Freese and Nichols is looking for an IT/OT Cybersecurity Lead to join our team. As our national footprint continues to grow, we are considering qualified candidates in any Freese and Nichols location. This company-wide leadership role is responsible for the strategic direction, growth, and technical quality of the IT and OT cybersecurity consulting services that Freese and Nichols delivers to clients. The role leads business development by building strategic client relationships and identifying, shaping, and winning new pursuits; builds and develops a team of cybersecurity professionals; and provides senior technical leadership on complex client engagements. Working with firm and market leadership, the IT/OT Cybersecurity Lead expands our service capabilities and guides the delivery of practical cybersecurity solutions that protect client operations across enterprise networks, control systems, and field infrastructure.
What You’ll Do:
Business Development
Build and maintain relationships with key water, wastewater, and critical infrastructure clients, serving as their trusted cybersecurity advisor at the executive, IT, and operations levels.
Shape the growth strategy for cybersecurity services, including target clients, service offerings, pricing approach, and annual growth goals, in coordination with firm leadership.
Lead pursuits from opportunity identification through award, including capture planning, win strategy, scopes, fees, proposals, and interviews.
Partner with client service leaders and project managers across offices to bring cybersecurity into larger pursuits such as SCADA master plans, treatment plant designs, and AWIA assessments.
Track regulatory and funding drivers and turn them into new service offerings for clients.
Build firm visibility through conference presentations, technical papers, webinars, and committee leadership in AWWA, WEF, ISA, and similar organizations.
Team Development
Build the cybersecurity team by defining staffing needs, participating in hiring, and shaping the skills mix needed to support growth.
Develop staff into project leads and client-facing advisors through mentoring, stretch assignments, technical review, and certification planning.
Delegate project delivery to developing staff while maintaining oversight of quality and client outcomes.
Establish career paths and succession plans for cybersecurity roles.
Raise cybersecurity capability across I&C, SCADA, and electrical teams through internal training, so security is built into design work rather than added later.
Technical Leadership
Set the technical direction, methodologies, and quality standards for cybersecurity services across the firm.
Serve as technical lead on complex, high-visibility engagements and provide senior review on all others.
Develop repeatable assessment methods, templates, and tools that let the team deliver consistently and scale.
Provide senior direction on secure IT/OT architecture and technology selection, accounting for OT availability, safety, and legacy constraints.(This merges your two current architecture and technology bullets.)
Advise firm leadership on contractual, liability, and risk issues tied to cybersecurity work, and help shape contract language and service terms.
The ideal candidate is an entrepreneurial IT/OT cybersecurity leader with a proven ability to grow client relationships, develop high-performing teams, and deliver practical cybersecurity solutions for critical infrastructure organizations.
Knowledge
Possesses deep knowledge of IT and OT cybersecurity and how security strategies support client business objectives, operational reliability, and risk management.
Understands the business of cybersecurity consulting, including market needs, service positioning, client relationship development, pursuit strategy, scope and fee development, and project financials.
Understands approaches to building and developing technical teams, including workforce planning, competency assessment,…