Technical Lead Security at SARAO - South African Radio Astronomy Observatory

• SARAO has an exciting opportunity for a IT Security Technical Lead to join our team based in Cape Town. Working as the technical lead within the Compute Infrastructure Group, this role takes overall technical responsibility for cyber security across the organisation including considerations of both the physical and cyber security needed to secure all science, business and engineering IT systems to the agreed upon levels.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop the organisation’s security framework to align with ISO27001 / NIST, POPIA) and information security guidelines stipulated therein.
• Acquire all reports from recent organization Cyber security risk assessment as well as any cyber security related framework (NIST CSF, ISO27001/2, CIS Top 18), regulations (POPIA) and related documents from the NRF
• Create a practical security Strategy and roadmap based on the current as-is.
• Create security governance, build and manage the security team.
• Develop and maintain a cyber risk register which will guide the organization against any cyber threats and reflect current.
• Use surveys, workshops, risk assessments or direct interviews, business risk requirements, operational and governance requirements,
• Develop, implement and review relevant security policies, plans, standards and procedures that will guide the organization in their security resilience.
• Use online resources, resources from partner CSIRTs, security awareness & education platforms to create and deliver ongoing user security awareness and education to SARAO workforce.
• Oversee business risk requirements, build a strong security team with sound supporting team structure and relevant centres of excellence including Vulnerability management, Security controls (CSI Top 18) SOC/NSOC, CSIRT, security awareness and education.
• Manage cyber risk within the organizations of both the physical, OT and IT cyber security needed to secure all science, business and engineering IT systems to the agreed upon levels.
• Coordinate with Finance, Business IT Departments to update and maintain organisations cyber assets register
• Provide a guidance to the organisation’s Business Continuity Management plan relating to cyber security.

Key Requirements:
Qualification:

• B. Tech/bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science or Engineering
• Professional and associate or expert IT Security Certifications
• 13 years’ experience working in the field of information technology.

Experience:

• Experience of open-source tools and operating systems
• Experience of managing and controlling budgets/resources/funding and an understanding of financial management procedures.
• Experience in developing innovative solutions and contributing to strategic planning.
• Well-developed knowledge of systems/services for software/hardware development as it relates to IT security and across functions and how they relate to each other.
• Well-developed understanding of regulations and procedures and the implications of non-compliance.
• Experience in high level and executive reporting to provide visibility into cyber risks relevant to the organization

Knowledge:

• Developing security strategy, plan and roadmap based on business risk requirements, risk assessment and gap analysis
• Develop and implement security policies, plans, standards and procedures
• Building team to support SARAO security implementation and execution
• Hands on knowledge of implementing security framework, policies & procedures, industry standards and best practices
• Lead the technical implementation of security solutions and tools including SIEM, EPP, NAC, IDS/IPS, Firewalls, EDR,XDR, SOAR, Zerotrust and AI
• Lead the CSIRT and its related activities within the organization
• Participate and provide input into the Enterprise Risk Management process within SARAO.
• Provide security consulting in organizations projects & implementations
• Lead the establishment and operations of a vulnerability management & Penetration testing program
• Establishing and implement a resilient end-user protection, user security awareness & education
• Establishing external collaboration relationships to bolster and strengthen the SARAO security team efforts
• Lead the implementation of an end-to-end IAM solution

Additional Notes:

• Knowledge & implementation of ISO 27001, ISO 27005 and NIST/CSF
• Identity and Access Management, Single Sign-on and Federated Identity (IdP and SP)
• Knowledge of Science DMZ architecture (http://fasterdata.es.net/science-dmz
• Understanding of High Performance and High Throughput Scientific Computing
• Ansible for configuration, provisioning and deployment – DevOps
• Knowledge of ITIL frameworks
• Knowledge of industrial SCADA and building management systems

Deadline:20th August,2025