IT Operations

Security Operations

Security operations professionals master the art of defensive thinking—anticipating threats others miss. This paranoid precision creates CIOs who build resilient systems and never get caught unprepared when everything breaks.

Leads to: CIO

Career Progression

Rotational Tours · L1–L3

Build the craft. Prove you can wield the tools of IT Operations.

Transformational Tours · L4–L7

Deliver outcomes. Each tour has a defined mission and success criteria.

Foundational Tours · L8–L10

Shape the organization. Build institutions, not just products.

What Hiring Managers Look For

L1-L3: Demonstrates hands-on experience with SIEM tools, incident response procedures, and can articulate specific security events they've investigated from detection through resolution.

L4-L6: Shows measurable impact on security posture through automation, threat hunting programs, or cross-functional security initiatives that reduced mean time to detection or response.

L7+: Presents board-level security strategy that balances business enablement with risk management, backed by quantified outcomes from security transformations at enterprise scale.

Common Career Transitions

Security Operations → Risk Management at L4-L5 for strategic security governance

Security Operations → Platform Engineering at L5-L6 for security-by-design architecture

Security Operations → Product Security at L4-L6 for application security leadership