ABOUT THE ALLIANCE
The Digital Research Alliance of Canada (the Alliance) serves Canadian researchers, with the objective of advancing Canada’s position as a leader in the knowledge economy on the international stage. By integrating, championing, and funding the infrastructure and activities required for advanced research computing (ARC), research data management (RDM), and research software (RS), we provide the platform for the research community to access tools and services faster than ever before.
We have an ambitious mandate — to transform how research across all academic disciplines is organized, managed, stored, and used. We work with other ecosystem partners and stakeholders across the country to help provide Canadian researchers with the support they need for leading-edge research excellence, research, innovation, and advancement across all disciplines.
POSITION SUMMARY
This position provides cybersecurity-focused system analysis and administration support for the Alliance’s security operations team. Initially, the role will focus on support for security monitoring and auditing services for the National Advanced Research Computing (ARC) Platform, with an expanded scope as the Alliance’s cybersecurity program evolves. The Senior Systems Analyst is a member of the Operations & Security team and reports to the Cybersecurity Manager. This position requires strong technical expertise, analytical skills, and the ability to communicate effectively.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Security Monitoring & Incident Response
- Implement the required tools and technologies to maintain and optimize the national monitoring function, including the Elasticsearch (OpenSearch) national platform, alerting and event management system, API systems, etc.
- Develop and maintain security automated for monitoring, threat detection and incident response within a Linux environment.
- Perform incident response activities such as incident communication, host triage and recovery, remote system analysis, and remediation efforts with solid correlation abilities.
- Analyze and interpret security event logs and alerts, applying the MITRE ATT&CK Framework for threat detection.
Security Tool Development & Automation
- Develop and maintain automated deployment and configuration management systems to facilitate the maintenance of the monitoring platform as a whole and to facilitate reuse and/or contribution by other stakeholders.
- Provide the required tools and interfaces needed to implement dashboards, threat intelligence visualisation and querying the data in the monitoring facility.
- Manage cloud-based security configurations using platforms such as Cloudflare and Azure, ensuring compliance with industry security standards.
- Operate and support firewall and SIEM solutions within a Linux environment.
- Provide expert cybersecurity recommendations on security tools, applications, and best practices.
Collaboration & Documentation
- Develop and maintain deployment and operational documentation for both the national monitoring platform and cybersecurity operations.
- Work closely with National Host Sites, National Teams, and regional organizations to ensure alignment on cybersecurity initiatives.
- Perform cross-functional and/or other duties consistent with the job classification, as assigned or requested.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science Information Security or a related field. A combination of relevant experience and certifications may also be considered. Security certification like CISSP, CEH etc is an asset.
- A minimum of 5 years of experience post-degree as a senior system analyst/administrator, cybersecurity operations, or related roles.
- At least two years experience working as senior system analyst/administrator in a Linux environment.
- Demonstrated experience in cybersecurity within a multi-site, multi-stakeholder environment, preferably in an academic or research setting.
- A solid foundation in configuring auditd, syslog, and other security logging tools.
- Experience securing and monitoring cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP) is strongly preferred.
- Extensive familiarity with ELK stack administration (ElasticSearch/OpenSearch, Kibana/OpenSearch Dashboards, Grafana, APIs, etc.), and automated security monitoring tools.
- Programming skills in at least 2 languages (scripting, Python, Bash,Git or similar).
- Strong knowledge of security and risk standards including COBIT, NIST, ITIL, ISO 27001-2, or PCI-DSS is an asset.
- Familiarity with Security Technologies, Linux, and traffic analysis tools (Wireshark & TCPDump).
- Experience in monitoring and performing Incident, Log Analysis, post-incident reporting according to standard operations.
- Hands on experience in performing incident response activities (i.e. incident communication, host triage and recovery, remote system analysis and remediation efforts with solid correlation abilities.
- Monitoring experience of security tools like SIEM, Anti-DDoS, IPS, EDR, Zeek, firewalls, and MFA systems.
- Ability to work independently and to develop and guide plans and initiatives.
- Strong collaboration skills with an ability to create consensus within a national and diverse community.
- Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing is required. Having these skills in both of Canada’s two official languages would be an asset.
BENEFITS / WORK PERKS
In addition to a competitive salary and a rewarding career where you can truly make a difference in the Canadian research community, we offer a comprehensive benefits package that meets the various needs of our diverse team and that spans across Canada, including:
- Comprehensive Benefits Plan, including:
- Health
- Dental
- Long-Term Disability
- Life Insurance
- Flexible Spending Account
- Wellness Spending Account
- Mental Health Supports
- Defined Benefit Pension Plan
- Paid Vacation
- Remote Work
The Alliance is strongly committed to equity and inclusion within the community and encourages applications from all qualified candidates, including women, members of racialized groups, people of colour, persons with disabilities, and Indigenous- and 2SLGBTQIA+ identified people.