Ameris Bank is a purpose-driven company, dedicated to bringing financial peace of mind to communities, one person at a time. Whether a customer wants to grow their business, buy a home, or feel confident in their retirement plan, they have a partner in Ameris Bank. We serve customers in our locations across the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and nationwide through our extensive digital offerings and mobile app.
Delivering financial peace of mind starts with a team that values integrity and rewards ingenuity. At Ameris, you’ll find teammates who are inclusive, collaborative problem-solvers who go the extra mile to support one another and to meet every customer’s needs.
When teammates are empowered and bring their diverse perspectives to the table, we create the best possible outcomes for our customers. At Ameris, we know that a growth mindset is key for high performance and fosters an environment that prioritizes continuous improvement. Teammates have access to Employee Resource Groups that serve as advocates and allies as well as professional development opportunities to drive ongoing education. Learn more about our purpose and how you can bring it to life as an Ameris Bank teammate.
The Cyber Security Architect Lead is responsible for designing, developing, and implementing the organization’s cybersecurity architecture, ensuring alignment with business goals and regulatory requirements. This role will provide leadership in developing a secure and resilient IT infrastructure, drive security best practices across the enterprise, and collaborate with multiple teams to address cybersecurity risks. The Cyber Security Architect Lead will also be responsible for ensuring security architecture supports scalability, flexibility, and innovation while addressing emerging threats. Performs other projects and duties as assigned.
Essential Functions, Duties, And Responsibilities
- Lead the design and implementation of the organization’s cybersecurity architecture, covering areas such as network security, cloud security, endpoint security, and application security.
- Define security reference architecture & security overlays to existing reference architecture.
- Ensure compliance with security frameworks (e.g., NIST, ISO 27001, CIS Controls) and industry standards to protect the organization’s assets.
- Conduct security risk assessments and gap analyses to identify vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and areas for improvement in security architecture.
- Lead the development and implementation of a Zero Trust security model to ensure security across all user access points and data flow.
- Drive cloud security strategies, ensuring secure design, configurations, and monitoring of cloud-based services (e.g., AWS, Azure, Entra ID, M365).
- Drive IAM authentication design patterns for existing and new applications.
- Work closely with cross-functional teams, including IT, DevOps, application development, and business units, to align cybersecurity initiatives with organizational objectives.
- Evaluate and recommend security technologies, tools, and services to enhance the organization’s security posture, including SIEM, IDS/IPS, firewalls, and endpoint protection.
- Lead efforts to identify and mitigate potential cyber threats through proactive architecture design and security engineering.
- Be able to document current design and gaps within a security blueprint.
- Develop policies, procedures, and guidelines to support the secure use of IT infrastructure and systems while ensuring compliance with relevant regulations (e.g., GDPR, FFIEC).
- Stay abreast of the latest trends, technologies, and threats in cybersecurity, integrating new approaches into the overall security architecture as necessary.
- Be able to drive research and proof-of concepts.
- Report on security architecture and strategy progress to executive leadership, providing updates on risks, mitigations, and key security metrics.
- Mentor others in Architecture, Engineering and Operations.
Required Knowledge, Skills And Competencies
- Knowledge of AWS and Azure cloud.
- Knowledge of Entra ID, SSO and Conditional Access integration capabilities as well as comparable SSO and Conditional Access solutions.
- Expert understanding of identity governance & administration concepts and solutions, identity & access management systems and processes.
- Expert knowledge of enterprise Cyber Security offensive and defensive security controls.
- Understanding of large, complex networks, to include direct circuits, MPLS, SD-WAN and public/private cloud connectivity.
- Excellent oral & written communication skills and the ability to explain security architecture concepts and best practices at both a deeply technical and high level.
- Takes a professional approach relating to others, treats others with consideration and respect regardless of employee level.
- Ability to adapt and manage frequent change, delays, or unexpected events.
- Uses good judgement while making decisions on Information Security.
Industry And Work Experience
- Minimum of 10 years technical experience across IT, Cloud, Cybersecurity & IAM. Strong IAM & cloud experience preferred.
- Proven experience in implementing Zero Trust architecture and cloud security solutions.
- Experience with large commercial cyber security and information technology systems, such as firewall, IDS/IPS, web proxy, MFA, email, endpoint security, mobility management and security logging & monitoring.
- Experience with Rest Web services, SAML 2.0, SailPoint Identity Now, OAuth, OpenID, WS-Security, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and other authentication/authorization protocols strongly preferred.
- Financial industry experience preferred.
Academic
- High school diploma or GED required.
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Technology, or a related field preferred.
Benefits Available To Employees
Ameris Bank provides a comprehensive employee benefit package to all eligible employees.
- Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance
- Ameris Bank absorbs a major portion of the cost of healthcare. You become eligible for coverage on the first of the month following 30 days of employment
- Life Insurance provided at no additional cost to employees
- Accidental Death & Dismemberment Coverage
- Long-Term Disability Coverage
- Paid Sick and Vacation Leave
- 11 Holidays
- Volunteer/Service Day
- Employee Stock Purchase Plan
- 401(k) Retirement Plan
- Ameris Bank matches 50% of your first 8% of contributions to the plan
- Flexible Spending Accounts
- Health Savings Account
- Health Reimbursement Arrangement
- Supplemental Life & Other Insurance Plans
- Identity Theft Protection
- Pet Insurance
- Legal Insurance
- Employee Assistance Program
- Employee Advocacy Program
- Tickets at Work (Entertainment discounts for Ameris Bank Employees)
- AT&T Employee Discount
- Wellness Discounts for Medical Premiums and Other Rewards
- Employee Referral Incentive
- Education Assistance
- Employee Resource Groups
Banking Advantages For Employees
In addition to a wide array of benefits, Ameris Bank employees are also eligible for special bank services.
- Free Interest Checking
- Free Safe Deposit Box
- Free Money Orders, Travelers’ Checks and Cashier Checks
- Discount on Mortgage Origination Fee
- Free Online Banking and Free Unlimited Online Bill Payment
- Employee Banking Perks
Disclaimer
The above job description is meant to describe the general nature and level of work being performed; it is not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required for the position.
All job requirements are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. Some requirements may exclude individuals who pose a direct threat or significant risk to the health and safety of themselves or other employees.
