Information Systems Security Officer /Deputy Team Lead

Why do you need to choose between doing important work and having a fulfilling life? At Ardent, we have both. Ardent employees are committed to solving our customers’ most difficult problems—and we are committed to the well-being, personal goals, and professional development of our employee. We are “All In.” We put forth our strongest effort possible to get the mission accomplished and we do it together. We respect the skills and experience you bring to the Ardent team. And we provide a rewarding environment to help you succeed. 

We offer highly competitive benefits, professional development opportunities, and an exceptional culture that embraces flexibility, innovation, collaboration, and career growth. A collective service mindset underpins our work, and a shared camaraderie to serve clients, colleagues and our communities set us apart. Our full commitment to being "All In" for our employees and our clients is not just our approach, it is our standard. If this sounds like the perfect fit for you, choose Ardent and make a difference with us. 

Ardent is seeking an Information Systems Security Officer (ISSO)/Deputy Team Lead to join our team. As an Information Systems Security Officer (ISSO) at Ardent, you will play a crucial role in ensuring the security of our government clients' information systems. Your responsibilities will include developing, implementing, and monitoring security policies and procedures, conducting risk assessments, and ensuring compliance with federal regulations. You will work closely with IT and security teams to safeguard sensitive data and support the mission-critical operations of our government partners.

This is currently a hybrid position, but could require fully on-site schedule, on-site in Ashburn, VA in the future. All candidates must agree to working an onsite schedule in Ashburn, VA if selected.

Responsibilities and Duties

• Assist Security Team Lead in all areas
• Fill in as Team Lead when Lead is not available
• Coach and guide less experienced ISSOs
• Work in close coordination with Security Team Lead and PM, ensuring ISSOs complete all work assignments on-time and with a high degree of quality.
• Ensure all Security milestones are met
• Perform as secondary Alternate Information Systems Security Officer (AISSO) on all systems. (All systems have a dedicated ISSO and primary AISSO)
• Aid Project Manager in gathering security related material for presentations
• Serve as liaison between Federal Security Staff and Contractors
• Present security related material to Sr. Leadership
• Aid PM in interviewing new ISSO candidates
• Develop and update security authorization packages in accordance with the client’s requirements and compliant with FISMA. Core documents that the team will be responsible for are the System Security Plan, Risk Assessment Report, Security Assessment Plan and Report, Contingency Plan, Incident Response Plan, Standard Operating Procedures, Plan of Actions and Milestones, Remediation Plans, Configuration Management Plan, etc.
• Help develop Significant Change Requests (SCRs), Privacy Threshold Analyses(PTA), Interconnection Security Agreements (ISAs), and other security related documents
• Develop and maintain the Plan of Action and Milestones and support remediation activities.
• Validate that protective measures for physical security are in place to support the systems security requirements.
• Maintain an inventory of hardware and software for the information system.
• Develop, coordinate, and test Contingency Plans and Incident Response Plans.
• Perform risk analyses to determine cost-effective and essential safeguards.
• Support Incident Response and Contingency activities.
• Support security control assessment using NIST guidance.
• Request ad hoc scans of the application, network and database when required.
• Create and revise SOP documentation

Qualifications

• Education level – Minimum of an IT related bachelor’s degree
• Experience – 7 to 10 years of experience in IT
• Active CBP/BI or Top Secret Clearance preferred

Specific Skills Requirement

• Candidate must have prior supervisory experience.
• Candidate must possess excellent written and oral skills.
• Candidate must possess excellent organization skills and be able to reprioritize work routinely.
• Candidate must have minimum 5-7 years relevant ISSO experience.

Due to the nature of the work we support, all candidates in consideration for this role must be willing to undergo the government issued background investigation process. We highly encourage all Veterans and those with disabilities to apply.

Ardent is an equal opportunity employer. We will not discriminate and will take affirmative action measures to ensure against discrimination in employment, recruitment, advertisements for employment, compensation, termination, upgrading, promotions, and other conditions of employment against any employee or job applicant on the bases of race, color, gender, national origin, age, religion, creed, disability, veteran's status, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.