Security Operations Manager - 6-month Contract (Inside IR35) - Southampton - £700.00 per day
Our Southampton based client are currently seeking an Interim Security Operations Manager to support the leadership and day-to-day running of a Cyber Defence function within a large, complex organisation.
This is a hands-on operational leadership role where you will provide coordination, technical oversight, and operational direction across Security Operations, ensuring cyber threats, vulnerabilities, and security events are effectively managed.
You will work closely with senior cyber leadership and play a key role in overseeing SOC operations, managing an outsourced SOC provider, and driving improvements across detection, incident response, and vulnerability management.
Key Responsibilities
* Oversee the day-to-day running of Security Operations
* Act as an escalation point for operational security incident
* Manage relationships with the outsourced SOC provider, ensuring SLAs and KPIs are me
* Coordinate incident triage, investigation, response, and post-incident activities
* Review and refine detection use cases aligned to MITRE ATT&C
* Lead security incident response when require
* Provide expertise across the Microsoft Defender security stack
* Drive optimisation of Microsoft Defender and Sentinel configuration
* Support vulnerability and secure configuration management processes
* Contribute to SOC playbooks, procedures, and operational documentation
* Support cyber reporting, governance, and stakeholder engagement
* Mentor analysts and engineers across the Security Operations team
Essential Experience
* Experience managing or leading Security Operations / SOC teams
* Strong understanding of outsourced SOC operating models
* Hands-on experience with the Microsoft Defender security suite
* Experience working with Microsoft Sentinel
* Incident response leadership experience
* Experience with vulnerability and configuration management
* Knowledge of frameworks such as MITRE ATT&CK, NIST, and CIS
* Experience of managing outsource 3rd party relationships
Desirable
* Familiarity with Secure by Design principles
* Experience working within complex or critical operational environments
* Experience contributing to cyber security improvement programmes
If you are an experienced Security Operations leader with strong Microsoft security stack expertise and are available for your next contract, please send your profile and we will contact you at our earliest possible convenience.