Information Systems Security Officer

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. Or 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. 

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Ardent is seeking an Information Systems Security Officer to join our team. 

This is a currently a hybrid role (3 days/week) in Ashburn, VA. It is highly probable that this role will require 5 days/week onsite in the future. All candidates must be able to work onsite 5 days a week in Ashburn, VA.

Position Description:

Ardent is seeking an Information Systems Security Officer (ISSO).  The ISSO will be responsible for ensuring compliance with federal cybersecurity standards, safeguarding sensitive information, and managing risk across classified and unclassified systems. This role involves developing, implementing, and maintaining security policies, conducting regular audits, and collaborating with stakeholders to support mission-critical operations.

Responsibilities and Duties:

• Developing and updating security authorization packages in accordance with the client’s requirement and compliant with FISMA. Core documents that the candidate 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.
• 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, test and train on Contingency Plans and Incident Response Plans.
• Perform risk analyses to determine cost-effective and essential safeguards.
• Support Incident Response and Contingency activities.
• Able to perform security control assessment in using NIST guidance.
• Conduct Independent scans of the application, network and database (where required).
• Provide continuous monitoring to enforce client security policy and procedures and create processes that will provide oversight into the following activities for the system owner.

Requirements: 

• Bachelor's Degree in an IT related field.
• 3-7 years of IT experience.
• Act as a Team Lead to ensure that the Security Team is completing all required activities; comfortable presenting to customers, motivator for the team.
• Leverage the Agile methodology and Jira.
• Provide support to plan, coordinate, and implement the organization’s information security.
• Perform all security actions to ensure IT applications are compliant with all DHS and CBP Information Audit (IA) policies.
• Oversee the efforts of security staff to design, develop, engineer, and implement solutions for security requirements.
• Execute cyber monitoring, toolset security, and subscription and system alerting.
• Conduct Enterprise Security Scans that monitor and log security related incidents, and analyze the results.
• Create Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) for any security risk identified, and provide mitigating solutions and timetables to closeout POA&Ms.

Additionally, the individuals must demonstrate proficiency in the following areas:

• Proficiency in writing technical analysis reports.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Critical thinking.
• Strategy development.
• Balancing security requirements with mission needs.
• Good judgment and business acumen.
• Relationship management.
• Project management (ability to track detailed tasks and ensure timely delivery).
• Ability to work quickly, efficiently and accurately in a dynamic and fluid environment.

Desired but not required certifications:

• Certified Information Systems Security Officer (CISSO).
• EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker-CEH Certified Information.
• Security Manager-CISM.
• Certified Network Defense Architect-CNDA.
• CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP).
• Agile.

Due to the nature of the work we support, all candidates in consideration for this role must be U.S. Citizens willing to undergo the government issued background investigation process.

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Ardent is an equal opportunity employer. We will not discriminate 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, gender expression, or any other basis protected by state, local, or federal law.