Virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO)

Collectively, NetHope’s nonprofit Members deliver programs to more than one billion people as they work for the good of people and planet. Cybersecurity is a major concern for these nonprofits, but they do not have enough capacity on their own staff for the exponentially changing cybersecurity landscape. For twenty years NetHope has supported the aggregated demands of our Members, and this role is designed as a collected resource for these Members.

In this role you can expect to provide confidential advisory hours to Members about the specific projects or concerns they have, curate general advisory for the collected Membership around major sectoral threat moments, and lead collective projects (for example network vulnerability assessments or aggregated research about our sector’s challenges in this space). In addition, this role will provide a cohesive and predictable interface for NetHope technology partners and donors so that Members can harness their help by utilizing their services and offers that could add capacity.

You will work in a remote virtual environment with the NetHope team and our Member nonprofits around the world. Thus, the vCISO role must be able to work independently, engage with team Members in a virtual environment, be highly collaborative, and implement standing processes and procedures for effective communication and workflow. The vCISO is expected to work closely with Member’s senior staff, contractors, Board or Trustees, and implementing partners. For example, you engage with NetHope’s Data Protection and Information Security Working Group that we have operated for the past 5 years. You will be a trusted confidential advisor on sensitive projects, so you will need to have had senior management experience as well as experience of using stakeholder influencing for change projects. You will be a pivotal part the future of the NetHope Digital Protection Program and assist in obtaining more support for its growth, so experience in nonprofit program design and run, and funder engagement is essential.

This is a role requires a high level of experience in overlapping competencies to hit the ground running: You must have experience in strategic management in International Nonprofits/NGOs (preferably humanitarian aid, development, and conservation), and you must have a high technical literacy of cybersecurity (and data protection), so that you can be a sectoral leader for how excellent cybersecurity can be contextually applied in complex humanitarian situations including conflict zones and fragile states.

Specific responsibilities include:

• Member facing work (40%):
• Lead a framework for and provide confidential advice, facilitate risk assessment, and risk management procedures by working directly with NetHope Members. This will take the form of bookable ‘Office Hours’, group calls, and responding to emails.
• Collaborate with stakeholders across the NetHope community of practice to enhance risk management awareness and provide relevant advice to their digital protection and cyber security challenges, for example by surfacing common proven practices and policies, or during heighten security incidents
• Present and provide steer to the content agenda of the NetHope’s Data Protection and Information Security Working Group, and work with the team to publish whitepapers/blogs and similarly to inspire and assist other nonprofits with digital protection capacity building.
• NetHope Digital Protection Program (50%):
• Provide leadership and insight to the NetHope Digital Protection Program, including (funding permitting) the work plans of staff and contractors, planning of legal frameworks required and applied, overseeing benchmarking and MEAL activities, project plans and budgets.
• Participate in fundraising activities for the NetHope Digital Protection Program and the Global Humanitarian ISAC, including providing subject matter expertise for ideation of projects and services, creation of concept notes, appearing on panels, and engaging funders.
• NetHope Operations (10%):
• Provide Subject Matter Expertise to NetHope’s internal digital protection strategy and practices by bringing current expertise/advice and best practices for the future of systems and technologies

Qualifications:

Personal Characteristics

• Highly collaborative, including working across teams within and outside NetHope.
• A passion for NetHope’s mission and for working pragmatically and nimbly in a fast-paced dynamic global environment
• Cultural sensitivity across all aspects of work
• Values and encourages diversity of thought, backgrounds, and perspectives
• Solid judgement including handling of sensitive information
• Integrity/ethics beyond reproach
• Excellent at working in a networked & virtual team environment
• Ability to multi-task while maintaining vigilant attention to detail in a fast-paced nimble working environment
• Ability to stay calm under pressure, act decisively and prudently, and to lead and manage others calmly and efficiently during high stress moments (for example a security breach)

Knowledge and Skills

• Outstanding written and spoken language skills, multilingual communication skills a plus
• Excellent influencing and negotiation skills, with a very high attention to personal ethics and fit to NetHope team culture
• Extensive knowledge about cybersecurity and data protection, and how it applies to global humanitarian programs with clients and implementing partners.
• Extensive experience in complex stakeholder management, cross-silo and/or cross organization project leadership a plus
• Experience in creating assets and collateral to pitch projects and enthuse funders, including pitch decks, concept notes, reports, opinion pieces etc.
• Senior strategic leadership and program design experience
• Proactive and creative problem solver with multi-tasking and prioritization skills
• Multilingual verbal and written communication skills a plus

Education and Experience

• Minimum 3 years working in a senior role in a global humanitarian nonprofit is required, preferably with direct experience of implementing or overseeing cybersecurity programs in complex contexts.
• Suitable expert/senior level certifications or equivalent industry-recognized/objective expertise in security management consultancy/ leadership at professional level is required.
• A minimum of 8 years of combined risk management, information & cyber security, IT, technology and/or IT networking expertise is required.
• Demonstrated experience of project leadership that enables collective impact through influence of stakeholders to a common goal, even if direct hierarchical power is not present.
• NetHope Member experience highly valued, other INGO experience a plus
• NetHope uses a variety of technology to facilitate our work. You can expect to use Salesforce, Asana, Slack, Miro, Zoom and Microsoft Office extensively. NetHope will provide orientation to these and others, but a high level of literacy in similar tools is a plus. You will have funds and in-kind support to obtain your own expert tools related to the specific domain of digital protection.

Reporting and Working Conditions:

• This position is a full-time position that reports to the Senior Director for Field and Impact Programs and works closely with The NetHope Center for the Digital Nonprofit, Membership Engagement Team, Partnerships and Philanthropy Team, the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), staff team members, consultants, NetHope Member organizations, and partners.
• NetHope is a virtual organization, so our team, our Members, and our Partners are located around the world. Due to the global nature of the organization, meetings may thus be required at any time of the day to meet with our stakeholders in varying time zones. To meet these needs, NetHope embraces flexible schedules for team members, and we work with each other to be located globally, but still maintain a reasonable work time balance.
• As a global organization, we welcome qualified applicants with diverse backgrounds from various locations, and who may have non-traditional work patterns.
• NetHope is a highly networked team-oriented environment with staff working across functional areas to produce high-quality programs, services, and connections with our Members. Staff have the opportunity to lead their own projects and form part of other project’s teams across our departments. We value open communication and believe that a staff working as a unified team produces the best outcomes.
• This position is 100% remote and virtual. International or domestic travel may be required for two to three NetHope events annually.
• This position is a full time role, funded through a 3-year grant, and may increase in contract length, should funding be available.