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Virtual Ciso Jobs in Spring, TX (NOW HIRING)

Virtual Ciso information

See Spring, TX salary details

$10

$21

$30

How much do virtual ciso jobs pay per hour?

As of Jul 16, 2026, the average hourly pay for virtual ciso in Spring, TX is $21.71, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $18.17 and $24.38 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

Can a CISO work remotely?

A Virtual CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) can work remotely, as many organizations hire CISOs to oversee cybersecurity strategies from outside the physical office. Remote work for CISOs often requires strong communication skills, relevant certifications, and familiarity with security tools and policies to effectively manage cybersecurity risks from a distance.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Virtual CISO, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Virtual CISO, you need deep expertise in information security frameworks, risk management, and regulatory compliance, typically backed by a degree in cybersecurity or IT and certifications like CISSP or CISM. Familiarity with security assessment tools, SIEM systems, and governance platforms is essential. Outstanding communication, leadership, and strategic thinking set top performers apart in this remote advisory role. These skills and qualities are vital to effectively protect organizations, align security initiatives with business goals, and build trust with stakeholders.

What is a Virtual CISO?

A Virtual Chief Information Security Officer (Virtual CISO or vCISO) is an experienced cybersecurity professional who provides leadership and strategic guidance on information security, but works for an organization on a part-time, contract, or as-needed basis. This allows companies to benefit from high-level security expertise without the cost of hiring a full-time executive. vCISOs help businesses assess risks, develop security policies, ensure regulatory compliance, and respond to cybersecurity incidents. They are particularly valuable for small to mid-sized organizations that may not have the resources for a dedicated CISO.

Can you make $500,000 a year in cyber security?

A Virtual CISO or senior cybersecurity executive can potentially earn $500,000 or more annually, especially with extensive experience, advanced certifications like CISSP or CISM, and working for large organizations or consulting firms. High-level roles often involve strategic oversight, leadership, and specialized skills, which can command top-tier salaries in the cybersecurity field.

How do you become a virtual CISO?

To become a virtual CISO, professionals typically need extensive experience in cybersecurity, often 5 or more years, along with strong knowledge of risk management, compliance, and security frameworks. Earning relevant certifications such as CISSP, CISM, or CISA can enhance credibility, and developing skills in security strategy, leadership, and communication is essential for providing strategic guidance remotely.

How much does a virtual CISO make?

A virtual CISO typically earns between $100,000 and $250,000 annually, depending on experience, industry, and organization size. Compensation may include benefits such as certifications (e.g., CISSP) and flexible remote work arrangements.

How does a Virtual CISO typically collaborate with internal IT teams and executive leadership?

A Virtual CISO (vCISO) works closely with internal IT staff to assess current security protocols, identify gaps, and implement best practices. They also serve as a bridge between technical teams and executive leadership by translating complex security risks into clear business terms and providing strategic recommendations. Regular meetings, clear reporting structures, and tailored security training sessions are common ways vCISOs ensure that both technical and non-technical stakeholders are aligned on cybersecurity priorities. This collaborative approach helps organizations integrate security into business decisions and maintain regulatory compliance.

What Does a Virtual CISO Do?

A virtual chief information security officer (vCISO) is a position that allows you to work from home while handling the responsibilities of data organization and protection. In this role, you manage a company’s cybersecurity and ensure compliance with industry regulations. Your duties include reviewing the strategy and business design of an organization, performing threat analysis, providing risk assessment and management, and testing company systems. You may also forecast future security challenges, collaborate with engineering teams, identify and treat any breaches or incidents within the system, and provide service for end-users. You may work in a staff role for a company or contract with clients in a freelance position.

What is the difference between Virtual Ciso vs Security Analyst?

AspectVirtual CisoSecurity Analyst
CertificationsCISSP, CISM, CISACompTIA Security+, CISSP (preferred), GIAC
Work EnvironmentStrategic, executive-level, remote or onsiteOperational, technical, primarily onsite or remote
Employer & Industry UsageOrganizations seeking cybersecurity leadershipOrganizations monitoring security threats and incidents

The Virtual Ciso focuses on strategic cybersecurity leadership, policy development, and risk management at an executive level. In contrast, a Security Analyst handles technical security monitoring, threat detection, and incident response. While both roles require cybersecurity certifications, the Virtual Ciso operates at a higher strategic level, often working remotely for multiple clients or organizations, whereas Security Analysts are more hands-on with daily security operations.

What are the most commonly searched types of Ciso jobs in Spring, TX? The most popular types of Ciso jobs in Spring, TX are:
What are popular job titles related to Virtual Ciso jobs in Spring, TX? For Virtual Ciso jobs in Spring, TX, the most frequently searched job titles are:
What job categories do people searching Virtual Ciso jobs in Spring, TX look for? The top searched job categories for Virtual Ciso jobs in Spring, TX are:
What cities near Spring, TX are hiring for Virtual Ciso jobs? Cities near Spring, TX with the most Virtual Ciso job openings:
Infographic showing various Virtual Ciso job openings in Spring, TX as of July 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% Locum Tenens, 3% Internship, 46% As Needed, 40% Full Time, 6% Part Time, and 4% Nights. Highlights an 76% Physical, 5% Hybrid, and 19% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $45,161 per year, or $21.7 per hour.
Manager, Network Engineering

Manager, Network Engineering

Crescent Energy

Houston, TX • On-site

Full-time

Re-posted 10 days ago


Job description

Crescent is a differentiated U.S. energy company committed to delivering value through a disciplined, returns-driven growth through acquisition strategy and consistent return of capital. Our long-life, balanced portfolio combines stable cash flows from low-decline production with a deep, high-quality development inventory.
Crescent is a top three producer (by gross operated production) in the Eagle Ford basin. Crescent's leadership is an experienced team of investment, financial and industry professionals that combines proven investment and operating expertise. For more than a decade, Crescent and our predecessors have executed on a consistent strategy focused on cash flow, risk management and returns. Through disciplined and accretive investments, we have successfully tripled the size of our company since going public in December 2021 while maintaining a strong balance sheet.
We are seeking a highly capable Manager, Network Engineering to lead the design, operation, modernization, and reliability of Crescent Energy's enterprise and operational technology network environment. This is a hands-on leadership role responsible for the network infrastructure that connects corporate offices, field operations, production sites, tower locations, operational technology environments, and Microsoft Azure.
Crescent Energy operates a large, distributed oil and gas environment with thousands of wells, dozens of operational sites, and more than 100 tower locations across field areas. The network is a critical operational backbone connecting field assets, OT systems, enterprise services, and cloud platforms. The successful candidate must be equally comfortable leading people, setting technical direction, troubleshooting complex issues, and building a disciplined, secure, well-documented network operating model.
Crescent is an enterprise Fortinet environment. This leader must bring strong hands-on and architectural experience with Fortinet firewalls, switches, routers, SD-WAN, VPN, routing, and centralized management. While the CISO organization owns cybersecurity governance and security operations, the Network Engineering team is responsible for the engineering, configuration, operation, and lifecycle management of network and firewall infrastructure. The ideal candidate will also bring deep experience with operational technology connectivity, remote field communications, tower-based networks, hybrid cloud networking, and Microsoft Azure networking. This role requires a leader who can support today's operations while building the standards, automation, monitoring, documentation, and engineering discipline required for Crescent's continued growth.
Key Responsibilities
• Lead the Network Engineering function responsible for enterprise, field, OT, tower, and cloud-connected networking environments.
• Manage, mentor, and develop network engineering resources while maintaining a strong hands-on technical presence.
• Own the design, deployment, operation, documentation, and lifecycle management of Crescent's Fortinet-based network infrastructure.
• Engineer and support Fortinet firewalls, switches, routers, VPNs, SD-WAN, routing policies, security zones, segmentation, and centralized management platforms.
• Partner with the CISO organization to ensure firewall and network infrastructure configurations align with security policies, risk requirements, audit expectations, and enterprise standards.
• Design and support reliable connectivity for oilfield operations, including wells, production sites, tower locations, SCADA/OT environments, field networks, and remote communications infrastructure.
• Lead the architecture and support of OT network segmentation, secure remote access, field connectivity, and resilientcommunications paths between operational sites and corporate/cloud environments.
• Support and mature Azure networking capabilities, including hub-and-spoke network design, virtual networks, routing, private connectivity, VPN/ExpressRoute, DNS, network security controls, and integration between field networks and Azure-hosted services.
• Establish and enforce network standards, configuration baselines, documentation requirements, change control practices, and operational procedures.
• Drive continuous improvement in network reliability, observability, capacity planning, monitoring, alerting, and incident response readiness.
• Troubleshoot complex network, firewall, routing, SD-WAN, OT connectivity, and cloud networking issues through to resolution.
• Coordinate with field operations, SCADA/OT teams, infrastructure teams, security teams, application teams, service providers, and vendors to deliver stable and secure connectivity.
• Lead network modernization efforts, including standardization of inherited environments, technical debt reduction, field network optimization, and improved cloud connectivity.
• Participate in architecture reviews, project planning, vendor evaluations, infrastructure roadmaps, and M&A integration activities as needed.
• Maintain accurate network diagrams, firewall rule documentation, IP addressing standards, routing documentation, site connectivity records, and operational runbooks.
• Ensure network designs support business continuity, operational uptime, safety, cybersecurity expectations, and scalable growth.
Qualifications Required
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of progressive experience in network engineering, infrastructure engineering, or related roles.
• 3+ years of experience leading engineers, managing technical teams, or acting as a senior technical lead with people leadership responsibilities.
• Deep hands-on experience with Fortinet technologies, including FortiGate firewalls, FortiSwitch, FortiRouter or Fortinet routing capabilities, FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer, VPN, SD-WAN, segmentation, and firewall policy
management.
• Strong experience supporting distributed enterprise networks across offices, remote sites, field operations, and hybrid environments.
• Strong knowledge of routing, switching, firewalling, SD-WAN, VPN, NAT, VLANs, QoS, DNS, DHCP, IP addressing, subnetting, and network segmentation.
• Strong operational technology networking experience, including connectivity for SCADA, field systems, industrial networks, production locations, or comparable OT environments.
• Experience with tower-based, wireless, microwave, point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, LTE/private wireless, or other remote field connectivity models.
• Strong Microsoft Azure networking experience, including virtual networks, peering, routing, VPN gateways, ExpressRoute or private connectivity, private endpoints, DNS, NSGs, Azure Firewall or equivalent controls, and hybrid network patterns.
• Experience managing network change control, configuration standards, monitoring, incident response, vendor coordination, and lifecycle management.
• Ability to balance security requirements with operational continuity in a production-oriented environment.
• Strong troubleshooting skills across enterprise, cloud, firewall, routing, and OT connectivity layers.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical issues to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to operate with urgency, ownership, and sound judgment in an environment where network availability directly impacts field operations.
• Travel to field sites required (~30%), including operational sites, tower locations, and remote field environments.
Preferred
• Prior experience in oil and gas, energy, utilities, industrial, or other field-heavy operating environments.
• Experience supporting networks for upstream or midstream oil and gas operations, including wells, production facilities, field
• Experience integrating acquired networks, rationalizing inherited infrastructure, and standardizing environments after M&A activity.
• Experience with Azure landing zones, hub-and-spoke architectures, cloud security patterns, and enterprise-scale hybrid connectivity.
• Experience with infrastructure monitoring and observability tools such as Auvik, Datadog, FortiAnalyzer, SolarWinds, PRTG, or similar platforms.
• Experience with network automation, Infrastructure as Code, scripting, or configuration management tools.
• Familiarity with NERC/CIP-style controls, industrial cybersecurity frameworks, or OT security best practices.
• Fortinet certifications such as FCP, FCSS, or equivalent Fortinet NSE certifications.
• Microsoft Azure certifications such as Azure Network Engineer Associate or Azure Solutions Architect Expert.
Key Skills
• Fortinet Firewalls, Switches, Routers, SD-WAN, and VPN
• FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer
• Enterprise Routing and Switching
• Firewall Policy Management and Network Segmentation
• OT / SCADA / Industrial Network Connectivity
• Field Networks, Towers, Wireless, and Remote Communications
• Microsoft Azure Networking / Hybrid Cloud Connectivity
• Network Reliability, Monitoring, and Observability
• Change Control and Configuration Standards
• Vendor and Service Provider Management
• Incident Troubleshooting and Root Cause Analysis
• Team Leadership and Technical Mentorship
• Cross-Functional Collaboration with Security, OT, Cloud, and Operations Teams
Leadership Expectations
The Manager, Network Engineering is expected to be more than a ticket escalator or administrative manager. This leader must set standards, create clarity, improve engineering discipline, and build trust with business, field, OT, security, and infrastructure stakeholders. The successful candidate will:
  • Lead from both technical depth and operational ownership.
  • Build a network engineering culture focused on stability, documentation, standardization, and continuous improvement.
  • Establish clear guardrails for firewall and network changes while working constructively with cybersecurity leadership.
  • Improve visibility into the health, risk, and performance of Crescent's network environment.
  • Develop engineers and raise the overall maturity of the team.
  • Help build a scalable network platform that supports Crescent's growth, acquisitions, field operations, and Azure-firsttechnology strategy.

Why Join Us?
• Lead a mission-critical network environment supporting large-scale oil and gas operations.
• Work in an enterprise Fortinet environment with meaningful ownership across firewalls, switching, routing, SD-WAN, OT connectivity, and cloud networking.
• Play a key role in connecting field operations, production systems, enterprise services, and Azure platforms.
• Influence the future-state network architecture for a growing, acquisition-oriented energy company.
• Join a leadership team focused on modernization, operational discipline, reliability, and business impact.
• Competitive compensation, benefits, and career growth opportunities.
Crescent Energy is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender/pregnancy, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status or any other legally protected status. Crescent Energy is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status. If you require accommodation to complete the application process, please let us know by contacting recruitment@crescentenergyco.com.