Senior Cybersecurity Advisor Security Clearance

Position: Senior Cybersecurity Advisor with Security Clearance
Senior Cybersecurity Advisor Bethesda, MD Active Top-Secret Clearance with SCI and Polygraph Required @Orchard is actively supporting a proposal expected to be awarded in Fall 2026 for a Maryland client in the Intelligence Sector. We are seeking individuals with the necessary skills, experience, and clearance to sign a letter of intent to join the team once the program is awarded.

This is an exceptional opportunity to join one of our clients, a leader in the IC space with exceptional benefits and opportunities for advancement. As the Senior Cybersecurity Advisor, you will support the enterprise cybersecurity posture, policy, and risk decisions. Your responsibilities will include.
* Cybersecurity Strategy & Governance:
Advise on priorities, policy updates, and governance actions to align with mission and national requirements.  
* Risk Management & Compliance:
Support RMF/ATO activities, reciprocity initiatives, control selection, and continuous monitoring strategies.  
* Zero Trust & Security Architecture:
Guide zero trust planning, identity, segmentation, encryption, and secure access patterns.  
* Incident & Vulnerability Preparedness:
Advise on incident response processes, vulnerability management, and security operations improvements.  
* Dev Sec Ops  Enablement:
Integrate security development pipeline and acquisition planning.
* Executive Reporting:
Develop metrics, dashboards, and briefs for senior leadership. Your background and qualifications will include.
* Active Top Secret/SCI clearance with Polygraph.
* US Citizenship is required.  
* Bachelor's degree in B-STEM with 8 years of experience OR Master’s Degree in B-STEM with 6 years of experience OR Associate's degree with 12 years of experience OR High-School/High School equivalency diploma with 14 years of experience.
* One (1) or more years leading a team or managing staff.
* Experience advising executive leadership on cybersecurity strategy, governance, and risk management for complex enterprises.  
* Experience with security frameworks and concepts (e.g., RMF, NIST CSF/800-53, zero trust, identity and access management).  
* Experience improving ATO processes and promoting reciprocity; developing security policies/standards and implementation guidance.
* Direct IC experience.  Additional capabilities to stand out.
* Experience overseeing incident response planning, vulnerability management, and security monitoring concepts (SOC/SIEM).  
* Experience integrating cybersecurity into acquisition and system engineering (security-by-design/Dev Sec Ops ).  
* Experience briefing senior leaders  
* and coordinating across multiple organizations Compensation:
As there are several potential levels for this skillset within the program, compensation can range between $160,000 and $185,000. All employees will receive a generous benefits package:
Health, Dental, Vision, 401K with immediate vesting, tuition reimbursement, and generous PTO. Established in 2010, @Orchard LLC has an exceptional reputation, providing staffing solutions to time-sensitive, talent scarcity issues to deliver better talent management ROI.  Our specialty lies in the critical area of program talent acquisition and resource management, not in one narrow skillset, but across many areas of technical and functional delivery.

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