Senior Technical Consultant - Network Security Operations Job Chicago area,Illinois USA,IT/Tech

AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together advances in cloud infrastructure, automation and analytics, and software delivery, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation.

At AHEAD, we prioritize creating a culture of belonging, where all perspectives and voices are represented, valued, respected, and heard. We create spaces to empower everyone to speak up, make change, and drive the culture at AHEAD.

We are an equal opportunity employer, and do not discriminate based on an individual's race, national origin, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, marital status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law, whether actual or perceived.

We embrace all candidates who will contribute to the diversification and enrichment of ideas and perspectives at AHEAD.

The Senior Technical Consultant is a cybersecurity professional with knowledge around the Extra Hop Reveal(x) 360 Platform to support Enterprise Clients. Responsible for the technical execution of Extra Hop deployments with complex configurations and mentoring junior team members. As a Senior Technical Consultant, you will be a key player in implementing deployments from sensor placement through detection tuning, build the dashboards and integrations that turn wire data into decisions, and serve as the technical advisor too.

Responsibilities

Design and deploy Extra Hop sensor architectures across physical, virtual, and cloud environments, including sensor placement strategy for TAPs, SPAN ports, and VPC traffic mirroring in AWS and Azure

Configure and design packet stores for retention, query performance, and compliance requirements, including sizing decisions for high-throughput environments

Create custom detections and bundles tailored to client environments, moving beyond out-of-box detections to address specific threats and false‑positive patterns

Develop custom dashboards in Reveal(x) using metrics, devices, and applications views, translating wire data into views that map to client SOC workflows and executive reporting needs

Build and maintain REST API integrations between Extra Hop and SIEM, SOAR, ticketing, and CMDB platforms, including custom triggers and open data stream configurations

Conduct network visibility assessments for prospective and existing clients, identifying blind spots in east‑west traffic, encrypted traffic decryption coverage, and segmentation gaps

Collaborate with clients to optimize and fine‑tune their deployment and provide guidance to assist with the optimization of the platform

Act as a technical resource for troubleshooting and resolving complex Extra Hop related issues during and post‑implementation

Contribute to project documentation, ensuring clarity and completeness of Solution Designs and As‑Built configurations

Mentor junior AHEAD consultants, sharing your Extra Hop knowledge and fostering their technical development

Qualifications

6+ years of hands‑on experience with Extra Hop Reveal(x) or Reveal(x) 360 in production environments or similar NDR solutions

Experience deploying and administering Extra Hop Reveal(x) Enterprise or Reveal(x) 360

Demonstrated experience deploying and tuning Extra Hop sensors, record stores, and packet stores, including sizing, retention configuration, and performance troubleshooting

Strong grasp of wire data analysis: L2-L7 protocol behavior (TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP, etc), TLS/SSL decryption

Experience building custom detections, bundles, and dashboards beyond default configurations

Proficient in JavaScript and Python scripting for automation, customization, and workflow optimization

Working knowledge of at least one major SIEM (Splunk, XSIAM, Crowdstrike or equivalent) and experience integrating Extra Hop as a data source

Experienced in proactive threat hunting and incident investigations using the MITRE ATT&CK framework, Cyber Kill Chain, NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF), and CIS Critical Security Controls to identify adversary TTPs and strengthen detection and response capabilities

Experience with cloud traffic mirroring (AWS VPC Traffic Mirroring, Azure vTAP, or GCP Packet…