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AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together advances in cloud infrastructure, automation and analytics, and software delivery, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation.
At AHEAD, we prioritize creating a culture of belonging, where all perspectives and voices are represented, valued, respected, and heard. We create spaces to empower everyone to speak up, make change, and drive the culture at AHEAD.
We are an equal opportunity employer, and do not discriminate based on an individual's race, national origin, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, marital status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law, whether actual or perceived.
We embrace all candidates that will contribute to the diversification and enrichment of ideas and perspectives at AHEAD.
AHEAD is seeking a seasoned
Principal Consultant (PC)
to anchor our Network Security Advisory practice. In this role, you will operate as a trusted technical authority and engagement leader-embedding with enterprise clients, aligning technology strategies to business outcomes, and guiding multiyear modernization journeys across complex, multicloud environments. You'll collaborate confidently from the Csuite to operations, earning trust through thought leadership, clear communication, and measurable results. You will also mentor small, highperforming teams and ensure delivery excellence across longterm engagements.
WHAT YOU WILL DO:
- Client & Executive Engagement
- Advise senior executives on security strategy, modernization pathways, and multiyear roadmaps that translate risk reduction into business value.
- Distill complex security concepts into outcomes and decisions that resonate with Csuite and senior leadership.
- Lead recurring executive touchpoints-program reviews, steering committees, and health checks-to keep initiatives aligned and accountable.
- Drive engagement momentum by removing roadblocks, orchestrating stakeholders, and ensuring planned outcomes are achieved.
- Engagement & Technical Leadership
- Lead multiworkstream, enterprisescale network security transformations-spanning architectures, migrations, and modernization programs-with an unwavering focus on quality.
- Delegate workstreams to qualified team members enabling scale of delivery.
- Provide hands-on technical guidance developing team capability.
- Architect secure network designs that enable Zero Trust, microsegmentation, secure remote access (VPN/ZTNA), cloud perimeters, and resilient data center security fabrics.
- Establish standards, reusable patterns, and delivery frameworks to drive consistency and scale across the practice.
- Review and approve technical deliverables to ensure alignment with client standards, regulatory frameworks, and best practices.
- Sales Enablement & Business Development
- Partner closely with account teams on strategic security campaigns-assisting with presales activities such as scoping, and solution strategy to win and expand business.
- Identify and close followon services within existing accounts through credibility, relationships, and demonstrable impact.
- Contribute proactive pipeline insights and opportunity identification to support accurate forecasting.
- Practice & Thought Leadership
- Develop methodologies, tooling, and processes that improve the efficiency and repeatability of our Network Security practice.
- Produce thought leadership-whitepapers, blogs, reference architectures, conference presentations-and represent AHEAD in public forums.
- Support talent acquisition, interviewing, and onboarding of senior network security engineers; mentor and elevate the team.
- Represent the practice in crosspractice initiatives, partner alliances, and industry events to strengthen our market position.
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Required
- 10+ years leading largescale network security projects or modernization programs with multitechnology, crossfunctional teams.
- Proven track record delivering endtoend enterprise network security transformations in large, complex environments.
- Deep expertise with nextgeneration firewalls, Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), Network Access Control (NAC), and enterprise security architectures.
- Strong knowledge of modern security frameworks and practices (Zero Trust, NIST CSF, CIS, MITRE ATT&CK).
- Familiarity with compliance and security standards (e.g., HIPAA, PCI, FedRAMP).
- Demonstrated ability to lead and mentor engineering teams, drive execution and technical excellence.
- Documented history of exceeding performance goals and contributing meaningfully to practice and business success.
- Ability to generate new services opportunities during engagements and expand existing accounts.
- Strong partner alignment experience-collaborating with account teams, OEMs, and internal resources.
- Recognized as an expert and engagement leader; sought for complex or sensitive client situations.
- Experience authoring highimpact proposals, SOWs, whitepapers, or external technical content; excellent communication skills for both technical teams and executives.
- Deep handson expertise architecting and implementing two or more of: Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler, Aruba ClearPass, AlgoSec/Tufin.
- Preferred
- Experience in health care and life sciences; familiarity with HIPAA.
- Cloudnative security (Azure preferred).
- Enterprisescale firewall migrations.
- SDWAN and SASE/SSE platforms; microsegmentation approaches and technologies.
- Network detection & response; threat intelligence integrations.
- Prior experience as technical escalation lead for multiyear programs or managed security environments.
- Certifications such as PCNSE, CCNP/CCIE Security, Fortinet NSE 7/8, AWS/Azure Security, CISSP/CCSP (or equivalent).
- Oversight, coaching, and mentoring of teams.
Why AHEAD:
Through our daily work and internal groups like Moving Women AHEAD and RISE AHEAD, we value and benefit from diversity of people, ideas, experience, and everything in between.
We fuel growth by stacking our office with top-notch technologies in a multi-million-dollar lab, by encouraging cross department training and development, sponsoring certifications and credentials for continued learning.
USA Employment Benefits include:
- Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
- 401(k)
- Paid company holidays
- Paid time off
- Paid parental and caregiver leave
- Plus more! See benefits https://www.aheadbenefits.com/
for additional details.
The compensation range indicated in this posting reflects the On-Target Earnings ("OTE") for this role, which includes a base salary and any applicable target bonus amount. This OTE range may vary based on the candidate's relevant experience, qualifications, and geographic location.
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AHEAD
vision insurance, paid time off, 401(k)
Jan 23, 2026