Director, Security Platform Operations

Northern Trust

. Lead, coach and develop a globally distributed team responsible for operating enterprise security platforms .

Posted 11/9/2026full-timeChicago • Illinois • United StatesLead💰 $164,600 - $288,000 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates extensive experience in leading enterprise-scale security operations and managing complex, regulated environments. Proficient in ITIL-aligned service management, operational resilience, and vendor management, with a strong focus on service reliability and performance metrics.

Highest-signal resume keywords

15+ Years In Information Technology5+ Years Leading Enterprise-Scale TeamsITIL-Aligned Service ManagementExperience With ServiceNow ITSMRelevant Certifications Such As CISSP

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

CybersecurityService OperationsPlatform EngineeringIncident ManagementProblem ManagementChange GovernanceOperational ResilienceVulnerability ManagementZero TrustSASE / SSE

Soft Skills

People LeadershipExecutive CommunicationCoachingAccountability

Tools & Technologies

ServiceNow ITSMCMDBVulnerability Response

Certifications & Qualifications

CISSPCISMITIL 4SRE FoundationMicrosoft Azure

Industry Keywords

Financial ServicesBankingAsset ServicingWealth ManagementHighly Regulated Industry

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AzureCyber SecurityITSMServiceNow

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Lead, coach and develop a globally distributed team responsible for operating enterprise security platforms
Establish service ownership, tiered support responsibilities, escalation paths, on-call expectations and decision rights
Create career progression through defined roles, competencies, technical development and leadership opportunities
Set operational goals and performance measures for availability, service levels, incident restoration, problem reduction, backlog health, lifecycle compliance and customer experience
Drive an automation-first and SRE-aligned operating culture
Assume accountable production ownership for security platforms after formal operational acceptance
Own platform health, availability, monitoring, alerting, capacity, resilience, performance, licensing, certificates, secrets and service dependencies
Lead incident, problem, request and change management for the security platform portfolio
Own vendor support cases, escalation management, maintenance schedules, lifecycle planning, end-of-life remediation and operational risk tracking
Ensure routine administration, configuration changes, patching, upgrades and recurring maintenance follow documented and controlled procedures
Maintain service records, ownership data and dependencies in ServiceNow ITSM and CMDB
Define and enforce the Production Acceptance Gate for transferring new or materially changed capabilities into Operations
Confirm production architecture, configuration baselines, integrations, dependencies, monitoring, alerting, access models and recovery expectations are complete and supportable
Require validated runbooks, ticket routing, vendor contacts, escalation procedures, SLO/SLI definitions, failure and recovery procedures, knowledge transfer and support training before acceptance
Accept, conditionally accept or reject transitions based on operational-readiness criteria
Own minor enhancements and low-risk configuration changes within approved architecture and platform patterns
Route material changes to Security Platform Engineering and provide operational requirements, production data, testing support and deployment-readiness input
Maintain and prioritize an operational enhancement backlog
Drive service improvement using incidents, recurring tickets, control gaps, capacity trends and stakeholder feedback
Define, review and communicate service, availability, incident, change, backlog, lifecycle, automation and platform-risk metrics
Provide audit and regulatory support for PCI DSS, SOX, GLBA, OCC/FFIEC and related expectations
Own operational documentation, service reviews, risk and control reporting, executive updates and remediation plans
Partner with Finance, Procurement and Vendor Management on licensing, renewals, consumption, support agreements and cost optimization

Requirements

What you’ll need

15+ years of experience in information technology, cybersecurity, infrastructure, network security, service operations, SRE, platform engineering or related disciplines
5+ years leading enterprise-scale teams or major security operations programs
Proven people leadership capability, including setting direction, developing talent, assigning work, managing priorities, coaching leaders and senior specialists, and creating accountability for operational outcomes
Demonstrated experience operating business-critical security platforms in a complex, highly regulated enterprise
Strong command of ITIL-aligned service management, incident and problem management, change governance, service transition, operational resilience and SLO/SLI practices
Experience establishing production-readiness criteria, accepting services into operations and managing clear boundaries between engineering and operations
Deep familiarity with vulnerability management, zero trust, network security, SASE / SSE, web security, SaaS security and associated enterprise operating models
Excellent executive communication skills, including the ability to explain service risk, control tradeoffs, investment needs, operational performance and remediation priorities
Ability to balance service reliability, regulatory commitments, operational backlog, team capacity and stakeholder needs across a broad platform portfolio
Prior experience in financial services, banking, asset servicing, wealth management or another highly regulated industry
Experience leading a globally distributed operations organization with follow-the-sun responsibilities
Experience with ServiceNow ITSM, CMDB and Vulnerability Response, and with security platforms
Experience transforming an engineering-led tool portfolio into formally owned, measurable and supportable services
Relevant certifications such as CISSP, CISM, ITIL 4, SRE Foundation, Microsoft Azure or comparable security and service-management credentials
Must be authorized to work in the U.S. without employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future

Benefits

Comp & perks

Retirement benefits (401k and pension)
Health and welfare benefits, including medical, dental, vision, spending accounts and disability
Paid time off
Parental and caregiver leave
Life and accident insurance
Other voluntary and well-being benefits
Discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component
Flexible and collaborative work culture
Movement within the organization is encouraged
Reasonable accommodations for individuals with health conditions and disabilities