Principal, Security, Cyber & Resilience Consulting

This is a senior, high-profile opportunity for an accomplished consulting leader to build and grow an integrated security, cyber and resilience consulting practice in the Middle East. The role combines the commercial ownership, client impact and intellectual challenge of a leading professional services environment with the opportunity to shape strategy, develop new propositions, mobilise multidisciplinary teams and lead complex assignments from boardroom advice through implementation.

Working in close partnership with relevant Consulting leaders, local leadership and specialists across Control Risks, the successful candidate will originate, win and lead engagements across physical security, cyber and digital risk, crisis management, business continuity and organisational resilience. A key part of the role will be connecting these disciplines, recognising where physical, digital and operational risks converge and bringing together the right expertise to address clients’ most significant risk and resilience challenges.

The role does not require equal technical depth across every discipline. The successful candidate is expected to bring recognised expertise in at least one core area, together with sufficient breadth across the wider portfolio to engage credibly with senior clients, identify and shape opportunities, lead integrated engagements and know when specialist expertise is required.

Requirements

What You'll Do:

Practice Management & Project

- Recommend a clear direction for the Middle East security, cyber and resilience consulting practice, identifying priority markets, propositions and client needs and creating the conditions for consultants and specialists across disciplines to contribute their best work.
- Advise senior clients on complex physical security, cyber and digital risk, crisis management, business continuity and organisational resilience challenges, translating technical and operational risks into practical recommendations for executive decisionmakers.
- Shape and implement our business strategy with the key EMEA Consulting Partners, translating shared priorities into a focused market, capability and delivery plan. Ensure that cyber and digital risk form a meaningful part of the practice's growth agenda alongside established security, crisis and resilience capabilities.
- Lead complex, multidisciplinary risk and resilience engagements, bringing together the right combination of physical security, cyber and digital risk, crisis management, business continuity, intelligence and industry expertise. Act as the senior client adviser and engagement leader, providing direction and challenge while enabling specialist workstream leaders to own technical delivery and contribute to key decisions.
- Accountability to Advisory & Risk Consulting leadership as required for leading the delivery of the full range of engagements across ME from bid to close out, ensuring profitability and quality standards are met.
- Demonstrate strong consulting and technical judgement in the management and delivery of complex client engagements, providing effective challenge to specialist teams and ensuring that technical findings are translated into clear business implications and actionable recommendations.
- Act as senior sponsor or engagement leader for significant cyber and digital risk assignments, working with specialist teams to shape the approach, challenge findings and ensure recommendations address the client's wider operational, resilience and business priorities.

Business Development and Account Management

- Grow priority accounts with account managers, local leadership and subject-matter experts, developing trusted relationships with senior business, security, risk and technology decisionmakers and converting client challenges into integrated consulting opportunities.
- Own a qualified sales pipeline from prospecting and qualification through scoping, proposal development, negotiation and close, with accountability for profitable conversion across the security, cyber and resilience portfolio.
- Develop the regional market for cyber and digital risk consulting, particularly where technology risk intersects with operational resilience, crisis preparedness, third-party risk, physical security and executive decision-making.
- Identify opportunities to extend established physical security, crisis and resilience relationships into cyber and digital risk work, and equally use cyber-led relationships to introduce clients to broader security and resilience capabilities.
- Building and expanding on an existing strong personal network of relationships with potential work providers and the key influencers within target corporates.
- Continuously seeking to build Control Risks’ presence in the marketplace.
- Increasing visibility and credibility for the practice through driving repeat engagements with existing clients, new engagements with prospective clients or referrals from other Control Risks service lines.
- Displaying an ability to take experience from engagements and consider whether the approach or issues are replicable with other clients. Building a plan to target those clients.

Brand and Reputation

- Be a visible external representative of Control Risks' physical security, cyber and resilience consulting capabilities across the Middle East, strengthening the firm's credibility with clients, partners and market influencers
- Position Control Risks as a trusted adviser to organisations managing increasingly interconnected physical, digital and operational risks, from strategic risk assessment and preparedness through transformation, crisis response and recovery.
- Build trusted relationships with decisionmakers and senior colleagues across the regional and global business, inviting challenge, sharing insight and creating opportunities to pursue and deliver work together.

Practice Development

- Ensure regional service delivery standards are implemented and maintained.
- Attract, develop and retain a high-performing consulting team, combining clear expectations with coaching, constructive challenge and visible support for colleagues’ growth.
- As part of the EMEA leadership team, contribute to the development of the regional and global strategy and plans.
- Coach, mentor and provide real-time feedback to team members, strengthening technical capability, consulting skills and commercial judgement.
- Work with regional and global specialists to strengthen the Middle East proposition, ensuring that the practice can access appropriate technical capability, methodologies and specialist delivery capacity as client demand develops.

Who You Are:

- At least 10 years' experience in a Big Four, leading management consultancy, specialist risk consultancy or other top-tier professional-services environment, with a strong track record in cyber and digital risk, physical security, crisis and resilience, or closely related risk transformation work.
- Recognised depth and credibility in at least one of these disciplines, together with demonstrable experience working across adjacent areas and leading multidisciplinary client engagements.
- Deep understanding of the ME operating environment.
- Demonstrated success in leading consultative sales conversations, shaping ambiguous client needs into compelling scopes and mobilising colleagues to convert opportunities into profitable work.
- An established market network and external profile that support credible senior-level engagement and business development, with the ability to develop relationships beyond their primary area of technical expertise.
- Strong understanding of how physical security, resilience, crisis preparedness, business continuity, third-party risk intersects with cyber and digital risk and with and executive decision-making.
- The role does not require technical practitioner-level expertise across every physical security, crisis, cyber and resilience discipline. Candidates should bring depth in at least one of these areas, combined with sufficient breadth and consulting judgement to shape integrated client solutions, provide senior oversight, challenge technical outputs and mobilise specialist expertise effectively.
- Knowledge of leading practice in resilience, risk and security strategy, crisis preparedness, business continuity and decision-making under pressure. Knowledge of data-driven approaches and the impact of AI on resilience.
- Experience advising boards, executive committees and senior executives, combining rigorous analysis with practical, commercially relevant recommendations and drawing on specialist input where it improves the outcome.
- Experience operating in regulated or critical infrastructure environments or advising clients on complex technology and operational resilience challenges.
- Ability to structure, visualise and communicate strategic thinking clearly and persuasively.
- Business-level proficiency in English.

PREFERRED:

- Master’s degree.
- Fluent Arabic speaking and writing.