Cyber Defense Lead

INSPIRE | EXHILARATE | DELIGHT

For over seven decades, Chalhoub Group has been a partner and creator of luxury experiences in the Middle East. In its pursuit to excel as a hybrid luxury retailer, the Group has curated a portfolio of over 10 owned brands and strengthened its distribution and marketing expertise for over 400 international names across luxury fashion, beauty, jewellery, watches, eyewear, and art de vivre categories.

Every step at Chalhoub Group is taken to build a future where luxury dreams become reality — bridging cultures and crafting memorable experiences for our consumers. Be it by constantly reinventing itself, committing to innovation, or embracing new technologies, the Group is shaping the future of luxury retail. It delivers seamless omnichannel experiences across more than 950 stores, online platforms, and mobile apps. Driving this innovation journey is The Greenhouse — the Group’s innovation hub, incubator, and accelerator for startups and emerging businesses, regionally and globally.

Chalhoub Group fosters a people-at-heart culture rooted in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and a workplace catalysed by forward thinking and future-proofing. Today, it brings together over 16,000 talented professionals across eight countries in the Middle East, with a presence in LATAM.

Sustainability is at the core of the Group’s strategy, guided by a clear commitment to people, partners, and the planet. Chalhoub Group is proud to be a member of the United Nations Global Compact, a signatory of the Women’s Empowerment Principles, and to have pledged to reach Net Zero by 2040.

What you'll be doing

Lead the development, delivery and continuous improvement of Chalhoub Group's enterprise cyber defense capabilities, ensuring effective threat detection, incident response and operational resilience across the Group's entities, brands and technology environments.

Provide functional and technical leadership across Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR), Detection Engineering, Threat Intelligence, Threat Hunting, Cloud Security Operations and AI-enabled security automation.

Direct multidisciplinary teams and specialist service providers, establishing technical standards, operational priorities and performance measures to strengthen cyber defense maturity, reduce enterprise risk and support the Group's transformation ambitions.

What you’ll need to succeed

· Cyber Defence Strategy: Lead the Group’s cyber defence roadmap, operating model, technical standards, and capability development, aligned with business and security priorities.

· Team Leadership: Provide functional leadership to security teams and external partners, overseeing performance, technical development, mentoring, and resource planning.

· Incident Response & Digital Forensics: Lead major cyber incident investigations, forensic analysis, containment, and recovery coordination. Develop incident response playbooks and conduct simulation exercises.

· Detection Engineering & Security Platforms: Oversee enterprise detection capabilities and optimisation of SIEM, SOAR, EDR/XDR, and security monitoring solutions, aligned with MITRE ATT&CK.

· Threat Intelligence & Hunting: Drive proactive threat hunting, intelligence-led detection, and continuous improvements to the Group’s defensive posture.

· AI & Automation: Lead the adoption of AI-enabled security solutions, automated triage, SOAR workflows, and innovative security technologies.

· Security Operations & Governance: Manage cyber defence performance, KPIs, service quality, and external security providers while collaborating with internal stakeholders to enhance cyber resilience.

Requirements

· 10+ years of cybersecurity experience, with strong technical leadership in cyber defence, security operations, incident response, and detection engineering.

· Proven experience leading and scaling cyber defence capabilities in large, complex enterprise environments.

· Strong expertise in incident response, digital forensics, threat intelligence, threat hunting, and detection engineering.

· Advanced technical knowledge of SIEM, SOAR, EDR/XDR, MITRE ATT&CK, security automation, and cloud security (Azure, AWS, or GCP).

· Experience implementing AI-driven security solutions and automated response capabilities.

· Demonstrated ability to lead technical teams, manage security vendors/MSSPs, and influence senior stakeholders.

· Knowledge of cybersecurity frameworks, including NIST CSF and ISO/IEC 27001.

· Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Security, Engineering, or a related field.

· Relevant certifications such as CISSP, CISM, GCFE, GCFA, GCFR, OSCP, or equivalent.

What we can offer you

With us, you will turn your aspirations into reality. We will help shape your journey through enriching experiences, learning and development opportunities and exposure to different assignments within your role or through internal mobility. Our Group offers diverse career paths for those who are extraordinary, every day.

We recognise the value that you bring, and we strive to provide a competitive benefits package which includes health care, child education contribution, remote and flexible working policies as well as exclusive employee discounts.

Using GenAI in Your Application Process

To support a fair and consistent experience for all candidates, we ask that assessments and interviews are completed independently and without assistance from generative AI tools. This ensures we understand your strengths, your thinking, and how you approach real situations.

We Invite All Applicants to Apply

It Takes Diversity Of Thought, Culture, Background, Differing Abilities and Perspectives to truly Inspire, Exhilarate and Delight our customers. At Chalhoub Group, we are committed to inclusion and diversity.

We welcome all applicants to apply and be part of our exciting future. We ensure equal opportunity for all our applicants without regard to gender, age, race, religion, national origin or disability status.