IT Cybersecurity Engineer

Vulcan Elements is manufacturing American rare-earth permanent magnets for a secure, resilient future. With a focus on national security and economic resiliency, we serve critical industries such as defense, aerospace, and automotive powering a high-technology future. Vulcan Elements is building a team of ambitious professionals committed to Mission Focus, Technical Excellence and Integrity.

As an IT Cybersecurity Engineer, you will be a hands-on member of our security team, responsible for deploying, tuning, and operating the tools and controls that protect Vulcan Elements’ IT environment. You will also support our NIST SP 800-53 (Low-Impact Baseline) assessment and Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M, working alongside our external compliance partner and our existing NIST SP 800-171/CMMC program. This role is a strong fit for someone who wants to build and run real security tooling day to day while also gaining exposure to federal compliance frameworks in a regulated manufacturing environment.

Responsibilities

• Deploy, configure, and operate core security tooling including SIEM, endpoint detection and response (EDR), vulnerability scanning, and email/web security controls.

• Administer and harden identity systems (Active Directory/Entra ID), and enforce MFA, least-privilege access, just-in-time access, and Conditional Access policies across IT systems.

• Run regular vulnerability scans, prioritize findings, and drive remediation with system owners; track exceptions and compensating controls.

• Monitor security alerts, investigate and triage incidents, and lead or support incident response and root cause analysis for IT systems.

• Support the assessment of IT controls against the NIST SP 800-53 Low-Impact Baseline, help build and maintain the System Security Plan (SSP), and contribute to the Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M).

• Coordinate with our external CMMC compliance partner to keep IT security controls consistent across NIST SP 800-171 (CMMC Level 2) and NIST SP 800-53, avoiding duplicate or conflicting work.

• Own patch management and secure configuration baselines for servers, endpoints, and network devices.

• Provide security review and input on new IT systems, applications, and vendor tools before they go into production.

• Maintain security procedures, playbooks, network/data flow diagrams, and audit evidence.

• Support delivery of security awareness training to personnel with access to CUI or other sensitive systems.

• Partner with Automation, Engineering, and OT teams to build security into new production lines and control system upgrades from the start.

• Responsibilities and tasks outlined are not exhaustive and may change as determined by the needs of the business.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of hands-on IT security engineering experience (security operations, security engineering, or systems administration with a strong security focus).

• Strong knowledge of Azure Active Directory/Entra ID and Windows/endpoint security hardening.

• Working knowledge of NIST SP 800-53 and/or NIST SP 800-171/CMMC; experience contributing to a System Security Plan (SSP) or POA&M is a strong plus.

• Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities.

• Desired Skills

• Working knowledge of ISA/IEC 62443, NIST SP 800-82, and NIST SP 800-53; experience contributing to an SSP or POA&M for OT systems is a strong plus.

• Prior experience in a defense contractor, federal contractor, or CHIPS/DoD-funded environment.

• CompTIA Security+, GSEC, CySA+, or similar; CCP (Certified CMMC Professional) a plus.