability, continuous learning, and operational rigor.
• Own end-to-end SOC operations including alert triage, investigation, escalation, and incident response workflows, ensuring adherence to defined SLAs and quality benchmarks.
• Design and implement SOC processes, runbooks, and playbooks that drive consistency, reduce mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR).
• Define and track operational KPIs and metrics including alert volume, false positive rates, escalation accuracy, analyst throughput, and SLA compliance.
• Manage shift scheduling, capacity planning, and workload distribution to maintain 24/7 operational coverage and team well-being.
• Collaborate with Detection Engineering and Security Research teams to provide feedback loops on detection quality, gaps in coverage, and emerging threat patterns.
• Drive post-incident reviews and root cause analyses, translating findings into process improvements, detection enhancements, and training priorities.
• Partner with Customer Success to ensure operational delivery meets client expectations, SLA commitments, and contractual obligations.
• Evaluate and optimize SOC tooling, automation workflows, and SOAR integrations to improve analyst efficiency and reduce manual toil.
• Develop analyst career frameworks, skill matrices, and training programs to build deep expertise within the team.
• Report on operational health, risk posture, and team performance to senior leadership on a regular cadence.

Requirements:
• Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field; Master’s degree is a plus.
• 7+ years of experience in security operations, incident response, or SOC environments, with at least 3 years in a people management role.
• Demonstrated experience building, scaling, and managing SOC teams across multiple tiers (L1/L2/L3).
• Deep operational knowledge of SIEM platforms, EDR/XDR tools, SOAR platforms, and threat intelligence feeds.
• Strong understanding of the MITRE ATT&CK framework, kill chain methodologies, and common attack techniques.
• Experience defining and enforcing SLAs, SLOs, and operational KPIs in a customer-facing or managed services context.
• Proven ability to develop runbooks, escalation procedures, and quality assurance processes.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate operational metrics and incident details to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Relevant certifications such as CISSP, CISM, GSOM, GCIH, or equivalent are a plus.
• Experience in a SaaS, MSSP, or MDR environment is strongly preferred.
• This role requires a Saudi to fulfill security compliance requirements, fluent in English.

Benefits:
💰 Competitive Package – Salary + equity options + saving plan
🧘 Onsite Experience – Work from our office in Riyadh, KSA
🤝 Team of Experts – Work with designers, engineers, and security pros solving real-world problems
🚀 Growth-Focused – Your ideas ship, your voice counts, your growth matters
🌍 Global Impact – Build products that protect critical systems and data