Senior Director, Rapid Innovation Team - Cyber Security

Job Description

Sr. Director – Rapid Innovation Engineering

Overview

The Sr. Director of Rapid Innovation Engineering is a senior technical leader responsible for accelerating the adoption of new cybersecurity technologies across the enterprise. This role serves as the front line for evaluating, prototyping, and integrating new platforms and vendor solutions, ensuring innovations are validated quickly and matured into production-ready capabilities. The successful candidate brings a rare combination of technical breadth, integration expertise, and business acumen — able to prototype rapidly, assess value objectively, and deliver enterprise-scale outcomes.

This role requires both hands-on engineering skills and the strategic perspective to influence platform adoption, guide enterprise integration, and communicate with executive stakeholders. The director of the Rapid Innovation Engineering team will help shape the future of automation, AI-driven defense, and platform interoperability within the Cyber Defense organization.

Key Responsibilities

Technology & Vendor Evaluation

• Lead the technical assessment of emerging cybersecurity tools, platforms, and vendors for enterprise adoption.

• Conduct in-depth due diligence on APIs, SDKs, telemetry, and integration to align with security posture.

• Translate vendor claims into validated technical capabilities and enterprise-relevant outcomes.

• Provide structured recommendations on the adoption strategy, verify enterprise fit, and determine long-term value.

Prototyping & Proof-of-Concept Development

• Rapidly design and build proofs-of-concept to demonstrate integration feasibility and business impact.

• Develop automation workflows, data pipelines, and cross-platform integrations using Python, REST APIs, SDKs, and orchestration frameworks.

• Document outcomes, risks, and scaling considerations, ensuring prototypes can transition into enterprise engineering efforts.

• Establish repeatable evaluation patterns so new technologies can be assessed quickly and consistently.

Enterprise Integration & Architecture

• Define integration approaches that connect new platforms to enterprise control planes such as Microsoft Defender XDR, Sentinel, Entra ID, Zscaler, Wiz, ServiceNow, and CrowdStrike.

• Architect secure and scalable designs that account for logging, monitoring, resiliency, failover, and governance requirements.

• Collaborate with platform engineering and automation teams to mature successful prototypes into production-grade solutions.

• Ensure all integrations align with enterprise frameworks, including Zero Trust, Protect the Enterprise, and Defend model initiatives.

Innovation Leadership & Enablement

• Act as a trusted advisor to domain owners (IAM, Endpoint, Cloud, AppSec) on where and how new technologies enable value.

• Interface with vendors, procurement, and enterprise platform owners to accelerate onboarding and adoption.

• Provide technical leadership during cross-domain initiatives, ensuring innovations connect seamlessly into the broader security ecosystem.

• Champion the use of automation and AI to reduce manual effort, accelerate response times, and improve enterprise resilience.

Stakeholder & Program Alignment

• Partner with senior leadership to prioritize innovation initiatives that “move the needle” for CIO, CISO, and Compliance stakeholders.

• Communicate technical findings and business value clearly across audiences, from engineering and IT teams to executive leadership.

• Represent the Cyber Defense Automation & AI Engineering team in vendor discussions, enterprise working groups, and cross-functional projects.

• Ensure all innovations meet regulatory compliance, risk management, and enterprise operational standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field (Master’s degree preferred).

• 10+ years of progressive experience in cybersecurity, enterprise architecture, or platform engineering.

• Broad experience across multiple security domains, including identity, endpoint, cloud, automation, data protection, and threat detection.

• Strong background in cloud services to include AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform. 

• Demonstrated ability to evaluate, onboard, and integrate new vendor technologies into large-scale enterprise environments.

• Strong programming and automation skills (Python, APIs, SDKs, cloud automation frameworks, Infrastructure as Code, Terraform, CI/CD).

• Proven success in leading proofs-of-concept and scaling prototypes into production-ready designs.

• Experience with Microsoft Defender Suite XDR, Sentinel, Zscaler, Wiz, Entra ID, ServiceNow, and/or comparable platforms.

• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence at senior levels and communicate complex technical topics clearly.

• Ability to thrive in fast-paced, ambiguous environments where speed, precision, and impact are equally critical.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is a hands-on innovator and integrator who thrives on bringing new technologies into the enterprise. They combine technical breadth with the ability to go deep when required, ensuring that new tools are not only tested but made operational at scale. They are comfortable engaging with vendors, building prototypes, running rapid evaluations, and working directly with executives to demonstrate business value. Above all, they bring creativity, speed, and technical leadership to strengthen the enterprise’s cyber defense posture.

Required:  In a cover letter (no more than 2-3 pages) with their submitted resume, applicants should describe an instance how they successfully resolved conflict and improved collaboration between a product owner and their product team members, and the subsequent impact and value added.

Required Skills:

Accountability, Asset Management, Benefits Management, Computer Engineering, Cyber Defense, Cybersecurity, Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Systems Integration, Integration Architecture, Leadership, Management System Development, Microsoft Azure, Platform Engineering, Product Management, Regulatory Compliance, Report Writing, Requirements Management, Stakeholder Relationship Management, Strategic Planning, System Designs, Technical Leadership, Threat Detection

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

US and Puerto Rico Residents Only:

Our company is committed to inclusion, ensuring that candidates can engage in a hiring process that exhibits their true capabilities. Please click here if you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process.

As an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, we provide equal opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.  As a federal contractor, we comply with all affirmative action requirements for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.  For more information about personal rights under the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment laws, visit:

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We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing together, talented, and committed people with diverse experiences, perspectives, skills and backgrounds. The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when people with diverse ideas, broad experiences, backgrounds, and skills come together in an inclusive environment. We encourage our colleagues to respectfully challenge one another’s thinking and approach problems collectively.

Learn more about your rights, including under California, Colorado and other US State Acts

U.S. Hybrid Work Model

Effective September 5, 2023, employees in office-based positions in the U.S. will be working a Hybrid work consisting of three total days on-site per week, Monday - Thursday, although the specific days may vary by site or organization, with Friday designated as a remote-working day, unless business critical tasks require an on-site presence.This Hybrid work model does not apply to, and daily in-person attendance is required for, field-based positions; facility-based, manufacturing-based, or research-based positions where the work to be performed is located at a Company site; positions covered by a collective-bargaining agreement (unless the agreement provides for hybrid work); or any other position for which the Company has determined the job requirements cannot be reasonably met working remotely. Please note, this Hybrid work model guidance also does not apply to roles that have been designated as “remote”.

The salary range for this role is

$187,000.00 - $294,400.00

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, government requirements, and business or organizational needs.

The successful candidate will be eligible for annual bonus and long-term incentive, if applicable.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits.  Available benefits include medical, dental, vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, including 401(k), paid holidays, vacation, and compassionate and sick days. More information about benefits is available at https://jobs.merck.com/us/en/compensation-and-benefits.

You can apply for this role through https://jobs.merck.com/us/en (or via the Workday Jobs Hub if you are a current employee). The application deadline for this position is stated on this posting.

San Francisco Residents Only: We will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance

Los Angeles Residents Only: We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance

Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully 
Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company.  No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails. 

Employee Status:

Regular

Relocation:

No relocation

VISA Sponsorship:

No

Travel Requirements:

10%

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Remote

Shift:

1st - Day

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

N/A

Job Posting End Date:

12/22/2025

*A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.