IT PROFESSIONAL 4 - INFORMATION SECURITY AND CYBER DEFENSE

***THIS RECRUITMENT MAY CLOSE WITHOUT FURTHER NOTICE DEPENDING ON THE NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS RECEIVED. APPLICANTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE***

Job Summary

This non-supervisory position is located in Carson City or Las Vegas within the Governor’s Office of Technology, Office of Information Security and Cyber Defense. The State is seeking an intellectually curious and highly skilled Penetration Tester to join its information security team. In this role, the incumbent will perform authorized, ethical hacking to identify and exploit vulnerabilities across the State’s digital infrastructure, including web applications, cloud environments, and internal networks. The goal is to proactively uncover weaknesses and provide actionable remediation strategies to strengthen the State’s overall security posture. The incumbent will plan, design, and execute penetration tests to evaluate the effectiveness of existing security controls. This position ensures all testing activities align with industry standards such as OWASP, PTES, and NIST, while also supporting compliance with regulatory frameworks including CIS, CJIS, PCI-DSS, and HIPAA. Responsibilities include preparing clear and comprehensive security briefings and reports, documenting findings, and presenting recommendations to both management and technical teams. The incumbent will collaborate closely with IT and development teams to guide the remediation or mitigation of identified vulnerabilities. Additionally, this role involves developing custom scripts or tools to enhance testing capabilities and automate workflows.

Information Technology (IT) Professionals analyze, develop, implement, maintain, and modify computer operations, systems, networks, databases, applications, and/or information security. Incumbents may perform duties in one or more IT specialization areas depending on the needs of the agency.

Essential Qualifications

Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in computer science, management information systems, or closely related field and five years of professional IT experience relevant to the duties of the position which may include systems administration, network administration, database administration, applications analysis and development, and/or information security, two years of which were at the advanced journey level or in a supervisory or project management capacity; OR Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in computer science, management information systems, or closely related field and five years of professional IT experience which may include systems administration, network administration, database administration, applications analysis and development, and/or information security, relevant to the duties of the position, two years of which were at the journey level in information security; OR two years of relevant experience as an IT Professional III in Nevada State service; OR an equivalent combination of education and experience as described above.

Job Duties

Conduct detailed alternative analyses and determine end-user requirements through consultation with end-users, technicians, vendors, management, and others.

Maintain documentation related to the assigned IT specialization’s architecture, operations, and other records of work activities as required.

Maintain current knowledge of technological trends and advancements in the IT field as well as security management practices, laws, policies, and ethics.

Participate in recommending and justifying resource allocations and expenditure decisions, tracking, and recording expenditures, preparing purchase requests, and writing technical requirements for grant proposals.

Perform related duties as assigned.

Under administrative direction, incumbents either: 1) perform duties described at this level and supervise at least one IT Professional III or II or Master IT Professional; or 2) perform duties described at this level within the Governors Technology Office (GTO), Division for enterprise- level IT systems utilized by multiple departments; or 3) perform IT project management a preponderance of the time to include serving as the project leader; planning, organizing, and directing project activities; resolving design conflicts; data administration; resource allocation; contract negotiation; timeline development; critical path tracking; justifying the need for additional resources; and coordinating activities with other work units within and outside the organization as assigned; or 4) perform Information Security duties described at this level with at least 70% of the daily activities devoted solely to information security; or 5) perform technology planning and consultation duties within GTO. Technology planning and consultation duties include providing and/or performing: initial contact with agencies to assess their needs and develop their information technology plans; technical support for the Request for Proposal (RFP) process and software and hardware evaluations; guidance and technical assistance in completing appropriate Information Technology (IT) budget request forms; recommendations for feasible and cost effective technical solutions to customer agencies and reviewing agency IT project requests; research, information, testing and training for IT related issues to ensure viable, cost effective technology implementation; and enterprise-wide planning, policy and research.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

This job specification lists the major knowledge, skills and abilities of the job and is not all inclusive. Incumbent(s) will be expected to have knowledge, skills and abilities from a previous level.

Information Security:
Working knowledge of: current principles, theories, practices and procedures related to information security management; five of the ten information security domains; general-purpose security controls; current information security trends and technologies; strategic planning and project management at the division/work unit level; policy development and implementation; methods and techniques used to safeguard against accidental or unauthorized modification, destruction or disclosure of data to meet security needs; interagency business practices and principles.

Ability to: identify complex information security risks, vulnerabilities and problems; select the best course of mitigation actions for security issues; assess the security and/or vulnerability of information assets to assist in developing a risk assessment of multiple security domains; assess costs and present alternatives for the assigned area of responsibility; analyze data, solve problems and make appropriate decisions within five of the ten domains; design appropriate solutions to complex security problems.

RECRUITER CONTACT INFORMATION: Jon Terrazas at j.terrazas@admin.nv.gov

The State of Nevada is an equal opportunity employer dedicated to building diverse, inclusive, and innovative work environments with employees who reflect our communities and enthusiastically serve them. All applicants are considered without regard to race, color, national origin, religion or belief, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, domestic partnership, genetic information (GINA), or compensation and/or wages.

Please send direct Inquiries or correspondence to the recruiter listed on this announcement.

Benefits include:

• Health Insurance: Medical, dental, life, and disability insurance programs for employees and their dependents/family are offered through the Public Employees’ Benefits Program (PEBP) .
  
• Vacation: Accrual of three weeks of annual leave each year.
  
• Sick Leave: Accrual of three weeks of sick leave each year.
  
• Holidays: 12 paid holidays per year.
  
• Retirement: Participation in the Nevada Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) . Employees do not contribute to Social Security but will contribute to PERS if their position is at 50% or more full-time equivalency. For more information on how PERS service may impact Social Security benefits, visit the SSA publication .
  
• Deferred Compensation: The State offers a voluntary Deferred Compensation Program .
  
• No Nevada state income tax.
  
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness: Eligible due to public sector employment.
  
• Longevity Payments Eligibility: Employees who have received a performance rating of “standard” or better and have completed eight (8) or more years of continuous service are eligible for longevity pay.
  

Additional benefits may apply to employees covered under a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), depending on their designated bargaining unit. For more information, visit the Labor Relations Unit (LRU) .

For more details about your rights and responsibilities as a State of Nevada employee, please review the State of Nevada Employee Handbook (PDF) .

*** State Holidays The holiday schedule for State employees is established by the Legislature.

The following are legal holidays:

January 1.............................................. New Year's Day

Third Monday in January.................. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday

Third Monday in February................ Washington’s Birthday

Last Monday in May........................... Memorial Day

June 19................................................ Juneteenth Day

July 4.................................................... Independence Day

First Monday in September.............. Labor Day

Last Friday in October....................... Nevada Day

November 11........................................ Veterans' Day

Fourth Thursday in November........ Thanksgiving Day

Friday following the Fourth Thursday in November...................... Family Day

December 25........................................ Christmas Day

When January 1, June 19, July 4, November 11, or December 25 falls on a Saturday, the preceding Friday is the observed legal holiday. If these days fall on Sunday, the following Monday is the observed holiday. Eligibility for holiday pay is covered by the provisions of NAC 284.255

Closing Date/Time: 3/31/2026 11:59 PM Pacific

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• STATE OF NEVADA

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