About this role
At Caris, we understand that cancer is an ugly word—a word no one wants to hear, but one that connects us all. That’s why we’re not just transforming cancer care—we’re changing lives.
We introduced precision medicine to the world and built an industry around the idea that every patient deserves answers as unique as their DNA. Backed by cutting-edge molecular science and AI, we ask ourselves every day: “What would I do if this patient were my mom?” That question drives everything we do.
But our mission doesn’t stop with cancer. We're pushing the frontiers of medicine and leading a revolution in healthcare—driven by innovation, compassion, and purpose.
Join us in our mission to improve the human condition across multiple diseases. If you're passionate about meaningful work and want to be part of something bigger than yourself, Caris is where your impact begins.
Position Summary
Caris Life Sciences is seeking a highly experienced, discreet, and operationally focused Senior Executive Protection and Protective Driving Specialist to safeguard the company's CEO, founders, executive leadership, and other designated high-profile individuals.
This position will serve as a member of the executive protection team and will have responsibility for armed close protection, secure transportation, protective driving, advance operations, and executive travel security. The successful candidate must possess exceptional judgment, discretion, situational awareness, and the ability to operate effectively in dynamic, high-visibility environments.
Extensive experience conducting protective driving operations is essential. Candidates should demonstrate expertise in route planning, vehicle preparation, motorcade or multi-vehicle movements, surveillance detection, emergency vehicle operations, and defensive and evasive driving techniques.
Former U.S. Secret Service Special Agents or other candidates with substantial U.S. Secret Service protective-operations experience are strongly encouraged to apply. Experience supporting Presidential, Vice Presidential, candidate, foreign-dignitary, National Special Security Event, or similarly complex protective missions is highly valued. Candidates from other federal protective services, elite state and local law-enforcement protection units, or military protective services experience will also be considered.
This position requires some travel, schedule flexibility, and availability to support executive protection needs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Job Responsibilities
Executive Protection
- Provide armed close protection for the CEO, founders, senior executives, and other designated principals during daily movements, business travel, public appearances, corporate functions, and private events.
- Lead or support executive protection operations at Caris facilities and other locations routinely visited by company leadership.
- Maintain a discreet, professional presence while ensuring a consistently high level of operational readiness.
- Develop and execute comprehensive protection plans for routine activities, elevated-threat situations, executive travel, and major corporate events.
- Identify, assess, and mitigate threats, risks, and vulnerabilities that could affect executive leadership or business operations.
- Provide senior leadership with timely security assessments, logistical guidance, and actionable risk-mitigation recommendations.
- Coordinate with law enforcement, private security providers, event personnel, aviation teams, hotels, venues, and domestic and international security partners.
- Establish contingency plans addressing medical emergencies, vehicle incidents, civil unrest, demonstrations, active threats, evacuations, and other foreseeable disruptions.
- Apply sound judgment, de-escalation skills, and appropriate use-of-force principles in accordance with company policy and applicable law.
Protective Driving and Secure Transportation
- Serve as a primary protective driver for the CEO and other designated executives as operational needs require.
- Safely transport principals during routine movements, high-profile events, and domestic or international travel.
- Conduct detailed route analysis, including primary, alternate, emergency, and evacuation routes.
- Evaluate traffic patterns, choke points, medical facilities, safe havens, law-enforcement resources, and other factors that could affect executive movements.
- Perform vehicle advances, route reconnaissance, and arrival and departure planning for residences, offices, airports, hotels, event venues, and other locations.
- Maintain continuous awareness of potential surveillance, suspicious activity, vehicle-borne threats, and changing environmental conditions.
- Apply advanced defensive and evasive driving techniques when necessary to protect the principal and safely resolve hazardous situations.
- Coordinate multi-vehicle movements, follow-car operations, motorcade procedures, airport transfers, and executive ground-transportation logistics.
- Inspect protective vehicles before movements and confirm that safety, communications, medical, navigation, and emergency equipment are operational.
- Maintain vehicles in a clean, secure, fueled, and mission-ready condition.
- Maintain accurate driving, maintenance, inspection, and movement records.
- Demonstrate a calm, professional driving style that prioritizes safety, comfort, confidentiality, and schedule reliability.
Advance Operations and Threat Assessment
- Conduct detailed protective advances for domestic and international travel, public appearances, corporate meetings, and major events.
- Complete site surveys and assess access control, arrival and departure areas, holding rooms, emergency exits, medical resources, evacuation options, and law-enforcement response capabilities.
- Develop written advance plans, movement schedules, contact sheets, emergency action plans, and incident-response protocols.
- Collect and analyze information from credible sources to identify emerging risks affecting executives, facilities, travel, or events.
- Provide investigative and analytical support to Counterintelligence, Investigations, Workplace Violence Prevention, and Threat Management functions.
- Support behavioral threat assessments and coordinate appropriate protective responses when concerning behavior is identified.
- Prepare clear and timely incident reports, intelligence summaries, travel logs, risk assessments, and after-action reports.
Program Leadership and Collaboration
- Lead executive protection assignments and provide operational direction to protection personnel, contract security providers, and supporting teams.
- Train and mentor security staff, drivers, and support personnel in executive protection standards and company protocols.
- Collaborate with Legal, Human Resources, Information Security, Corporate Security, Facilities, Communications, and business-continuity teams.
- Coordinate with security operations centers and global security operations centers to support travel tracking, threat monitoring, and incident response.
- Contribute to the development of executive protection policies, standard operating procedures, emergency plans, and training programs.
- Protect sensitive personal, medical, travel, residential, and business information associated with company executives.
- Support corporate crisis-management and business-continuity activities when requested.
Required Qualifications
- High school diploma or equivalent.
- At least 7–10 years of progressively responsible experience in executive protection, federal/state/local law enforcement, military protective services, or comparable protective-service operations.
- At least three years of service in a full-time certified federal, state, or local law-enforcement position.
- Demonstrated experience providing close protection for senior executives, government officials, dignitaries, or other high-profile principals.
- Extensive protective-driving experience, including route planning, vehicle advances, emergency-response driving, and defensive or evasive driving.
- Valid driver's license and an excellent driving record.
- Valid license or authorization to carry a firearm, with thorough knowledge of applicable state and federal firearms laws.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a State of Texas Level IV Personal Protection Officer license.
- Demonstrated firearms proficiency and sound knowledge of appropriate use-of-force principles.
- Advanced emergency medical training, such as EMT, TCCC, TECC, CPR/AED, or an equivalent qualification.
- Experience developing and implementing executive protection plans, threat assessments, site surveys, and emergency action plans.
- Ability to collect, evaluate, and communicate information from reliable sources.
- Experience identifying and managing threats involving executives, workplaces, corporate events, or high-profile individuals.
- Ability to communicate clearly and professionally with executives, employees, law enforcement, and external partners.
- Excellent judgment, discretion, integrity, and emotional composure.
- Ability to maintain confidentiality and operate effectively with limited supervision.
- Ability to travel domestically and internationally.
- Ability to work nontraditional and unpredictable hours, including nights, weekends, and holidays.
- Ability to remain available for on-call assignments 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
- Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, specifically Word, Excel, Outlook, and general working knowledge of Internet for business use.
Preferred Qualifications
- Prior service as a U.S. Secret Service Special Agent, or substantial experience supporting U.S. Secret Service protective missions.
- Experience with Presidential, Vice Presidential, candidate, nominee, foreign-dignitary, or National Special Security Event protection.
- Experience conducting protective intelligence, advance operations, transportation security, or motorcade operations in support of U.S. Secret Service missions.
- Comparable federal protective-service experience, including service with the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service or another federal agency responsible for protecting senior officials or dignitaries.
- HR-218/Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act eligibility.
- Bachelor's degree in criminal justice, security management, intelligence studies, emergency management, or a related field.
- Experience supporting CEOs, founders, boards of directors, or other C-suite executives within a publicly traded, healthcare, biotechnology, or high-growth organization.
- Advanced protective-driving certification from a nationally recognized provider.
- Current or prior EMT or paramedic certification.
- TCCC, TECC, CPR/AED Instructor, or comparable advanced medical credentials.
- ALERRT certification.
- Completion of a recognized protective-driving or emergency-vehicle-operations program.
- Certification or formal training in behavioral threat assessment, workplace violence prevention, or threat management, including ATAP or WAVR-21 methodologies.
- Experience using intelligence platforms, open-source intelligence tools, travel-risk systems, and digital threat-monitoring technology.
- Familiarity with technical surveillance countermeasures and executive data-protection practices.
- Experience leading security operations center, global security operations center, executive protection, or corporate security personnel.
- Knowledge of corporate crisis management and business continuity.
- Experience coordinating security for large corporate events, conferences, investor meetings, or product launches.
- Training in de-escalation, control tactics, and nonlethal force options.
- International protective-operations or executive-travel experience.
Physical Demands
- Ability to sit, stand, walk, drive, bend, push, carry, and perform computer-based administrative work for extended periods.
- Ability to enter and exit vehicles repeatedly and remain seated while driving for extended periods.
- Ability to respond rapidly to emergencies and perform protective movements when required.
- Ability to occasionally lift and carry up to 50 pounds, including overhead.
- Ability to work indoors and outdoors in varying weather, lighting, noise, and environmental conditions.
- Ability to maintain the physical readiness necessary to perform armed executive protection and emergency-response duties.
- Noise level is typically low to medium.
Training
- The selected candidate must successfully complete all job-specific, safety, firearms, licensing, driving, medical, privacy, and compliance training assigned to the position. Continued employment will require maintaining all licenses, certifications, qualifications, and standards associated with the role.
Other
- This position requires some travel, schedule flexibility, and availability to support executive protection needs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
- May require after-hours response to protective, security, or emergency incidents.
Conditions of Employment: Individual must successfully complete pre-employment process, which includes criminal background check, drug screening, credit check ( applicable for certain positions ) and reference verification.
This job description reflects management’s assignment of essential functions. Nothing in this job description restricts management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.
Caris Life Sciences is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, status as a protected veteran, among other things, or status as a qualified individual with disability.
