Data Center Security Operations Manager
Job title – Microsoft Data Center Security Operations Manager
Data centers are normally associated with Cloud Computing, although not necessarily always, but they are always a physical location that stores all a companies servers and associated it hardware and software that enable the businesses IT infrastructure to work.
As such, the security of a data center is key to the whole IT architecture of any business or company, and requires a high level of experience and vigilance in order to make sure that the company and its cloud operations are able to function safely and securely.
Qualifications / Responsibilities
The responsibilities of a security operations manager at a Microsoft Data center will be wide and varied, but in essence will be to ensure the overall integrity of the physical environment that the data center occupies, and to make sure that all appropriate staff fulfil their individual roles accordingly.
The manager will also be responsible for full risk assessments of all areas of the data center, including staff access to sensitive areas, and the risk of all internal or external threats.
Running a data center is quite an awesome task in many ways, and the security operations manager will need to be fully aware of all the hardware and software contained in the physical location, and make sure that the environment is focused on keeping it running efficiently safely and securely.
All of Microsoft’s core infrastructure for their online services we’ll be dependent on data centers performing functions efficiently and safely, and it is the responsibility of the manager to be alert to any threat, physical or otherwise, and to deal with the threat themselves if possible.
If not able to deal with the threat themselves, the security operations manager will need to triage any threat or impending event and alert the relevant level of management, who will take whatever action is necessary to mitigate such threat.
The manager will need to make sure there are systems in place that support security capabilities, and will need to give continual reports and updates to different levels of management within the company.
Experience is probably more beneficial than qualifications in this role, and job experience similar to that described above will probably be required for a period off somewhere between 2 / 5 years.
A degree in a related subject would often be useful, such as a business management degree, a degree in some type of risk management or certifications in different types of security programs.
Data Center Security Operations Manager – Salary Levels
According to online job sites the pay range for this type of job is normally between $70,000 and $145,000, depending upon location. Microsoft also have quite a generous benefits package, which will vary according to someone’s position, age, and experience
Hours / Location
The hours required for a Data Center Security Operations Manager are likely to be that of a standard working week, depending upon the location of the data center, and are normally worked on a shift system.
The manager is likely to be required to provide on-call support in the event of an emergency, which may require being able to attend the physical location quickly, sometimes within a specified which should be a consideration when applying for such a role.
It is important to note that companies normally have a significant number of different data centers located throughout the world, and so the physical location should be specified in the job application advert. It’s estimated Microsoft have approximately 200 data centers throughout the world, which gives some idea of scale.
Security Vetting
This type of job is taken very seriously as a security issue, and there will likely be significant background checks done when applying. In additional, Microsoft have what they call a Microsoft Cloud Background Check, which is done when applying for a role like this and every two years subsequently.
