Associate Director, IT Security | Incident Response

We have an exciting opportunity for an Associate Director, IT Security Incident Response to join our Global Information Security team. This role will lead the enterprise cybersecurity incident response program, ensuring the consistent, timely, and effective management of suspected and confirmed cybersecurity incidents across Wolters Kluwer.

You will provide leadership throughout the full incident lifecycle, including detection, triage, investigation, containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident improvement. The role requires strong expertise in incident command, investigative analysis, executive communication, and cross-functional coordination with Technology, Legal, Privacy, Risk, Compliance, and business stakeholders.

You will also help shape and strengthen the technologies and operational capabilities that support incident response, including threat intelligence, EDR/XDR, DLP, SIEM, SOAR, digital forensics, and other detection and response technologies.

Responsibilities

- Define and execute the enterprise cybersecurity incident response strategy and roadmap, aligning capabilities with business objectives and risk posture.
- Lead the end-to-end incident response lifecycle, including monitoring, detection, triage, investigation, containment, eradication, recovery, post-incident reviews, lessons learned, and problem management.
- Establish and oversee incident response operations, including 24x7 coverage, escalation pathways, and global coordination.
- Serve as the executive incident commander and primary escalation point for major cybersecurity incidents and crises.
- Build, mentor, and develop a high-performing security response team, strengthening expertise in incident response, detection, and Blue Team practices.
- Develop and maintain incident response plans, playbooks, runbooks, simulations, and tabletop exercises to validate organizational readiness and response effectiveness.
- Lead post-incident reviews, root cause analysis, lessons learned, and corrective actions, translating findings into measurable improvements.
- Support the operation and optimization of Blue Team technologies, including SIEM, SOAR, EDR/XDR, NDR, threat intelligence, and digital forensics platforms.
- Partner with security teams to improve monitoring and detection effectiveness through alert tuning, use-case development, expanded detection coverage, and false-positive reduction.
- Lead advanced investigations by synthesizing endpoint, network, cloud, identity, and threat intelligence data into risk-based response actions.
- Partner with engineering, infrastructure, cloud, application, and attack surface management teams to improve telemetry, address control gaps, and implement enhancements identified through incidents and threat intelligence.
- Ensure comprehensive incident documentation and reporting, including playbooks, runbooks, dashboards, metrics, and incident records that support operational, audit, regulatory, and legal requirements.
- Deliver clear and actionable communications on incidents, risks, and trends to technical teams, business stakeholders, and executive leadership.
- Define and track security operations KPIs, SLAs, and SLOs to measure performance and drive continuous improvement.
- Integrate cyber threat intelligence into detection, response, proactive threat identification, and executive-level threat briefings.
- Ensure incident response processes align with relevant regulatory, legal, and industry frameworks, including NIST and ISO standards.
- Partner with Risk, Legal, Privacy, and Compliance teams on incident handling, regulatory reporting, and enterprise risk management.
- Support the evaluation, integration, and optimization of security technologies, including the use of automation, AI, and advanced analytics to increase detection and response effectiveness.
- Partner with technology and product owners to maintain comprehensive security logging across applications, web services, WAF, cloud, network, infrastructure, and identity platforms, identifying and remediating telemetry gaps.
- Maintain response procedures for cloud, SaaS, identity-provider, managed-service, and critical-supplier incidents, including notification, evidence-access, cooperation, and recovery requirements.

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Qualifications

- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Management Information Systems, a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
- 10+ years of experience in Information Technology, cybersecurity, security operations, IT service management, or related areas.
- 5+ years of professional experience in information security, cybersecurity incident response, incident management, security risk management, or related functions.
- Demonstrated experience leading complex cybersecurity investigations and incident response activities.
- Experience operating in or supporting a 24x7x365 security operations environment.
- Experience engaging with senior and executive leadership during cybersecurity incidents, including communicating technical findings, business impact, risk, and recommended actions.
- Experience with threat intelligence, SIEM, SOAR, EDR/XDR, and related security technologies. Examples may include Microsoft Sentinel, CrowdStrike, ThreatConnect, Recorded Future, Swimlane, or comparable platforms.
- Experience with digital forensics and forensic investigation tools and techniques across cloud, endpoint, and other environments.
- Knowledge of security vulnerabilities, threat vectors, malicious code, network security, host/system security, identity, and access controls.
- Experience with risk analysis and risk management.
- Working knowledge of incident response and cybersecurity frameworks and standards, including NIST CSF, NIST 800-53, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS.
- Experience supporting privacy, regulatory, and compliance requirements, including GDPR.
- Familiarity with ITIL service management methodology.
- Ability to develop, execute, and assess incident response exercises, including tabletop exercises and Red Team/Blue Team activities.
- Strong analytical, investigative, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical issues for both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Demonstrated discretion and integrity when handling sensitive, confidential, and restricted information.
- Ability to prioritize and lead effectively during high-pressure cybersecurity incidents.
- Flexibility to support a global organization and respond to significant incidents outside standard business hours when required.

Preferred Qualifications

- Professional certifications such as CISSP, GCIH, GCFA, GCFE, GCTI, ITIL, or other relevant cybersecurity certifications.
- Advanced programming or scripting knowledge.
- Experience assessing the security posture of external service providers and third parties.
- Experience with security automation, AI-enabled security operations, and advanced analytics.
- Multilingual capabilities are a plus.

T ravel Requirements

- Occasional domestic or international travel, up to 25%.

Our Interview Practices

To maintain a fair and genuine hiring process, we kindly ask that all candidates participate in interviews without the assistance of AI tools or external prompts. Our interview process is designed to assess your individual skills, experiences, and communication style. We value authenticity and want to ensure we’re getting to know you—not a digital assistant. To help maintain this integrity, we ask to remove virtual backgrounds and include in-person interviews in our hiring process. Please note that use of AI-generated responses or third-party support during interviews will be grounds for disqualification from the recruitment process.

Applicants may be required to appear onsite at a Wolters Kluwer office as part of the recruitment process.

Compensation:
$160,100.00 - $286,000.00 USD
This role is eligible for Bonus.

Compensation range listed is based on primary location of the position.  Actual base salary offer is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skills, experience and actual hiring location. Your recruiter can share more information about the specific offer for the job location during the hiring process.

Additional Information :

Wolters Kluwer offers a wide variety of competitive benefits and programs to help meet your needs and balance your work and personal life, including but not limited to: Medical, Dental, & Vision Plans, 401(k), FSA/HSA, Commuter Benefits, Tuition Assistance Plan, Vacation and Sick Time, and Paid Parental Leave. Full details of our benefits are available upon request.