Cybersecurity Engineer (Permanent – Hybrid – La Mirada, CA)

By estreetsecurity
July 9, 2025July 9, 2025
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La Mirada, CA

Posted 1 week ago

Cybersecurity Engineer (Permanent – Hybrid – La Mirada, CA)

Join the team that connects California to the world! Our client, CENIC, is dedicated to advancing education and research statewide by operating the California Research and Education Network (CalREN). This high-capacity computer network spans over 8,000 miles of optical fiber, serving over 20 million users across California, including the vast majority of K-20 students, educators, researchers, and individuals at other vital public-serving institutions. If you’re passionate about leveraging world-class computing networks for innovation, collaboration, and economic growth, this is your opportunity to make a significant impact.

Position Summary: Advancing Cybersecurity for California’s Research & Education Network

This is a full-time, permanent position within the CENIC Information Security Office (ISO), offering a hybrid work model based out of La Mirada, California. The Cybersecurity Engineer reports directly to the Manager of the Information Security Office, undertaking a broad and critical range of technical cybersecurity, operational cybersecurity, and general administrative support duties. You’ll be instrumental in diverse areas, including vulnerability management, ticket handling, security documentation, email gateway security, identity and access management security, network security monitoring, and various security audit and administrative tasks. The successful Cybersecurity Engineer will play a pivotal role in advancing CENIC’s ISO team efforts, providing essential information security services and support to CENIC and its Charter Associate members, thereby safeguarding a network vital to millions.

Supervisory Responsibility: None.

What You Will Do: Core Functions in Network Security & Operations

As a Cybersecurity Engineer, you’ll be on the front lines of protecting a critical research and education network. Your responsibilities will span system implementation, threat mitigation, incident response, and continuous improvement in security practices.

Build and Implement Enterprise-Class Security Systems: You’ll be responsible for meticulously building and implementing enterprise-class security systems within a live production environment. This involves deploying robust security controls, tools, and platforms designed to protect a high-capacity, high-traffic network serving millions of users. Your work ensures that the network’s defenses are continuously strengthened against evolving threats.
Align Security with Business and Technology Strategy: You’ll actively align security standards, frameworks, and practices with the overall business and technology strategy of CENIC. This involves understanding organizational goals, technical roadmaps, and ensuring that security initiatives are integrated seamlessly, contributing to strategic objectives while meeting critical customer and regulatory requirements.
Implement Security Processes to Mitigate Emerging Threats: You’ll design and implement proactive security processes specifically aimed at identifying and mitigating emerging threats. This includes developing procedures for threat intelligence integration, vulnerability assessment, incident response, and continuous monitoring to ensure that CENIC’s defenses can adapt rapidly to new attack vectors and evolving cyber risks.
Code, Test, and Debug Applications for Security Solutions: You’ll leverage current programming languages and technologies to write code, complete programming tasks, and perform rigorous testing and debugging of applications. This coding capability will be applied directly to developing and enhancing security solutions, automating security processes, and ensuring the reliability and performance of tools used in cybersecurity operations.
Support Security Implementations Under Senior Guidance: You’ll work under the limited direction and supervision of senior members of the ISO team on complex security solutions and implementations. This collaborative approach allows you to contribute to high-impact projects while gaining valuable mentorship and technical guidance from experienced cybersecurity professionals, ensuring successful project outcomes.
Process and Update Service Desk Tickets: You’ll be responsible for efficient service desk ticket processing and updates related to information security. This involves receiving, categorizing, prioritizing, and diligently resolving security-related incidents and service requests, ensuring timely resolution and clear communication with affected users and teams.
Administer and Utilize Information Security Tools: You’ll actively use and administer a wide range of information security tools and services. This includes platforms for vulnerability management, network security monitoring (NSM), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), email security gateways, Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems, alert management platforms, and Identity Management (IdM) security tools. You’ll also utilize network analysis tools like nmap, tcpdump, and Wireshark for deep packet inspection and network forensics.
Identify and Integrate Threat Intelligence Feeds: You’ll be responsible for identifying and integrating available threat intelligence feeds with CENIC’s network security monitoring and SIEM services. This proactive measure ensures that the organization’s defenses are continuously updated with the latest information on emerging threats, attack indicators, and vulnerabilities, enabling more effective detection and response.
Perform Threat Hunting for Anomalous Activity: You’ll regularly perform threat hunting to proactively search for anomalous activity within CENIC’s network and systems during standard ISO business hours. This involves leveraging security data to identify suspicious patterns, hidden threats, or signs of compromise that might bypass automated defenses, enhancing the overall detection capabilities.
24/7 Monitoring and Incident Response (On-Call Rotation): You’ll be responsible for 24/7 monitoring and responding to security alerts as a rotating member of the ISO escalations team. This critical on-call duty ensures that security incidents are addressed promptly around the clock, minimizing potential impact on CENIC’s network and services, and maintaining continuous security vigilance.
Maintain Vulnerability Management Asset Inventory: You’ll be responsible for meticulously maintaining the vulnerability management asset inventory to ensure accurate reporting. This involves keeping track of all network devices, servers, applications, and other IT assets, as well as their associated vulnerabilities, which is crucial for effective risk management and compliance.
Create Weekly Public Vulnerability Scan Report: You’ll be responsible for creating the weekly public vulnerability scan report. This involves generating and analyzing reports from regular vulnerability scans, summarizing key findings, and presenting them in a clear and actionable format for relevant stakeholders.
Create Monthly Enterprise Vulnerability Risk Status Report: You’ll meticulously create the monthly enterprise vulnerability risk status report. This comprehensive report provides a broader overview of the organization’s overall vulnerability posture, trends, identified risks, and the effectiveness of mitigation efforts to executive leadership and other key stakeholders.
Identify and Attend Approved Online Training: You’ll proactively identify and attend approved online training on a periodic basis. This commitment to continuous learning ensures that your cybersecurity skills remain current with the latest industry trends, technologies, and threat landscapes, supporting your professional development.
Provide Other CENIC Business User Security Assistance: You’ll provide other CENIC business user security assistance as needs dictate. This involves offering guidance on secure practices, addressing user-specific security concerns, and supporting the broader user community in maintaining a secure digital environment.
Improve CENIC’s Privacy and Security Practices: You’ll continuously look for opportunities, procedures, and tools to improve CENIC’s privacy and security practices. This proactive mindset drives innovation, streamlines processes, and enhances the overall security and privacy profile of the organization, aligning with best practices.
Collaborate on Software Tools and Solutions: You’ll work closely with the CENIC Security Team to identify, discuss, and implement software tools and solutions in support of CENIC’s networks, network security designs, and the effective implementation of network security policies, procedures, and technologies. This ensures a collaborative and integrated approach to security enhancement.

Key Success Factors: Driving Security Excellence

Success in this role will be defined by a blend of technical expertise, strategic thinking, and strong interpersonal skills, all contributing to a robust security posture for CENIC.

Consulting and Engineering Security Best Practices: You’ll excel at consulting and engineering in the development and design of security best practices and the implementation of solid security principles across the organization. Your contributions will help meet business goals, stringent customer demands, and evolving regulatory requirements.
Understanding Cloud Computing Security Considerations: You possess a deep understanding of security considerations related to cloud computing. This includes knowledge of risks such as data breaches, broken authentication, hacking, account hijacking, malicious insiders, third parties, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), data loss, and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, enabling you to design secure cloud solutions.
Expertise in Identity and Access Management (IAM): You have expert knowledge of Identity and Access Management (IAM)—the comprehensive framework of security policies and technologies that limit and meticulously track the access of individuals and entities within an organization to sensitive technology resources.
Security-Centric Software Development: You have proven experience developing software and proficiency in coding, using a security-centric approach. This means integrating security considerations throughout the software development lifecycle, building secure applications, and conducting security testing.
Experience using Zeek network security monitoring (NSM) and host intrusion detection systems (HIDS) is crucial.
IDS Script and Signature Development: You possess skills in IDS (Intrusion Detection System) script and signature development, enabling you to create custom rules for detecting specific threats or anomalous behaviors.
Hands-on Network/Packet Level Examination: You are adept at hands-on network/packet level examination using tools such as tcpdump or Wireshark. This allows for deep forensic analysis of network traffic to diagnose security incidents and understand attack methodologies.
Data and Text Manipulation Proficiency: You have a working knowledge of regular expressions and proficiency with data and text manipulation tools such as awk and sed, enabling efficient parsing and analysis of logs and other textual data for security insights.
Operational Streamlining through Standardization and Automation: You have proven experience streamlining operational capabilities through standardization and automation. This demonstrates your ability to identify inefficiencies and implement automated solutions that enhance security operations and reduce manual effort.
Multi-Tasking and Adaptability: You are highly adept at working on multiple tasks concurrently and can respond effectively to rapidly changing priorities in a fast-paced security environment.
Consultant for Security Design Vision: You possess the ability to serve as a strategic consultant on the long-range vision for security design for CENIC’s security services, influencing future architectural decisions and technology roadmaps.
Proactive Security Enhancements: You are able to identify and implement security enhancements that will maximize CENIC’s security profile while remaining sensitive to its mission.
Effective Communication and Proposal Development: You have the ability to formulate, organize, and present ideas in an effective manner. You can develop compelling proposals and clearly articulate cost/benefit trade-offs to various audiences, securing buy-in for security initiatives.
Self-Motivated and Independent Worker: You are self-motivated with a demonstrated ability to work highly independently, requiring little direct supervision. This indicates a proactive approach and strong ownership of responsibilities.
Strong Interpersonal and Teamwork Skills: You possess strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work well in a team-oriented environment, fostering collaboration and positive working relationships.
Working Knowledge of IP-Based Networking: You have a solid working knowledge of IP-based networking, including fundamental concepts, protocols, and architectures, crucial for network security.
Background in Basic Statistics and Analytics: You have a background in basic statistics and analytics and experience with modern analytics and visualization packages (e.g., Tableau, Power BI). This enables data-driven security insights and reporting.
Adept at Understanding Technical Information: You are adept at understanding complex technical information and quickly learning new concepts, essential for staying current in the rapidly evolving cybersecurity field.
Keen Attention to Detail: You demonstrate keen attention to detail, consistently avoiding shortcuts that may adversely impact the quality of your work, ensuring precision in security implementations and analyses.
Strong Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills: You possess strong analytical and problem-solving skills, enabling you to dissect complex security challenges, identify root causes, and devise effective, robust solutions.
Prioritize Security and Privacy Principles: You consistently demonstrate the ability to consider, understand, and prioritize security (and privacy, where applicable) principles, practices, and procedures in all aspects of your role with CENIC.

Required Education And/Or Experience: Your Foundation

Educational Background: A BA/BS in computer science or a related field, or equivalent experience, is required.
Information Security Experience (2-4 years): You must have 2-4 years of experience in information security, cybersecurity, or network security engineering, specifically focusing on the design, deployment, and implementation of security solutions. Alternatively, an equivalent combination of education, certifications, and experience will be considered.
Mid-Level Cybersecurity Certification: A mid-level cybersecurity certification like CompTIA CySA+, SANS GSEC, or an equivalent credential, is required, validating your foundational and practical cybersecurity knowledge.

Preferred Education And/Or Experience: Enhancing Your Profile

Advanced Security Education: A BA/BS in information security, information assurance, cybersecurity, or equivalent experience is preferred, indicating a specialized academic focus.
Working Knowledge of Computer and Network Security: A strong working knowledge of computer and network security principles is desirable.
Advanced-Level Cybersecurity Certification: An advanced-level cybersecurity certification like (ISC)2 CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional), SANS GCIA (GIAC Certified Intrusion Analyst), or an equivalent is highly preferred, demonstrating expert-level security knowledge.
Logging Environment Experience: Experience with logging environments such as Elastic (ELK Stack) or Splunk for security information and event management is a plus.
Programming Experience: Experience programming in C, C++, Python, Ruby, or other popular languages is preferred, enhancing automation and tool development capabilities.
Unix/Linux Administration: A minimum of 2 years experience maintaining and administering production Unix/Linux operating systems, including RedHat/CentOS and FreeBSD variants, is preferred.
Distributed Team Interpersonal Skills: Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively in a distributed team environment are desirable for this position.

Why Work at CENIC? Making a Meaningful Impact

Working at CENIC offers a unique opportunity to contribute to a vital public service mission within a supportive and impactful environment.

Company Culture: Benefit from a company culture characterized by small teams and a collaborative environment, providing the opportunity to make a large impact in a relatively small organization.
Community Engagement: Your work has direct and profound meaning, as you’ll be actively engaging with research and education institutions in the largest state economy in the United States. The technology solutions you help deliver directly support millions of students, educators, and researchers.
Generous Health Benefits: CENIC provides generous medical benefits, as well as comprehensive dental, vision, and life insurance, ensuring your well-being is prioritized.
Liberal Paid Time Off: Enjoy liberal vacation, holiday, and sick leave policies, promoting a healthy work-life balance and providing ample time for personal pursuits.
Investment in Your Future: CENIC demonstrates a strong investment in your future by contributing to your 403(b) retirement plan, even if you don’t contribute yourself. They also offer matching contributions on top of that, helping you build significant long-term financial security.

Work Environment & Hours:

This position operates in a professional office environment with standard office equipment. The Information Security Office (ISO) operates weekdays between 8 AM and 5 PM PST, but maintains 24 hours per day/7 days per week/365 days per year availability for incident response needs. An employee’s work shift is based on CENIC’s business needs.

Work Authorization: Documented Proof of identity and legal eligibility to work in the United States. Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. CENIC is unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time.