Director of Security Operations

INSPIRE | EXHILARATE | DELIGHT

For over seven decades, Chalhoub Group has been a partner and creator of luxury experiences in the Middle East. In its pursuit to excel as a hybrid luxury retailer, the Group has curated a portfolio of over 10 owned brands and strengthened its distribution and marketing expertise for over 400 international names across luxury fashion, beauty, jewellery, watches, eyewear, and art de vivre categories.

Every step at Chalhoub Group is taken to build a future where luxury dreams become reality — bridging cultures and crafting memorable experiences for our consumers. Be it by constantly reinventing itself, committing to innovation, or embracing new technologies, the Group is shaping the future of luxury retail. It delivers seamless omnichannel experiences across more than 950 stores, online platforms, and mobile apps. Driving this innovation journey is The Greenhouse — the Group’s innovation hub, incubator, and accelerator for startups and emerging businesses, regionally and globally.

The Director of Security Operations is a senior cybersecurity leader responsible for managing the Group’s global Security Operations function, ensuring the resilience, visibility, and threat protection of Chalhoub’s enterprise IT, OT, cloud, and digital infrastructure. This role leads 24/7 monitoring, threat detection, incident response, vulnerability management, and cyber defence programs across retail, e-commerce, distribution, and back-office platforms.

Reporting to the VP Information Security, this role acts as the technical heartbeat of Chalhoub’s security defence, driving operational excellence, maturing threat capabilities, and ensuring proactive protection across a complex multinational landscape.

What you'll be doing:  

Security Operations Center (SOC) Leadership

•  Lead the strategic and operational management of Chalhoub’s 24x7 global Security Operations Center, including shift coverage, metrics, and escalation processes.
• Develop SOC maturity roadmap, integrating SIEM, SOAR, UEBA, EDR, and XDR technologies.
• Ensure tight SLAs for threat detection, triage, investigation, and response.

Threat Detection, Monitoring & Intelligence 

• Oversee advanced threat detection and real-time monitoring across all enterprise layers: on-prem, cloud (Azure, AWS, GCP), networks, endpoints, and applications.

Establish a formal Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) function 

• leveraging internal telemetry and external intel (e.g., ISACs, vendors, national CERTs).
• Regularly produce threat landscape reports for executive leadership and risk committees.

Incident Response & Crisis Management 

• Lead Chalhoub’s cyber incident response program, including playbooks, runbooks, escalation paths, and digital forensics.
• Coordinate major incident handling in collaboration with Legal, Risk, and Communications.
• Conduct tabletop exercises with business and technology leaders to test readiness.

Vulnerability & Exposure Management 

• Manage vulnerability scanning, patch validation, and risk-based remediation across all tech environments.
• Partner with IT Operations, DevOps, and Product teams to embed security into release cycles.
• Produce and socialize prioritized vulnerability reports and KPIs to leadership.

MSSP & Vendor Oversight 

• Oversee all outsourced security operations and threat detection services (MSSPs).
• Define and manage performance metrics, SLAs, and continuous improvement plans.
• Drive contract negotiations, compliance assurance, and scope optimization.
• Tooling, Automation & Integration - Maximize efficiency through SOAR playbooks, API integrations, and automation pipelines for investigation and containment.
• Evaluate and implement emerging defense technologies that enhance threat detection and response capabilities.

Reporting, Metrics & Continuous Improvement 

• Deliver weekly/monthly operational dashboards on SOC performance, incidents, threat trends, and SLAs.
• Drive maturity assessments using frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK, NIST CSF, and CMMI.
• Lead regular post-incident reviews and lessons-learned workshops.

What you’ll need to succeed  

• 10–15 years of progressive experience in cybersecurity, with at least 5 years leading Security Operations in a regional or global enterprise.
• Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity, Information Systems, Engineering, or equivalent.
• Advanced degree (MBA, MS InfoSec) preferred.
• Relevant certifications (minimum 2): GCIH, GCIA, CISSP, CISM, CEH, OSCP, or equivalent.
• Demonstrated expertise in managing 24x7 SOCs, cloud security operations, and incident response at scale.
• Industry exposure in retail, e-commerce, luxury, or fast-paced B2C environments is highly preferred.

What we can offer you  

With us, you will turn your aspirations into reality.  We will help shape your journey through enriching experiences, learning and development opportunities and exposure to different assignments within your role or through internal mobility. Our Group offers diverse career paths for those who are extraordinary, every day.  

We recognise the value that you bring, and we strive to provide a competitive benefits package which includes health care, child education contribution, remote and flexible working policies as well as exclusive employee discounts.  

We Invite All Applicants to Apply

It Takes Diversity Of Thought, Culture, Background, Differing Abilities and Perspectives to truly Inspire, Exhilarate and Delight our customers. At Chalhoub Group, we are committed to inclusion and diversity.

We welcome all applicants to apply and be part of our exciting future. We ensure equal opportunity for all our applicants without regard to gender, age, race, religion, national origin or disability status.