New
Posted: July 8, 2026
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Transportation Security Administration (TSA)/Information Division (IAD) Computer Network Defense (CND) branch, has a requirement for the immediate delivery of IT cybersecurity operations and engineering support services.
The Security Analyst will monitor and analyze security events and alerts reported by the TSA SIEM on a 24x7x365 basis to identify and investigate suspicious or malicious activity, or other cyber events which violate TSA policy. The analyst will be responsible for analyzing logs and events from any other device types which may send logs or events to the TSA SOC in the future. Non-traditional device feeds will deliver data to the SIEM architecture (e.g., Human Resources (HR) data, badging information, and physical security devices, etc.). The analyst will provide documentation detailing any additional information collected and maintained for each security investigation. The analyst will record all artifacts (i.e. emails, logs, documents, Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), screenshots, etc.) associated with all security events and incident investigations within the TSA SOC incident and tracking application.
Karthik Consulting is seeking a mission-focused Entry-Level SOC Analyst to support the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Information Assurance and Cybersecurity Division (IAD) Computer Network Defense (CND) Security Operations Center (SOC).
- Work Location: Herndon, VA. Onsite during shift schedule.
- Security Clearance: Secret or higher
- Travel: Ability to travel on TDY as requested by the Government.
- Schedule: Shift work (6AM – 6PM)
- Long weeks Wednesday – Saturday – 4 days on shift (3x 12-hour shifts, 1x 8-hour shift) totaling 44 hours
- Short weeks Thursday – Saturday – 3 days on shift (3x 12-hour shifts) totaling 36 hours
- Total hours every two weeks: 80 hours
- Due to nature of work, it requires effective response 24x7x365.
Karthik Consulting is committed to providing competitive compensation based on the responsibilities of the role, required qualifications, security clearance level, relevant experience, certifications, customer requirements, geographic location, and overall business needs. The salary range listed for this position represents a good-faith estimate of the current compensation range for this role.
At Karthik Consulting, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the salary range. Final compensation decisions are based on the facts and circumstances of each candidate’s experience, qualifications, certifications, clearance level, contract requirements, and overall alignment with the role.
A reasonable estimate of the current salary range for this position is $80,000 to $87,000 annually.
Employees may be eligible for company benefits and additional compensation programs, subject to company policy, contract requirements, and individual eligibility.
- At least 3 years of experience working in a Security Operations Center (SOC) or Network Operations Center (NOC) environment performing security event monitoring and analysis.
- Experience using SIEM and EDR technologies to support investigations.
- Incident response framework knowledge and experience.
- Working knowledge of the various operating systems (e.g. Windows, OS X, Linux, etc.) commonly deployed in enterprise networks.
- Must possess a working knowledge of network communications and routing protocols (e.g. TCP, UDP, ICMP, BGP, MPLS, etc.) and common internet applications and standards (e.g. SMTP, DNS, DHCP, SQL, HTTP, HTTPS, etc.).
- Must be capable of analyzing security logs and events from the following types of devices such as, but not limited to: Firewalls (FWs), Intrusion detection system (IDS).
- Experience with SIEM platforms and basic log analysis/querying.
- Experience opening and managing tickets in a case/incident tracking system (Archer, ServiceNow, Remedy, or similar).
- Understanding of basic adversary tactics and common indicators of compromise.
- Prior exposure to vulnerability scan data or endpoint security tools (e.g., Nessus, Tanium).
- Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to produce clear, concise case notes.
- Ability to work effectively in a 24×7×365 shift environment.
- Monitor and analyze security events and alerts in the TSA SIEM on a 24×7×365 basis to identify suspicious or malicious activity.
- Proficient in Splunk, including hand-on experience writing queries using SPL.
- Open cases in the TSA SOC incident tracking application within 15 minutes of detecting critical/high events.
- Open cases in the TSA SOC incident tracking application within 60 minutes of detecting medium events.
- Open cases in the TSA SOC incident tracking application within 4 hours of detecting low events.
- Collect and document minimum incident details (date/time, description, impacted devices, severity, etc.) and record all associated artifacts to support investigations.
- Escalate confirmed incidents to the TSA CSIRT/CSWO team and IT management per established SOPs, ensuring documented hand-offs.
- Report security event feed outages or tool issues.
- Support After Action Reports (AARs) for significant cases and contribute to the SOC knowledge base (SharePoint).
- Maintain accurate audit trails and records in accordance with TSA record management policies
- Minimum Requirement: Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity, IT, or related field preferred.
- Minimum Experience: 3 years of experience in a Security Operations Center (SOC), Network Operations Center (NOC), or IT/help-desk environment with exposure to security monitoring.
- CompTIA Security+ (or equivalent DoD 8570/8140-compliant certification) required or must be obtained within 6 months of start.
