Operational Cybersecurity Research Liaison (Data Engineer)

This position works with two major groups at Indiana University: OmniSOC and Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DSAIL) at the Kelley School of Business.

OmniSOC is a security operations center hosted at Indiana University that provides monitoring and security operations services to US-based higher education institutions, research and education networks, and National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded research facilities. OmniSOC, nearly 3 dozen strong now, is primarily made up of 3 teams: platform engineering, which runs the OmniSOC SIEM, IT infrastructure, and performs software development and operates in a DevOps model to support services; security teams and OmniSOC members, (2) security services that comprise experienced cybersecurity subject matter experts that specialize in the comprehensive assessment and growth of OmniSOC members, and (3) the security analyst and engineering team that focuses on analyzing OmniSOC member log data from networks and endpoints. OmniSOC's core values include member focus, impact, improvement, communication, and courage.

Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (DSAIL) is located within the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, Bloomington. DSAIL is an internationally recognized research group with excellence in developing Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled analytics for cybersecurity (cyber threat intelligence, vulnerability management, open source software security), mental health, and business intelligence applications. DSAIL has been funded by several grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). DSAIL has cultivated substantial research collaborations with several industry firms, including Microsoft, Google DeepMind, Robust Intelligence, and others. DSAIL currently comprises over two dozen graduate and undergraduate students. DSAIL's members have developed significant expertise in AI-enabled analytics techniques such as large language models, machine learning, deep learning, network science, text analytics, and others. Several cybersecurity analytics systems developed from DSAIL's research have been used by industry, academic, and government entities for advanced cyber threat intelligence applications.

Job Summary

Department-Specific Responsibilities

• Performs significant vulnerability assessment of a range of IT assets and open source software as well as alert management/prioritization.
• Seeks to help facilitate systematic, two-way data sharing between both entities in a manner that would be aligned with prevailing regulatory, privacy, and regulatory requirements.
• May seek opportunities to facilitate data sharing with other other research entities.
• Seeks to perform academically rigorous, yet practically relevant AI-enabled cybersecurity research projects that have the potential to be transitioned into operational environments. As such, this role would seek to help identify relevant operational cybersecurity research opportunities that may be suitable for AI-enabled analytics.
• Helps to facilitate interviews, focus groups, field experiments, and/or case studies of selected research outputs from DSAIL with OmniSOC personnel and environments.
• Produces scholarly outputs such as publications, workshops, tutorials, grant proposals, etc. will be an essential component to this role.
• Performs selected OmniSOC responsibilities (e.g., vulnerability management, alert investigations, etc.) to thoroughly understand OmniSOC's operational environment, identify potential transition opportunities, and helps facilitate the transition of systems and algorithms from DSAIL into OmniSOC.
• Seeks to offer mentorship and hands on guidance to junior OmniSOC members and/or students, e.g., through IU's NSF CyberCorps Scholarship-for-Service (SFS) program.
• Facilitates bidirectional data sharing efforts between OmniSOC and DSAIL.
• Identifies AI-enabled cybersecurity analytics research directions for DSAIL students and members.
• Provides technical and qualitative evaluations for research solutions.
• Map transition pathways of selected research projects from DSAIL into OmniSOC's operational environment.
• Participates and contributes to scholarly outputs of research activities, including papers (conference, journal), book chapters, and presentations at academic and practitioner venues.

General Responsibilities

• Performs advanced data management tasks, including complex data modeling, conversion, de-duplication, migration, and identification and repair of data quality issues.
• Designs, develops, and implements complex custom data systems and advanced reconciliation tools, processes, rules, solutions etc. to validate data, match/merge, and upload batch lists.
• Creates and tunes highly complex stored procedures and queries for advanced data management and extraction.
• May contribute to committees and communities of practice to share and improve data engineering practices across the university; provides a high level of consultation and mentoring to other groups and staff on the use of data engineering tools and software.
• Makes recommendations to improve, as well as implements, documentation and security protocols and procedures for data engineering projects and/or activities; fixes complex problems and resolves issues accordingly.
• Provides advanced troubleshooting and problem analysis/resolution for data related issues; acts as a point of escalation for junior team members; performs advanced scripting and modifications of application and products for corrective action.
• Performs advanced-level research and stays up-to-date with data engineering best practices and approaches; stays abreast of latest security threats and risks to proactively address potential exposures.
• May serve as project lead; often provides guidance to junior peers.

Qualifications

Combinations of related education and experience may be considered. Education beyond the minimum required may be substituted for work experience. Work experience beyond the minimum required may be substituted for education.

EDUCATION

Required

• Bachelor's degree (preferably in computer science, information science, or related field)

WORK EXPERIENCE

Required

• 5 years data management, engineering, operational cybersecurity, or related experience

Preferred

• 5 years of advanced systems analysis/programming/systems administration experience; transition experience of research prototypes; significant publications and grant experiences

SKILLS

Required

• Proficient communication skills
• Maintains a high degree of professionalism
• Demonstrates time management and priority setting skills
• Demonstrates a high commitment to quality
• Possesses flexibility to work in a fast paced, dynamic environment
• Seeks to acquire knowledge in area of specialty
• Highly thorough and dependable
• Demonstrates a high level of accuracy, even under pressure
• Possesses a high degree of initiative
• Ability to influence internal and/or external constituents

Preferred

• Experience with AI-enabled cybersecurity analytics including machine learning or deep learning for vulnerability management, log file analysis, etc
• Proven track record working with researchers to conceive research ideas and produce publications or other scholarly outputs (e.g., conference proceedings, journal articles, etc.)
• Experience developing and transitioning technical research solutions into practical, operational cybersecurity environments. Selected skills to help facilitate transitions include, ability to program in Python or other general purpose programming languages and familiarity with IP protocol suite, NoSQL, and configuration management systems such as Ansible
• Past demonstrated working experience mentoring junior engineers or students in technical aspects of security engineering

Working Conditions / Demands

This role requires the ability to effectively communicate and to operate a computer and other standard office productivity equipment. The position involves sedentary work as well as periods of time moving around an office environment and the campus. The person in this role must be able to perform the essential functions with or without an accommodation.

This role includes an "on-call" component where the employee must be the first responder for critical issues outside normal business hours. The employee will participate in an on-call rotation with the rest of the team during which they will be expected to respond to occasional after-hours calls for a period of 1 week.

Federal background checks and/or non-disclosure agreements on behalf of the OmniSOC's customer base may be required to fulfill employment requirements. Please see this link for more information.

Work Location

Bloomington, Indiana or Indianapolis, Indiana

This position is eligible for remote work or to work a hybrid schedule (mix between remote and in-person work), subject to change in the future based on university policy and business needs.

Benefits Overview

For full-time staff employees, Indiana University offers a wide array of benefits including:

• Multiple plan options for medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Health Savings Account with generous IU contribution
• Life insurance, LTD, and AD&D options
• Base retirement plan contribution from IU, subject to vesting
• Additional supplemental retirement plan options
• Tuition benefit for IU classes
• 10 paid holidays per year
• Generous Paid Time Off
• Paid Parental Leave
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Learn more about our benefits by reviewing our online Benefits Brochure .

Job Classification

Career Level: Advanced

FLSA: Exempt

Job Function: Information Technology

Job Family: Data Analysis & Engineering

Click here to learn more about Indiana University's Job Framework.

Posting Disclaimer

This posting is scheduled to close at 11:59 pm EST on the advertised Close Date. This posting may be closed at any time at the discretion of the University, but will remain open for a minimum of 5 business days. To guarantee full consideration, please submit your application within 5 business days of the Posted Date.

If you wish to include a cover letter, you may include it with your resume when uploading attachments.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Indiana University is an equal employment and affirmative action employer and a provider of ADA services. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment based on individual qualifications. Indiana University prohibits discrimination based on age, ethnicity, color, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, national origin, disability status or protected veteran status. Indiana University does not discriminate on the basis of sex in its educational programs and activities, including employment and admission, as required by Title IX. Questions or complaints regarding Title IX may be referred to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights or the university Title IX Coordinator. See Indiana University's Notice of Non-Discrimination here which includes contact information .

Campus Safety and Security

The Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, containing policy statements, crime and fire statistics for all Indiana University campuses, is available online . You may also request a physical copy by emailing IU Public Safety at iups@iu.edu or by visiting IUPD.

Contact Us

Request Support
Telephone: 812-856-1234

Apply for Job

• Staff Positions
• Sign In
• New User
• Enable Screen Reader Mode