Zero Trust Strategist

** Job Family**  **:*
* Technology Consulting

** Travel Required**  **:*
* Up to 10%

** Clearance Required**  **:*
* Ability to Obtain Public Trust

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* What You Will Do:

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* + Our Cybersecurity Consultants are a team of business integrators with extensive consulting and industry experience who help our clients solve their complex business issues from strategy through execution. A career in an integrated team of developers and consultants provides the opportunity to grow and contribute to our clients' business issues every day, applying a collection of security spectrum capabilities, including security strategy and governance, IT risk, security technologies, and cybercrime and breach response.

+ We are seeking a senior Zero Trust strategist with a proven track record of leading large-scale IT deployments, specifically for government clients. The ideal candidate will possess strong hands-on technical knowledge of Zscaler, Okta, and Crowdstrike solutions and demonstrate exceptional project management skills to ensure successful delivery and ongoing support.

Key Responsibility Areas include, but are not limited to:

+ Design, document, and maintain enterprise Zero Trust architectures spanning identity, device, network/environment, application/workload, and data pillars.

+ Define strategic roadmaps and reference architecture aligned with organizational objectives and mission requirements.

+ Partner with cross-functional teams to embed Zero Trust principles into technology modernization efforts, cloud transitions, and cybersecurity initiatives.

+ Partner with cybersecurity, network engineering, cloud, Dev Sec Ops , and governance teams to ensure cohesive implementation and maturity.

+ Perform organizational assessments using the CISA Zero Trust Maturity Model.

+ Produce gap analyses and prioritized remediation plans aligned with maturity expectations.

+ Develop and maintain comprehensive project plans, including timelines, milestones, budget tracking, and resource allocation.

+ Identify, track, and mitigate project risks, issues, and dependencies to ensure successful, on-time, and within-budget project delivery.

+ Provide regular project status updates to leadership, technical teams, and other key stakeholders.

+ Manage cross-functional project teams, vendor relationships, and external consultants.

+ Lead the development of comprehensive Zero Trust program strategies and executive level briefings tailored for CISO and senior leadership audiences.

+ Independently design Zero Trust reference architectures and capability roadmaps without requiring hands on engineering support.

+ Serve as the senior Zscaler and Crowd Strike product expert for the engagement, advising on platform capabilities, constraints, and adoption patterns across identity, device, network, workload, and data protection domains.

+ Translate complex Zscaler and Crowd Strike technologies (e.g., ZIA/ZPA, Falcon Insight/XDR, Falcon DLP) into clear business outcomes and maturity recommendations.

+ Coordinate with separate Zscaler and Crowd Strike engineering teams to ensure alignment while driving architectural decisions autonomously and without operational disruption.

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* What You Will Need:

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* + Bachelors degree from an accredited university

+ Minimum of EIGHT (8) years of overall work experience

+ US Citizenship is contractually required

+ Must be able to OBTAIN and MAINTAIN a Federal or DoD "PUBLIC TRUST"; candidates must obtain approved adjudication of their PUBLIC TRUST prior to onboarding with Guidehouse. Candidates with an ACTIVE PUBLIC TRUST or SUITABILITY are preferred.

+ Experience in IT or managing large-scale deployments and cross-functional technical teams with US Federal government consulting experience

+ Experience working in federal civilian, defense contractor, or highly regulated environments

+ Familiarity with federal compliance frameworks (e.g., FISMA, FedRAMP, NIST 800-53)

+ Experience collaborating with teams for IT security operations, threat response, or security architecture development, including IAM system requirements, design, implementation, integration, testing, or change management

+ Demonstrated expertise across all pillars of Zero Trust (identity, device, network/environment, application/workload, data)

+ Hands-on experience with Zero Trust technology platforms (e.g., Crowd Strike Falcon, Zscaler, and Okta)

+ Hands-on experience with automating security workflows and integrating Zero Trust technology platforms

+ Deep understanding of identity-centric security, segmentation, continuous monitoring, and least privileged access

+ Strong analytical and problem-solving skills and verbal and written communication abilities

+ Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment

+ Strong customer service and stakeholder management skills

+ Attention to detail and commitment to security best practices

+ Demonstrated ability to operate as an independent consultant-capable of leading strategic discussions, developing executive-ready deliverables, and…