Cybersecurity Advisory

Job Description
CNS is a technology company that powers the future by providing digital solutions essential to support all enterprise and human development. While growing and managing a robust pool of supplier-partners for the benefit of our clients has always been a priority, we are constantly re-inventing ourselves. Founded in 1987 with more than 30 years of experience, CNS employs over 320 employees including more than 250 certified engineers.

We offer
in-depth expertise and a range of best-in-class products that support the digital transformation of all major industries. With offices in three countries, we have an extensive reach into, and regional knowledge of the Middle East markets. A shift into levering our many years of experience to develop pioneering software in-house will add yet another dimension to our highly innovative solutions-portfolio.

Job Description
The Cybersecurity Advisory & Assurance Lead is a senior, hands-on cybersecurity professional responsible for leading complex cybersecurity assessments, advisory engagements and transformation programmes for enterprise and government customers.
The role independently leads comprehensive, framework-based assessments (NIST CSF, NIST SP 800-series, ISO/IEC 27001, CIS Controls and applicable UAE/GCC regulatory requirements), taking engagements from initial customer workshops and evidence collection through technical assessment, control testing, maturity evaluation, gap analysis, risk identification, target-state design, remediation planning and executive presentation.
Drawing on broad expertise across defensive security, offensive security, governance, risk and compliance (GRC), security architecture and security operations, the jobholder acts as a technically credible adviser to CISOs, SOC, infrastructure, cloud and architecture teams, and senior management. DUTIES &

RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Lead enterprise-wide cybersecurity maturity and capability assessments, including NIST CSF-based current-state and target-state assessments covering governance and the Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond and Recover functions.
- Conduct control design and operating-effectiveness assessments, evaluating whether technical controls are effectively implemented rather than relying solely on policy documentation.
- Review cybersecurity policies, standards, procedures and operating models, and evaluate them against NIST CSF, NIST SP 800-series, ISO/IEC 27001/27002, CIS Critical Security Controls, UAE Information Assurance requirements, UAE/GCC cybersecurity regulations, PCI DSS, SWIFT CSP, cloud security frameworks and sector-specific requirements.
- Assess and advise on defensive security and SOC capabilities, including SOC operating models, SIEM and security monitoring, EDR/XDR, detection engineering, threat intelligence, threat hunting, security logging, incident response, vulnerability management, IAM/PAM, network, endpoint, email and web security, ransomware resilience, cyber crisis management, and business continuity and cyber recovery.
- Assess security architecture across enterprise infrastructure, cloud and hybrid environments, network, identity, endpoint, data, application security, security monitoring and, where applicable, OT/ICS environments.
- Assess the effectiveness and maturity of cybersecurity processes, including asset, risk, vulnerability, patch and change management, identity lifecycle and privileged access management, security monitoring, incident response, third-party risk, secure development, threat management, security architecture governance, data protection, business continuity and cyber recovery.
- Scope, challenge and interpret penetration-testing and red-team assessments; review vulnerability and penetration-testing results and assess vulnerability management and remediation processes.
- Validate whether technical findings represent material business risks and work with offensive-security specialists to translate them into risk and remediation programmes, supporting purple-team and control-validation activities where required.
- Conduct cybersecurity governance and cyber-risk assessments, assess governance structures and accountability, evaluate cyber-risk management methodologies, support regulatory and compliance readiness, and map controls across multiple regulatory frameworks.
- Identify security gaps, risks, control weaknesses and capability deficiencies, and develop prioritised remediation roadmaps and cybersecurity improvement programmes.
- Develop maturity models, heatmaps, risk registers and management dashboards, and produce executive, management and detailed technical assessment reports.
- Present findings and recommendations to CISOs, CIOs, executives and governance committees, translating highly technical issues into business-risk language and practical remediation recommendations.
- Lead customer workshops and stakeholder interviews; define assessment methodologies and evidence requirements, and maintain evidence traceabil