About the position

Valiant Solutions is seeking a SOC Analyst to join our rapidly growing and innovative cybersecurity team! The SOC Analyst is the senior Tier III analyst on the Security Operations Center floor, providing advanced triage, forensic analysis, and escalation for SIEM alerts and incidents that exceed Tier I and Tier II capability. The analyst is the escalation point for the shift, maintains situational awareness of SOC tools and telemetry, drives shift handovers so incoming analysts inherit full context, and contributes to standard operating procedure and playbook updates that keep detection and response current. The role also supports Red Team and Purple Team exercises, using those engagements to test and improve detection coverage. Named one of the Best Places to Work in the Washington DC area for 12 consecutive years, Valiant is proud of our employee-centric culture and commitment to excellence. If you are interested in learning more about Valiant and this opportunity, we invite you to apply now! The SOC Analyst can expect 100% telework. Remote work requires a high level of trust in our employees, and we strictly adhere to the details outlined in our Remote Work Policy below. U.S. Citizenship is required due to federal contract obligations, along with the ability to pass a federal background investigation.

Responsibilities

• Provide Tier III support for SIEM alert triage, in-depth forensic analysis, and escalation, including malware reverse engineering, memory forensics, and campaign correlation across the SOC and partner SOC environments.
• Serve as the shift escalation point for complex or high-severity events raised by Tier I and Tier II analysts, and analyze them within 4 hours per contract SLA.
• Maintain situational awareness of SOC tools and telemetry, including SIEM, SOAR, EDR, NDR, and CDM data flows, and alert the SOC Manager when tool health or coverage gaps put detection at risk.
• Lead shift handovers, providing incoming analysts with a written and verbal summary of open incidents, active hunts, tuning changes, and outstanding follow-up items.
• Contribute to SOC standard operating procedure and playbook updates, with revisions reviewed at least semi-annually and refreshed sooner when new threats, tools, or gaps require it; major changes are reviewed by the Change Control Board.
• Support Red Team and Purple Team exercises by validating detection coverage during engagement, translating adversary tradecraft into new detection rules, and feeding lessons learned back into playbooks.
• Support the development and testing of custom detection rules and collaborate with the customer OCIO, OIG, and partner SOCs to strengthen strategic threat awareness.
• Contribute to monthly threat actor profiles and update detection signatures accordingly.
• Submit initial incident reports within one hour of confirmation and support delivery of final incident reports within 72 hours, including impact, timeline, and remediation.
• Participate in post-incident lessons-learned sessions and translate findings into playbooks, runbooks, and detection improvements.
• Mentor Tier I and Tier II analysts on triage technique, log analysis, and escalation quality.

Requirements

• Six or more years of Security Operations Center experience, with demonstrated time in a Tier II or Tier III analyst role.
• At least one of the following certifications: GCIH, GCIA, CEH, or Security+.
• Hands-on experience with SIEM platforms and endpoint telemetry, including alert tuning, correlation rule review, and use of EDR agents for investigation.
• Working knowledge of operating systems (Windows and Linux internals, event and audit logs, process and memory artifacts) and networking (TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP/S, common protocols, packet capture analysis).
• Experience with AWS native capabilities and telemetry, including CloudTrail, GuardDuty, VPC Flow Logs, and CloudWatch, in a monitoring or investigation context.
• Ability to lead a shift and drive handover discipline across analyst tiers.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to write clear incident write-ups and shift handover notes.
• Required to obtain and maintain a Non-Sensitive / High Risk (Public Trust) security clearance, Tier 4/6c.
• U.S. Citizenship is required due to federal contract obligations, along with the ability to successfully pass a federal background investigation.

Nice-to-haves

• Additional certifications such as GCFA, GCFE, GNFA, or GREM.
• Experience with malware reverse engineering, memory forensics, and network forensics.
• Familiarity with MITRE ATT&CK and the ability to map alerts and hunt findings to ATT&CK techniques.
• Working knowledge of NIST SP 800-61 Rev. 2, NIST SP 800-86, and NIST SP 800-137.
• Experience with SOAR platforms and playbook automation.
• Familiarity with AWS GovCloud and hybrid cloud detection patterns.

Benefits

• Valiant pays 99% of the Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage for Full-time Employees
• Valiant contributes 25% towards Health Coverage for Family and Dependents
• 100% Paid Short Term Disability and Life Insurance Policy for Full-time Employees
• 100% Paid Certifications
• 401K Matching up to 4%
• Paid Time Off
• Paid Federal Holidays
• Wellness & Fitness Program
• Valiant University – Online Education and Training Portal
• FSA programs for: Medical Costs, Dependent Care, Transit, and Parking
• Referral Bonuses