Cybersecurity Principal Specialist #5356

Target Hiring Range: $140,000-$165,000

Department: Chief Information Officer
Posting Date Range: 2/23/2026-3/9/2026
Pay Grade Range: $130469-$181570
Work Hours: 8:00am-4:30pm
FLSA Status: Exempt
Remote Work Status: Hybrid
Hybrid Schedule: 2-3 days a week onsite.
All remote or hybrid work arrangements must be performed from within the continental United States, subject to Sergeant at Arms approval.

The Senate Sergeant at Arms does not pay for relocation expenses.

This vacancy announcement closes at 7pm EST. Late applications will not be accepted.

JOB OVERVIEW

Job Description

The Target Hiring Range for this position is: $140,000-$165,000

The Sergeant at Arms plays a crucial role in upholding the operational integrity of the Senate community. Our vision is to foster an environment of innovation, collaboration, and adaptability, ensuring uninterrupted legislative proceedings irrespective of time, place, or circumstance. The Cybersecurity department is responsible for protecting the systems and information used to create the legislation that underwrites our democracy. We create a resilient cybersecurity operation by pro-actively identifying, protecting, detecting, reacting, and recovering (IPDRR) the US Senate enterprise. We combine people, processes, and technology into a state of the art, continuous risk-reduction practice that is flexible, innovative, and effective

Key Accountabilities/Essential Job Duties
Provides functional and/or technical skills for the assigned cybersecurity unit. Supports the unit’s work effort as required in preparing materials for collaborating with other sections, divisions, departments, and vendors to gather and disseminate information. Contributes to the unit’s work effort as required in preparing analysis and materials for providing expert level support in the assigned area of cybersecurity to SAA IT security branch staff, other SAA technical staff, SAA procurement staff, and other division or departments; and for identifying and resolving critical and complex issues in the assigned unit. Supports the unit’s work effort as directed in providing leadership to the unit’s project teams and contractors. Work includes helping to develop plans, assignments, and coordination of work efforts. Supports the unit’s work effort to develop governing policies, standards, and procedures. Other duties as assigned.

JOB SPECIFICATIONS

Required Education
High School Diploma, GED.

Required Work Experience

• Seven to ten years of progressively responsible experience in cybersecurity, with a track record of leading initiatives to resolve highly complex cybersecurity issues.
• Subject matter expertise in one or more cybersecurity domains.
• Strong leadership skills, including experience managing project teams and coordinating efforts across multiple departments.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and implement strategic cybersecurity policies, standards, and frameworks that align with organizational goals.

Required Special Skills/ Knowledge

• As part of our hiring process, we may conduct a skills assessment to better understand an applicant’s proficiency in key areas relevant to the role.

Desired Qualifications

• Cybersecurity Experience: Experience in SOC Analysis, Threat Hunting, Threat Intelligence, Malware Analysis, Red Team, or Systems/Network Administration.
• Excellent Communication Skills: The ability to communicate both verbally and in writing with audiences at varying levels of technical capability.
• Self-Learning: The ability to learn highly technical concepts with minimal instruction and without formal training.
• Abstract Thinking: The ability to abstract away from atomic events and indicators and contextualize them with larger attack chains or process flows.

Working Conditions

• This position directly supports essential services of the U.S. Senate. As such, this position requires the employee be available and prepared to work during a lapse, in inclement weather, on holidays, weekends, and during late nights to ensure essential services to the Senate continue without interruption. In the context of government furloughs, this position is considered excepted.
• The U.S. Senate network cannot be taken offline for maintenance during the workday, or while the Senate is in session. As such, maintenance windows may only occur at night, on weekends, and occasionally on holidays. Employees who perform systems upgrades, maintenance, wiring, backups, support our alternate data centers will have schedules that include working nights, weekends, and holidays
• Sedentary.

Security Clearance

• This position requires that the applicant obtain and maintain a Secret U.S. Government security clearance.
• Applicants must be U.S. citizens in order for the SAA to submit your application for a security clearance.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

To be employed by a Senate employing office in a paid position in the continental United States an individual must:
1. Be a U.S. citizen;
2. Be lawfully admitted for permanent residence and seeking citizenship as outlined in 8 U.S.C. § 1324b(a)(3)(B);
3. Be (i) admitted as a refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157 or granted asylum under 8 U.S.C. § 1158 and (ii) have filed a declaration of intention to become a lawful permanent resident and then a citizen when eligible; or
4. Owe allegiance to the U.S. (i.e., qualify as a non-citizen U.S. national under federal law).

Employment is contingent on background / security investigation results.

BENEFITS AT-A-GLANCE

The SAA provides a highly competitive benefits package for all SAA staff. Our benefits extend beyond health care coverage to help provide employees with student loan reimbursement, professional development, transportation subsidy, TSP/retirement savings, access to our Employee Assistance Program, and more! For more information regarding SAA’s benefits, please visit https://sen.gov/OPPW.

ACCOMMODATIONS

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, the SAA is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. If you are interested in applying for employment with SAA and need special assistance or an accommodation to complete the application process, please submit your request to employment@saa.senate.gov with “Accommodation” in the subject line.

VOLUNTARY SELF-IDENTIFICATION FOR VETERANS' PREFERENCE

If you are identifying as veterans' preference eligible under the VEOA, please use this link to complete your application for Veterans' Preference AFTER you apply for this position. The link will also be available on the "Thank You" page after you have submitted your job application.

Candidates only need to apply one time for veterans’ preference to be considered for all future veterans’ preference positions within the Senate Sergeant at Arms.

• All supporting documents must ONLY be provided within the Veterans’ Preference Application and within the stated deadline of the job announcement.
• Late applications for veterans’ preference will not be considered.
• Documentation to obtain veterans’ preference will not be considered if attached to the job application.
• If you need to revise or resubmit your Application for Veterans' Preference/documents, please withdraw your previous Application for Veterans' Preference and resubmit. If you require assistance, please email SAARecruitment@saa.senate.gov.

An applicant who declines to self-identify as a disabled veteran and/or to provide information and documentation regarding his/her disabled veteran’s status will not be subjected to an adverse employment action, but the individual may be ruled ineligible for veterans’ preference.