Head of Cybersecurity Defense Operations (AI)

Location: Buffalo, New York, United States of America; four days onsite at Seneca One Buffalo with flexibility to work from home one day per week.

Salary: $167,600.00–$279,400.00 annual, paid in USD.

Company

M&T Bank is a highly regulated financial institution operating enterprise cybersecurity, risk, resilience, and banking services.

What you will do

• Lead the enterprise cyber defense strategy, roadmap, operations, and operational performance.
• Oversee security monitoring, threat detection, incident response, threat intelligence, threat hunting, insider threat, data loss prevention, and cyber defense engineering.
• Direct the 24x7x365 Cybersecurity Operations Center, including monitoring, triage, escalation, containment, and response.
• Provide executive oversight of the Cybersecurity Incident Response Team and act as or designate the Cyber Incident Commander for major incidents.
• Modernize defense operations through automation, orchestration, advanced analytics, AI-enabled capabilities, and threat-informed defense.
• Partner with cybersecurity, technology, risk, compliance, audit, corporate security, regulators, and executive leadership while developing budgets, metrics, workforce plans, and succession plans.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree and at least 9 years of relevant experience, or a combined 13 years of higher education and/or work experience in lieu of a degree.
• At least 8 years of experience in the relevant cybersecurity function and at least 3 years of managerial experience.
• Expert knowledge of cybersecurity principles and the ability to lead multiple cybersecurity functions or teams with minimal direction.
• Experience overseeing enterprise cybersecurity operations, incident response, threat intelligence, threat hunting, detection engineering, insider threat, or data loss prevention programs.
• Experience with SIEM, SOAR, EDR, NDR, threat intelligence platforms, or advanced cybersecurity analytics technologies.
• Ability to work four days onsite in Buffalo, New York, with one work-from-home day per week.

Nice to have

• Experience leading a large Security Operations Center within a highly regulated financial institution.
• Experience with ransomware preparedness, cyber resilience, regulatory examinations, audit engagements, and cyber resilience reviews.
• Demonstrated success leading cybersecurity transformation involving automation, AI-enabled operations, and operational excellence.
• Experience building and leading high-performing cybersecurity organizations through growth, modernization, and change.

Culture & Benefits

• Work within a 24x7x365 cyber defense mission supporting the Bank’s technology assets, customers, colleagues, and operations.
• Collaborate across cybersecurity, technology, enterprise risk, compliance, audit, legal, corporate security, and enterprise resilience functions.
• Lead a culture of accountability, innovation, resilience, belonging, and continuous learning.
• Participate in regulatory examinations, industry forums, audits, and cybersecurity engagements.