Security Engineering Manager – Cyber Defence

We're partnering with a leading New Zealand financial services organisation that is making significant investment in its Cyber Defence capability. As part of this growth, we're seeking an experienced Security Engineering Manager – Cyber Defence to lead incident response, strengthen cyber resilience, and help shape the future of a modern Security Operations function.

This is a rare opportunity to join a highly regarded organisation where cyber security is a strategic priority, giving you the opportunity to influence capability, technology, and ways of working while leading a talented team of cyber professionals.

The Opportunity

As the Security Engineering Manager – Cyber Defence, you'll lead a team responsible for managing and coordinating cyber security incidents across the organisation.

You'll combine technical expertise with people leadership, acting as the escalation point for complex investigations while mentoring your team and driving continuous improvement across incident response, threat hunting and detection engineering.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading the response to major cyber security incidents from investigation through to remediation.
• Managing and developing a team of Cyber Response Analysts.
• Driving threat hunting and detection engineering initiatives.
• Developing and enhancing incident response plans, playbooks and operational processes.
• Conducting post-incident reviews and implementing improvements.
• Working collaboratively across Technology, Risk and Security teams to strengthen organisational cyber resilience.
• Contributing to the ongoing evolution of a modern Cyber Defence capability.

About You

We're looking for someone who combines strong technical cyber security expertise with proven leadership experience.

You'll bring:

• Extensive experience in Cyber Incident Response, Digital Forensics (DFIR), Security Operations or Cyber Defence.
• Strong knowledge of threat hunting, threat intelligence and detection engineering.
• Experience working with SIEM, EDR, NDR and SOAR technologies.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to lead during high-pressure incidents.
• Experience leading, mentoring or developing technical cyber security teams.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to engage both technical and business stakeholders.

Experience within banking, financial services or another highly regulated enterprise environment will be highly regarded.

What's on Offer

• Newly created leadership opportunity.
• Join a large enterprise investing heavily in cyber security.
• Modern hybrid working environment based in Auckland.
• Opportunity to remain technically hands-on while leading a high-performing team.
• Exposure to complex enterprise technologies and evolving cyber threats.
• Excellent career development and long-term growth opportunities.
• Competitive salary and benefits package.

Interested?

If you're looking for a role where you can make a genuine impact, influence the future direction of cyber defence, and work alongside experienced security professionals, we'd love to hear from you.

For a confidential discussion or to learn more, please apply now. All enquiries and applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Robert Walters endeavours to review all applications in a maximum of five working days. If you have not received correspondence within this timeframe please do not hesitate to contact Bianca Madden on 64 9 374 7300