Cyber Resilience & Security Leader (CISO) — Evergreen

This is a remote position.

Cyber Resilience and Information Security Leader

This Evergreen Career Profile invites senior security leaders to register for consideration for the Rutherford Talent Guild™ and, for fractional work, the Rutherford Talent Clearinghouse™. It is an expression of professional interest in future opportunities, not an advertisement for a current vacancy. Registration is not an application for a specific role, and it does not confer membership or promise a placement.

Organisations now depend on connected systems they do not fully control: corporate networks, cloud services, suppliers with remote access and, in many sectors, the building and operational systems that keep sites running. The cyber resilience leader helps the organisation anticipate, withstand, respond to and recover from disruption. They set sensible standards, prepare people for incidents, give executives a candid view of risk and offer workable alternatives when a proposal carries more risk than it should.

We welcome chief information security officers, heads of cyber security, fractional and virtual security leaders, operational-technology security leaders and senior security professionals preparing for enterprise responsibility. Registration records where you are now; curator review explores where you want to go and the evidence that supports it.

The mandate

The role's centre is resilience: proportionate controls, readiness for incidents, clear communication of risk and the ability to challenge constructively without blocking the business. Security leaders typically set control standards, oversee security operations, lead incident response and recommend whether risks should be accepted. Decisions to accept material risk follow the organisation's authority framework, and independent review of security controls is provided by colleagues or advisers independent of the security function.

Reporting lines vary, and no single structure is assumed to be right. What matters is that significant findings can reach the appropriate leaders and committees, and that exceptions are recorded and revisited.

Representative challenges

• Suppliers maintain remote access to building or operational systems across many sites, with inconsistent controls.
  

• A high-profile initiative is due to launch, and your assessment is that its risk is higher than the business believes.
  

• An incident affects systems that support day-to-day operations, and continuity, safety and containment must be balanced.
  

• The board or a committee asks for a clear account of the organisation's readiness.
  

Representative work

• Setting security standards and control baselines, including for connected building and operational systems where relevant
  

• Leading or overseeing security operations, monitoring and vulnerability management
  

• Preparing and exercising incident response with operations teams and suppliers
  

• Assessing and communicating risk; recommending risk acceptance or mitigation
  

• Managing supplier and third-party security risk
  

• Supporting transaction diligence and post-acquisition remediation where needed
  

Accountability within the mandate

• Accountable work: standards, readiness, the quality and candour of risk advice, and the security operations you lead.
  

• Shared outcomes: controls operated by technology, facilities and supplier teams, and risk decisions taken by the accountable executives.
  

• Outcomes you influence: the organisation's overall resilience, which depends on many people and decisions.
  

Contexts we profile

We profile this function across sectors, with particular attention to real estate investment and operating organisations, where building systems and many facilities suppliers add operational-technology exposure. Security leaders from financial services, logistics, infrastructure, hospitality, healthcare and other multi-site or regulated sectors are equally welcome. We profile the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom first. Size, title and budget are context, not thresholds for registration. Permanent, fractional, interim and advisory arrangements are all in scope and are recorded separately.

What we are asking

The question is not simply whether you could hold a security leadership title. It is whether you have the demonstrated capability, or the assessed potential, to strengthen an organisation's resilience in an appropriate mandate, and what professional development may be needed to get there. Rutherford certifies potential for high performance. That is different from past performance, and different from readiness for a particular role today.

For accepted members, a curator leads the development of a Career Thesis: the organisational problem you are best placed to solve, the environments in which you have shown it, your contribution and authority, the evidence behind it and one development priority. It is not required at registration, and any summary is shared with an organisation only with your consent.

The Rutherford Talent Guild™ and Rutherford Talent Clearinghouse™

The Rutherford Talent Guild™ is for executives pursuing permanent appointments. Rutherford manages a longer-term career relationship: interpreting your assessment alongside your experience, clarifying the mandates in which you can contribute most, identifying development priorities and, where there is a credible fit and under applicable arrangements, introducing you selectively to organisations for specific roles, including through private talent pipelines and Rutherford & Company retained searches. An introduction is an event in the relationship, not the relationship itself.

The Rutherford Talent Clearinghouse™ is a curated roster of independent fractional executives and management consultants. If you work as a fractional or virtual security leader, tell us at registration; that interest is considered under the Clearinghouse's own criteria. Registration for one does not imply membership of both.

How the process works

Registration → initial review → assessment invitation → assessment → curator review → membership decision. Completing the assessment, including any payment associated with it, does not in itself confer membership. Membership carries no promise of introductions, interviews, appointments, engagements or placement.

The RutherfordINTEL Assessment informs our evaluation of potential and leadership style. Present readiness is considered separately through experience, technical capability and the requirements of a specific mandate.

About the RutherfordINTEL Assessment. RutherfordINTEL reports that its assessment predicts performance potential with 85% predictive accuracy. That is a statement about the instrument, not a guarantee or a probability of success for any individual, role or mandate. Your results are always interpreted by a Rutherford curator alongside your experience, achievements and objectives.

What we look for

Evidence before titles. During curation we will explore:

• An incident or near-miss you led or supported, your role in it and what changed afterwards.
  

• A time you challenged a proposal: how you escalated, what alternatives you offered and who made the final decision.
  

• How you set controls that were proportionate to the risk and workable for operations.
  

• Your experience with building, industrial or other operational systems, if any.
  

• How you measured security effectiveness without relying on the absence of reported incidents.
  

• What you were accountable for, what you decided jointly and what you influenced.
  

How we consider your background

• Your title. A CISO title is welcome but not essential. We consider the responsibility you carried.
  

• Credentials. Recognised security certifications are recorded and considered alongside demonstrated capability. None is required for registration.
  

• Length of experience. No fixed minimum applies to this Evergreen profile.
  

• Personality. The RutherfordINTEL Assessment measures 85 personality traits. From these, our research has identified 12 core personality types and 60 hybrid combinations of them: 72 personality types in all. Only a limited few of these correlate with high potential for success in any given role, so personality is an important part of our evaluation. Your results are interpreted by a curator alongside your experience, achievements and objectives, never in isolation.
  

To register

Registration is short: your essential details, your function (Cyber Resilience and Information Security Leader), your sector and your current résumé. A LinkedIn profile is optional, and you do not need a Career Thesis. You will also answer three short written questions. Use an example you handled, or explain the approach you would take. Please do not include confidential or security-sensitive information.

Learn more about Rutherford Talent Solutions™: https://www.rutherfordinternational.com/rutherford-talent-solutions/