About Coalfire
Coalfire is on a mission to make the world a safer place by solving our clients’ hardest cybersecurity challenges. We work at the cutting edge of technology to advise, assess, automate, and ultimately help companies navigate the ever-changing cybersecurity landscape. We are headquartered in Chicago, Illinois with offices across the U.S. and U.K., and we support clients around the world.
But that’s not who we are – that’s just what we do.
We are thought leaders, consultants, and cybersecurity experts, but above all else, we are a team of passionate problem-solvers who are hungry to learn, grow, and make a difference.
Position Summary
Principal Consultant is a Highly Technical, Individual Contributor role.
As a Principal on the GRC Advisory team, you will lead a variety of GRC framework engagements (such as environment scoping, gap analysis, training workshops, policy and procedure development) for framework compliance. Assessing the security and compliance of client firms against regulatory and industry requirements and standards, and against security best practice frameworks, Principal Consultants are considered a Compliance Advisory subject matter expert (SME), and are a lead role in advising clients in cybersecurity program transformation activities. This role will have a strong understanding of cybersecurity frameworks (program, risk, and controls) and advisory services necessary for a successful audit against those frameworks. The Principal Consultant will lead interviews with client staff, analyze documents, and develop reports for clients. They will also provide quality control and peer review to other members of the delivery staff. They will work closely with Project Managers, Directors and other Delivery team members to effectively manage project timelines and deliverables.
The Principal Consultant is an advanced GRC Engineering and Advisory role focused on modern governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) practices. This position combines deep compliance expertise with technical engineering skills to design, implement, and automate scalable compliance solutions. You will lead engagements that leverage Centralized Compliance Frameworks (CCF), continuous controls monitoring, and automation platforms (UiPath, Snowflake, Vanta, Drata, Diligent, OneTrust, ect.) to streamline compliance operations and enhance risk management. This role requires strong experience in systems architecture, privacy and data governance, and GRC automation engineering, as well as familiarity with prompt engineering and training on multiple LLMs and AI models to support compliance innovation. Additionally, this role requires familiarity with GRC-as-a-Service concepts (GRCaaS), MSP/MSSP models, and strategies to design the future of work and build recurring month-over-month GRC revenue streams.
The Principal Consultant (SME) is expected to leverage their technical and business experience across three (3) domains, including:
- Partner with clients to evaluate the security posture of their complex systems and to ensure alignment with regulatory compliance and effective risk management strategies. Serve as a trusted advisor by delivering actionable, best-practice recommendations to address security gaps and mitigate vulnerabilities. Collaborate with stakeholders across organizations to foster trust and promote a proactive culture of security improvements to achieve long-term security objectives.
- Mentor and develop team members to help grow the team and its capabilities.
- Engage outwardly into the community through blog posts, technical white papers, forum participation and conference speaking engagements. Engage inwardly to support business and practice growth by developing Sales/Marketing collateral, innovating delivery methodologies and tools, train/mentor colleagues and serve as the SME for all topics related to your technical or compliance area of expertise.
What You'll Do
- GRC Engineering & Automation: Design and implement automated compliance workflows using leading platforms (UiPath, Vanta, Drata, Archer, etc.). Develop and maintain Centralized Compliance Frameworks (CCF) to unify multi-framework compliance requirements. Architect scalable compliance solutions integrated with enterprise systems and cloud environments.
- Experience designing internal controls, designing internal controls assessments, designing sampling methodologies, scoping assessments, planning assessments, and gaining management support.
- Continuous Controls Monitoring: Implement and manage continuous monitoring solutions for real-time compliance and risk visibility. Develop dashboards and reporting mechanisms leveraging data analytics tools (e.g., Snowflake).
- AI & Advanced Technologies: Apply prompt engineering techniques and leverage LLMs/AI models to enhance compliance automation and risk analysis. Train internal teams and clients on AI-driven compliance tools and methodologies.
- Privacy & Data Governance: Advise on privacy frameworks (GDPR, CCPA, ISO 27701) and implement data governance strategies. Ensure compliance with global data protection regulations through automated controls and reporting.
- GRC as a Service & MSP/MSSP Strategy: Develop service delivery models for GRC as a Service. Collaborate with MSP/MSSP teams to design recurring revenue streams and future-of-work strategies for compliance services.
- Thought Leadership & Mentorship: Publish technical white papers, blogs, and deliver presentations on GRC engineering and automation trends. Mentor team members on compliance engineering, automation tools, and AI integration.
- Work with industry and standards bodies to provide information security technical and non-technical expertise.
- Work with other teams within Coalfire to drive customer success.
- Scope and lead on-site engagements with clients. This includes leading pre-sales calls, onsite visits, understanding customer security and compliance requirements and environments, and proposing and delivering packaged offerings or custom solution engagements.
- Develop technical content, such as security plans, procedures, policies, and white papers that can be used by our clients to assist them in elevating/building out their security and compliance programs.
- Lead delivery engagements including on-site projects working with clients to build out compliance roadmaps, architecture guidance, gap assessments, etc.
- Collaborate with Coalfire engineering, support and business teams to convey partner and customer feedback.
- Serve as the practice subject matter expert (SME) for escalations, sales/marketing support, driving practice profitability and revenue.
- Provide Delivery Team Support, including: identifying process improvements, training Delivery personnel on methodologies/tools and quality topics, and mentoring Delivery personnel.
- Development of industry-wide service line thought leadership through:
- Authoring: methodologies, templates, white papers, work instructions, guidelines, forms, and tools
- Developing and delivering industry specific training, including speaking/presenting at conferences, creating webinars
- Ensure continuous professional development by maintaining industry specific certifications.
- Maintain strong depth of knowledge in the practice area including being able to provide technical recommendations for clients to mitigate risks and implement controls in-line with framework requirements
- Collaborate with project managers, quality management, sales and other delivery team members to drive customer satisfaction and meet project deliverables.
- Establish account relationships and identifies upsell and cross sell opportunities and escalates to sales
- Travel up to 20%
What You'll Bring
- 7+ years of experience in an IT security audit, assessment, compliance, risk management, or data privacy role.
- Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems Management, Information Security, Business or equivalent experience required.
- Proven experience with GRC automation platforms (UiPath, Vanta, Drata, Archer, OneTrust, Oracle GRC, Hyperproof, or other market competitors, etc..).
- Familiarity with GRC as a Service, MSP, and MSSP concepts to build recurring revenue models.
- A strong work ethic, thirst for knowledge, enthusiasm for tacking new challenges, and a “we, not I” mentality when it comes to teamwork and the achievement of organizational goals.
- Strong communication skills with executive presence for CIO/CTO/CISO-level discussions.
- Knowledge of the latest information risk, security and compliance innovations, trends, challenges and solutions to provide best-practice recommendations.
- Experience in leveraging security best practices and/or standards (NIST, ISO, CIS Top 20, ISSA, CSA CMM, OWASP, DMBOK, Prosci, GAO Greenbook, COBIT, AICPA/SOC TSCs) to solve problems for GRC programs.
- Strong knowledge of Centralized Common Compliance Frameworks (CCF) and multi-framework mapping.
- Experience building common compliance frameworks as well as mapping between different compliance requirements.
- Demonstrated depth of security understanding in various sub domains such as encryption, business continuity, disaster recovery, identity and access management, incident response, change management, etc.
- Hands-on experience in systems architecture and integration of compliance solutions.
- Problem solving skills that contribute to the development of consultative solutions for unique client requirements.
- Proven background in clearly writing complex technical documents that can be presented across a varied enterprise corporate audience.
- Proven ability in strategic consulting and influencing executive level decision makers both internally and externally.
- Experience leading discussions on the relationship between security, risk management, compliance, and sales/marketing.
- 3+ years of experience working with ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and/or System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2
- 7+ years of experience working with two or more of the following:
- ISO/IEC 27001:2022
- ISO/IEC 27701:2019
- ISO 22301:2019
- ISO/IEC 42001:2023
- ISO 9001:2015
- System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) frameworks (800 series)
- One or more of the following certifications:
- ISO: ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27701:2019, ISO/IEC 42001:2023, and/or ISO 22301:2019 Lead Auditor/Implementer
- CISM
- CISA
- CIPP/US / CIPP/EU
- CISSP
- CRISC
- CDPSE
- AAIA
- AAIR
- AAISM
- CGEIT
- CCP/CCA
Bonus Points
- Big Four Advisory/Consulting Experience
- DevSecOps Experience
- CISSP, CISM, CRISC, CDPSE, or CGEIT
- HITRUST Certified CSF Practitioner (CCSFP)
- CIPP/US / CIPP/EU
- ISO 42001 Lead Auditor/Implementer
- AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform certification(s).
- CCSK
- AAIA
- AAIR
- AAISM
- OpenFair or related certification, CCBP
- Vendor certifications for applicable product solution sets
$104,000 - $179,600 a year
The salary range listed is a reasonable estimate of the compensation range for this role based on national salary averages. The actual salary offer to the successful candidate will be based on job-related education, geographic location, training, licensure and certifications and other factors. You may also be eligible to participate in annual incentive, commission, and/or recognition programs.
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Why You’ll Want to Join Us
At Coalfire, you’ll find the support you need to thrive personally and professionally. In many cases, we provide a flexible work model that empowers you to choose when and where you’ll work most effectively – whether you’re at home or an office.
Regardless of location, you’ll experience a company that prioritizes connection and wellbeing and be part of a team where people care about each other and our communities. You’ll have opportunities to join employee resource groups, participate in in-person and virtual events, and more. And you’ll enjoy competitive perks and benefits to support you and your family, like paid parental leave, flexible time off, certification and training reimbursement, digital mental health and wellbeing support membership, and comprehensive insurance options.
At Coalfire, equal opportunity and pay equity is integral to the way we do business. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran. Coalfire is committed to providing access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. To request reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, contact our Human Resources team at [email protected].