Description:
We are seeking an experienced Senior Access Governance Specialist to oversee identity and access governance processes, strengthen access controls, and support compliance with organizational security policies and regulatory requirements. The successful candidate will help ensure that users have appropriate access to business systems, applications, and sensitive information through effective access reviews, role management, policy enforcement, and risk assessment.
This role is designed for fully remote work, with responsibilities focused on digital identity governance, access certification, control monitoring, audit support, and collaboration with cybersecurity, IT, risk, and compliance teams.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop, maintain, and improve identity and access governance policies, procedures, standards, and control frameworks.
- Oversee user access provisioning, modification, periodic review, and deprovisioning processes in coordination with relevant system owners.
- Coordinate periodic access certification campaigns to verify that user permissions remain appropriate for business responsibilities.
- Review role-based access control (RBAC) models and support the implementation of least-privilege and need-to-know principles.
- Monitor segregation of duties (SoD) conflicts and work with business and technology stakeholders to resolve or mitigate identified risks.
- Support the governance of privileged accounts, elevated permissions, service accounts, and other sensitive access categories.
- Assess access requests, exceptions, and policy deviations against established approval requirements and risk criteria.
- Collaborate with application owners, HR, IT operations, cybersecurity, internal audit, and compliance teams to maintain accurate access records.
- Analyze identity governance reports, access review results, control exceptions, and audit findings to identify improvement opportunities.
- Maintain evidence of access approvals, recertification decisions, remediation actions, and governance activities for audit purposes.
- Support compliance with relevant security standards, privacy obligations, internal policies, and applicable regulatory requirements.
- Assist with the implementation and optimization of identity governance and administration (IGA) platforms and access management workflows.
- Develop management dashboards and key performance indicators covering access review completion, exception resolution, privileged access, and control effectiveness.
- Investigate access-related control deficiencies and coordinate corrective and preventive action plans.
- Prepare governance reports, technical documentation, operating procedures, and audit responses for management and assurance teams.
- Provide guidance to junior specialists and stakeholders on access governance requirements and control responsibilities.
Qualifications and Experience
- Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related discipline.
- Significant experience in identity and access management (IAM), access governance, information security, IT risk, or technology compliance.
- Strong understanding of RBAC, least-privilege principles, segregation of duties, access certification, and privileged access governance.
- Experience with identity governance and administration platforms, access management tools, or enterprise identity systems.
- Familiarity with platforms and technologies such as Microsoft Entra ID, Active Directory, SailPoint, Saviynt, or equivalent solutions.
- Knowledge of security frameworks and standards such as ISO 27001, NIST, and COBIT, as relevant to the organization.
- Experience supporting internal audits, access control testing, compliance reviews, and remediation tracking.
- Understanding of user lifecycle management, authentication controls, authorization models, and access approval workflows.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, documentation, and stakeholder management skills.
- Ability to interpret access reports, identify control weaknesses, and recommend practical risk mitigation measures.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain governance requirements to technical and nontechnical audiences.
- High standards of confidentiality, integrity, and responsible handling of sensitive access information.
- Relevant certifications such as CISA, CISSP, CISM, or identity governance vendor certifications are an advantage.