Senior Cybersecurity & Operational Resilience Advisor

Cybersecurity & Resilience Regulation Division | Ireland

A leading regulatory organisation is seeking an experienced Senior Cybersecurity & Operational Resilience Advisor to join its newly established Cybersecurity and Resilience Regulation Division.

This is a senior opportunity for a cybersecurity, technology, risk or resilience professional who wants to play a key role in strengthening the resilience of Ireland’s critical and essential services and contributing to the implementation of the NIS2 and CER Directives.

The division has responsibility for regulatory supervision and enforcement across the Digital Infrastructure, Digital Providers, ICT Service Management and Space sectors, as well as critical entity identification, resilience strategy and national and international engagement.

The Technical Advisor – Operational Resilience will operate at the intersection of cybersecurity, operational resilience and regulatory supervision, with a particular focus on the all-hazards approach to resilience.

The Role

This is a senior operational role responsible for providing expert technical and regulatory input into the assessment, inspection and audit of regulated entities.

The successful candidate will assess whether organisations have appropriate and proportionate measures in place to prevent, withstand, respond to and recover from disruptive incidents, considering both cyber and physical risks.

Key responsibilities include:

• Providing specialist operational resilience expertise to NIS2 supervision, assessment, inspection and audit activities.
• Leading and supporting the identification and designation of critical entities under the CER Directive.
• Analysing organisations potentially falling within the scope of CER and assessing their resilience arrangements.
• Evaluating operational resilience measures to determine whether they are proportionate, risk-based and effectively implemented.
• Assessing resilience across both cyber and physical domains using an all-hazards approach, including risks such as natural disasters, sabotage, terrorism and infrastructure failure.
• Identifying non-compliance and leading or supporting remediation, follow-up assessments, audits and enforcement activities.
• Providing expert input into the National Resilience Strategy and supporting the development of effective national resilience objectives.
• Representing the organisation at national and European operational resilience working groups and with relevant external stakeholders.
• Building effective relationships with regulatory authorities, government bodies, industry organisations and international partners.
• Managing operational resilience specialists, business continuity specialists and external advisors where required.
• Mentoring and coaching colleagues while supporting capability development and continuous improvement.

About You

The successful candidate will combine strong technical knowledge of operational resilience with regulatory awareness, sound judgement and excellent stakeholder management skills.

You will have:

• An Honours degree at Level 8 on the NFQ, a relevant third-level qualification, or significant equivalent senior-level experience in cybersecurity, science, technology, engineering or a related discipline.
• Recent senior-level experience working within a regulatory or regulated environment, with demonstrable expertise in operational resilience, assurance, advisory or risk management.
• Relevant experience within sectors such as digital infrastructure, digital providers, ICT service management or space.

Desirable Experience and Qualifications

Ideally, you will also have experience in several of the following areas:

• Applying cybersecurity, resilience and risk frameworks such as ISO 27001, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, DORA or GDPR.
• Risk-based regulatory supervision and enforcement.
• Conducting or supporting inspections, audits and compliance assessments of regulated organisations.
• European and Irish regulatory legislation, including CER, NIS/NIS2, DORA, GDPR or other sector-specific resilience legislation.
• Risk assessment, IT audit or information security assurance.
• Professional qualifications such as CISSP, CISM, CRISC, CISA or ISO 27001 Lead Auditor, or equivalent senior-level experience.
• Engagement with regulatory authorities or National Competent Authorities.
• Managing technical teams, programmes, projects or external resources.
• Delivering large-scale regulatory, cybersecurity or operational resilience initiatives.
• Developing evidence-based operational resilience assurance models incorporating documentation review, technical testing and control validation.
• Presenting to and influencing senior stakeholders and developing strong, trusted working relationships.

A Level 9 Master's degree in science, technology, engineering, data analytics, cybersecurity or a related discipline, or a relevant cybersecurity leadership qualification, would also be advantageous.

Core Skills and Competencies

Communication & Influencing

Communicates clearly and confidently, builds effective relationships and can influence stakeholders towards appropriate courses of action.

Decision Making & Judgement

Uses evidence to make sound, balanced decisions and is comfortable dealing with complex and challenging regulatory situations.

Analytical & Critical Thinking

Can analyse complex information, identify patterns and risks, and develop clear, evidence-based solutions.

Technical Expertise & Continuous Improvement

Demonstrates strong technical and professional knowledge, keeps up to date with developments in cybersecurity and resilience, and actively identifies opportunities for improvement.

Teamwork & Leadership

Works collaboratively across teams and organisations, builds trust and respect, and supports the development of colleagues and technical capability.

The Opportunity

This is an opportunity to work at the forefront of Ireland's cybersecurity and operational resilience regulatory landscape.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to influence how critical and essential organisations prepare for, withstand and recover from major disruptions, while contributing to the implementation of significant European regulatory frameworks including NIS2 and CER.

The role offers exposure to cybersecurity, physical resilience, critical infrastructure, regulation, risk and national resilience, with engagement across senior stakeholders at both Irish and European level.

If you are an experienced cybersecurity, resilience, technology, risk or regulatory professional looking for a senior role where your expertise can have meaningful national impact, we would welcome your application.

Apply now for the Senior Cybersecurity & Operational Resilience Adviso