Associate Defenders

Associate Defenders are experienced people. This role is for professionals with years of real work behind them, the kind who have done the job when it counted.

If you are still building that experience, keep an eye on us. We have an apprenticeship scheme coming soon. Our founder, Dan, personally brings people from outside the traditional route into the practice. This role is a different one.

Who we are:

DTN Advisory (DTNA) is an intelligence led cybersecurity and resilience practice HQ in Singapore, working with technology, business and security leaders across APJ. Our work runs across financial services, maritime, healthcare and industrial sectors.

We are a small, close team. We like each other, we like the work and we do it because we want the world to be a safer place. Unfashionably sincere, but there it is.

We call our people Associate Defenders the DNA of DTNA. We have projects to deliver and we are adding to the bench.

Who this is for:

People who have been in the hot seat. You have taken the 3am call and you were the one who had to decide. You have delivered under pressure, with half the facts, while someone senior waited for an answer you did not have yet. You stay calm when it gets hot and you understand why the simple fix is rarely simple.

You are intelligence led in the real sense. Your decisions start with what the threat is actually doing, not with what is next on the checklist.

You teach as you go. A client's team should need us less at the end than at the start.

You do not do office politics. If your first instinct in a meeting is to work out who gets the credit, you will not enjoy us and we will not enjoy you.

Who this is not for:

Commentators. Theory people. Anyone whose experience lives mostly in slides. If your best incident story is one you read about, this is not your kitchen.

Where we need you:

Security operations leaders. You have built or run a SOC and can tell a client plainly what to fix first.

• Threat intelligence professionals. You can do the analysis yourself and build the programme around it. Both, not one or the other.

• DFIR professionals. You have led real investigations and you can take apart malware nobody has written up yet. We use that depth to test, exercise and train client response teams and to run reviews after an incident.

• AI security practitioners. You have secured or assessed AI systems that real people depend on. You can explain the risk to a board without the hype.

• OT and industrial security people. You have worked on plant, vessel or hospital systems where availability and safety come first.

• Cloud security engineers. You have secured real cloud estates, not just audited them. You can read a configuration and say what will hurt.

• Policy and strategy people. You have written policy, standards or sector strategy for a regulator, a government body or a regulated institution. It survived contact with the people who had to follow it. You are comfortable in markets where the rulebook is still being written.

• Programme and client leads. You can hold a client relationship at executive level and run delivery in the room, in person.

Languages spoken across APJ are a plus, because some of our clients work in them.

How it works:

DTNA is built around engagements. Right now that means independent contract work, paid per engagement, with scope, duration and day rate agreed before you start. It is not salaried employment.

Some engagements are short. Some run for many months.

As the pipeline grows we may bring Associate Defenders on full time. Where we do, we may also look at visa sponsorship, depending on the work and where you are based.

We look first for people based in the countries where we work. Knowing how a country really runs, its regulators, its institutions and its habits, is one of the most important things in resilience work.

Most of our work is remote. Our policy, though, is humans over pixels. When it matters we show up in person, so the ability to travel is essential.

You need the right to take on contract work in the country you live in. If you are employed elsewhere, you need your employer's agreement first. Some projects require background checks and client vetting. Expect an NDA before we share detail.

We do not put client names or project detail in an advert. You will get the specifics when we speak.

How to apply:

Apply here, then email defendwithus@dtnadvisory.com with the subject Associate Defender. CVs come second. Tell us four things.

1. Your discipline, where you are based and when you are free.
2. Your public work. Link what you have put into the world: papers, analysis, talks, code repositories, a blog, professional social media. Our founder writes on Substack and reads what people send. We know some very good people keep a very small public profile. If that is you, send us something you wrote.
3. Your letters. If you have certifications after your name, list them. Some of our compliance requirements ask for them. They help. They are not the point.
4. The moment that left a mark. Tell us about the hardest situation of your career and what you did about it. A few lines is plenty. No names and nothing confidential. We care about what you did, not who it happened to.

We read everything and we will come back to the people who fit.

Your information:

We use what you send only to consider you for DTNA projects. We keep it on file for that purpose and we do not pass it to anyone outside DTNA without asking you first. To see it, correct it or have it deleted, email privacy@dtnadvisory.com.

Fair opportunity:

We choose people on merit: skills, experience and the ability to do the work. Nothing else comes into it. If you need something adjusted in how you apply or how you work with us, tell us. We will sort it.

We welcome people from every background. Veterans and neurodivergent people are welcome here and supported. So are people who came up the long way round. Different routes in, different skills and different ways of thinking are what make this bench strong.