Cybersecurity Lead

SkyePoint Decisions is a leading Cybersecurity Architecture and Engineering, Critical Infrastructure and Operations, and Applications Development and Maintenance IT service provider headquartered in Dulles, Virginia with operations across the U.S. We provide innovative enterprise-wide solutions as well as targeted services addressing the complex challenges faced by our federal government clients. Our focus is on enabling our clients to deliver their mission most efficiently and effectively – anytime, anywhere, securely. We combine technical expertise, mission awareness, and an empowered workforce to produce meaningful results.

This is a contingent position based upon contract win.

SkyePoint Decisions is seeking a Cybersecurity Lead to join our team supporting the Department of Education’s (DoED) Federal Student Aid (FSA) Cybersecurity and Privacy Support Services (CPSS).

The Senior Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) Cybersecurity Lead provides senior technical, operational, and program leadership for FSA cybersecurity activities supporting Institutions of Higher Education that handle Federal Student Aid data. The Lead oversees and coordinates IHE cybersecurity compliance, breach and incident response, cyber risk management, remediation, audit oversight, technical guidance, and education-sector outreach. The position serves as a senior cybersecurity resource supporting FSA and participating institutions in protecting sensitive Federal information and addressing cybersecurity risks involving Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), Federal Tax Information (FTI), and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) .

This is a remote position.

Responsibilities:

IHE Cybersecurity Program Leadership

Provide senior technical and operational leadership for cybersecurity activities supporting IHEs that handle FSA information.

Coordinate activities across the four primary FSA IHE cybersecurity workstreams:

Breach Response & Remediation

Cybersecurity Compliance & Audit Oversight

Cybersecurity Threat Risk Management

Communication Support & Education Sector Outreach

Coordinate cybersecurity activities among FSA offices, FSA contractors, IHEs, and affiliated organizations.

Achieve reporting and transparency metrics, to include compliance reporting, dashboard accuracy, and communication responsiveness.

Achieve customer and stakeholder experience metrics, including stakeholder satisfaction, governance participation, and speed of access request fulfillment.

Provide senior-level cybersecurity guidance to FSA stakeholders and participating institutions.

Promote consistency and quality across compliance assessments, incident response, risk management, remediation, and cybersecurity outreach activities.

Incident & Breach Response

Lead and coordinate incident-response and breach-management support for IHEs handling FSA information.

Provide incident reporting and handling guidance to help IHEs appropriately contain, remediate, and recover from cybersecurity incidents.

Coordinate remediation and response activities with reporting institutions.

Oversee the categorization, analysis, documentation, tracking, and management of IHE cybersecurity cases through closure.

Coordinate breach-response activities involving affected FSA offices, contractors, IHEs, and affiliated organizations.

Evaluate incident information to identify cybersecurity risks, compliance concerns, and necessary remediation actions.

Monitor corrective actions and remediation activities through resolution.

Cybersecurity Compliance & Assessment

Lead and support cybersecurity compliance assessments of institutions and systems that handle FSA data.

Evaluate the adequacy of administrative, technical, and physical safeguards and identify cybersecurity and compliance gaps.

Oversee development of assessment plans addressing methodology, data collection, sampling, reporting timelines, and risk-rating methodology.

Evaluate the existence and effectiveness of institutional information-security programs.

Review cybersecurity compliance and audit information and assess corrective-action plans.

Evaluate safeguards related to:

Risk assessment

Identity and access management

Data classification and inventory

Encryption of data in transit and at rest

Multi-factor authentication

Change management and secure development

Logging, monitoring, and incident response

Vendor and third-party risk

Cybersecurity awareness and training

Governance, Regulatory Compliance & Risk Management

Provide subject-matter expertise in interpreting cybersecurity and information-protection requirements applicable to institutions handling FSA data.

Support implementation and interpretation of GLBA, NIST SP 800-53, NIST SP 800-171, OMB A-130, and ED/FSA cybersecurity requirements .

Identify cybersecurity risks, compliance deficiencies, and control weaknesses affecting the protection of FSA information.

Provide actionable risk-mitigation and remediation recommendations.

Support IHE corrective-action planning and track identified issues toward resolution.

Ensure assessment and incident-response work products meet applicable Departmental data-handling and CUI protection requirements.

Support risk-management strategies associated with GLBA audit activities.

IHE Cybersecurity Advisory & Outreach

Provide cybersecurity consulting, threat advisories, and remediation support to Title IV institutions.

Serve as a senior cybersecurity resource for IHEs addressing significant cybersecurity risks, compliance issues, incidents, and remediation challenges.

Support cybersecurity awareness campaigns tailored to threats affecting the education sector.

Support cybersecurity tabletop exercises with participating IHEs.

Provide technical input supporting information security, privacy, outreach, and communication activities.

Collaborate with FSA communications and cybersecurity stakeholders on outreach initiatives that help institutions understand cybersecurity risks and protective measures.

Required Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity, Information Security, Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Assurance, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related discipline; equivalent relevant experience may be considered where permitted.

10+ years of cybersecurity experience, with experience in areas such as cybersecurity leadership, incident response, cybersecurity compliance, security assessments, risk management, or Federal information security.

Senior industry professional certification such as a CISSP or equivalent.

Must be able to get a 6c Public Trust. An active Secret level clearance or above is preferred.

Demonstrated experience leading or coordinating complex cybersecurity activities across multiple stakeholder groups.

Experience with cybersecurity compliance assessments, incident response, risk management, and remediation.

Knowledge of GLBA, NIST SP 800-53, NIST SP 800-171, and applicable Federal cybersecurity requirements.

Experience assessing security controls and identifying administrative, technical, and physical cybersecurity deficiencies.

Experience advising stakeholders on corrective actions and cybersecurity remediation strategies.

Ability to analyze complex cybersecurity incidents, risks, assessment findings, and compliance issues.

Strong leadership, technical writing, analytical, communication, presentation, and stakeholder-management skills.

U.S. Citizenship is required.

Compensation:

Salary Range: TBD

The SkyePoint Decisions salary range for this position is a general guideline only. It represents an estimated range for this position and is just one piece of our total compensation package.

Salary at SkyePoint is determined by various factors, including but not limited to location, work schedule, the candidate’s combinatio