Associate Director, Security Programs & Assurance

Your Impact

As the Associate Director, Security Programs & Assurance based in our HQ in Melbourne, you will report to the Director, Security and work closely with various teams and leadership across the Asia Pacific region and beyond, making your mark in a number of ways:

• Lead the governance, quality assurance, and continuous improvement of all AirTrunk data centre physical security designs across the project lifecycle.
• Be the primary authority for data centre security design assurance, providing oversight and challenge to internal teams, consultants, contractors, and technology vendors to ensure data centre security designs consistently meet AirTrunk standards, customer requirements, regulatory obligations, and industry best practices.
• Establish and maintain a robust security design review framework, ensuring that all physical security systems, components, and operational security requirements are effectively embedded into new builds, expansions, and major upgrade projects.

What You'll Do 

Security Design Quality Assurance

• Develop, implement, and maintain security design governance frameworks, standards, and review processes.
• Conduct formal design reviews and assurance activities at key project milestones, including, Master Planning, Concept Design, Schematic Design, Detailed Design, Construction Documentation, Commissioning and Handover.
• Ensure all security designs align with AirTrunk security standards, operational requirements, customer commitments, and applicable regulations.
• Identify design deficiencies, risks, or gaps and drive remediation actions with stakeholders.
• Review and approve proposed changes to security designs throughout project delivery and assess the operational, commercial and security impacts of these changes.
• Provide formal security design acceptance recommendations and approval support.

Security-by-Design Leadership

• Act as the accountable subject matter expert and leader for all physical security data centre security designs and threat vulnerability risk assessments.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend design enhancements that improve security effectiveness, resilience, and operational efficiency.
• Ensure security considerations are incorporated into campus master planning and future growth strategies.
• Coach and mentor team members and build organisational capability in security design assurance.

Technical Security Oversight

• Provide technical assurance leadership to a group of regional Security Program Managers across all physical security domains, including, Access Control Systems, Video Surveillance Systems (CCTV), Perimeter Detection Systems, Intrusion Detection Systems, Security Operations Centre integrations, Security Communications Systems, Visitor Management Systems, Identity Management integrations, Control Room Design, Critical Infrastructure Protection requirements.
• Define lifecycle replacement strategies for security technologies to ensure resilience, supportability and alignment with business requirements.
• Evaluate product obsolescence and develop upgrade strategies.
• Document security maintenance specifications and support regional security integrator tenders as a technical SME lead.

Cyber security integration for physical security platforms.

• Ensure security systems support scalability, cyber resilience and operational supportability and comply with AirTrunk cyber security requirements.
• Collaborate with Cyber Security teams to manage vulnerabilities, hardening standards and secure system configurations.

Program and Stakeholder Management

• Partner with Development, Design, Construction, ICT, Operations, Risk, and Customer Solutions teams to ensure consistent application of security standards.
• Manage global relationships with security consultants, architects, engineers, integrators, and technology vendors..

• Prepare reports, recommendations and strategic updates for Executive Leadership on security design risks, emerging threats and portfolio performance.

• Influence decision-making across multiple stakeholders and project teams throughout the project lifecycle.

Standards and Compliance

• Maintain AirTrunk security standards, specifications, and technical guidelines.
• Monitor industry trends, emerging threats, and best practices to continuously improve design standards.
• Ensure compliance with customer security requirements, internal governance frameworks, applicable legislation and regulations, industry standards and security frameworks.
• Support internal and external audits as required, including Australian Government security audits.

Continuous Improvement

• Establish metrics and performance indicators for security design quality.
• Conduct post-project reviews and lessons-learned activities.
• Drive standardisation and repeatability across AirTrunk's global portfolio.
• Lead initiatives to improve security design maturity, efficiency, and resilience

Operational readiness and transition to business-as-usual

• Assist operational readiness reviews for security systems prior to handover.
• Assist to ensure operational documentation, training, maintenance strategies and support models are established before project completion.

Customer Engagement

• Translate customer security needs into actionable design requirements for colocation, build to suit and fit to suit customer security standards.
• Participate in customer negotiations and presentations, representing AirTrunk Security on matters including physical security and design expectations.
• Support the development of Statements of Qualifications (SOQs), RFP responses, and other tender submissions, ensuring the security narrative is clear, accurate, and satisfactory for AirTrunks customers.
• Assist with customer contract reviews to ensure security clauses meet AirTrunk standards and regional compliance requirements.

What You'll Bring

• 10+years in physical security, security engineering, critical infrastructure, or data centre environments.
• Tertiary and/or industry qualifications in security or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience reviewing and approving complex physical security designs.
• In-depth knowledge of security risk management strategies and processes, including security threat vulnerability risk assessment.
• Strong knowledge of enterprise physical security systems and technologies.
• Experience managing external design consultants and system integrators.
• Strong understanding of project delivery and design management methodologies.
• Competent written, verbal and data presentation skills in English.
• Well-developed communication, collaboration, influence and conflict resolution skills.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced changing environment and work effectively in a team environment.
• Strong forward-planning and portfolio governance capability.
• Ability to balance operational, commercial, customer, and security considerations.
• Experience influencing security teams, management, and contractors.
• Ability to work effectively across diverse functions and geographies.
• Ability and flexibility to travel across APAC and as required to other locations across the globe.
• NV1 security clearance preferred or ability to obtain (for Australian based candidates only).

**Please note that location for this role is flexible - Melbourne and Sydney will be considered**