AMERICAN SYSTEMS is an employee-owned federal government contractor supporting national priority programs through our strategic solutions in the areas of Information Technology, Test & Evaluation, Engineering & Analysis, and Training.
ResponsibilitiesAs the SOC Analyst I, you will provide tier I cybersecurity support in a SOC environment by tracking and reporting cyber security threats, events, and incidents. You will be expected to perform threat analysis and investigate security incidents. In the event of an incident, you will identify the source of the incident, determine the scope of the incident, and assess the impact of the incident. You will be responsible for providing initial response and containment measures, as well as escalating incidents to higher tiers if necessary. You will report to the Incident Handler Principle and work closely with other Tier I and Tier II personnel to effectively and efficiently provide optimum service to our customers. Additionally, IN this position you will:
- Use intrusion detection technologies to apply techniques for identifying host and network-based
- Create, update, and resolve incident tickets that have been tasked to Tier I and appropriately document all alerts and incidents in the ticketing
- Create new incident tickets for alerts that signal an incident requiring escalation for Tier 2 review.
- Identify, capture, contain, and report malware to protect networks (e.g., NIPS, anti-malware, restrict/prevent external devices, spam filters).
- Recognize and categorize types of vulnerabilities and associated
- Utilize the SOC standard operating procedures (SOP) to perform daily tasks, resolve incidents and preserve evidence integrity. May provide input for and assist with updating procedures.
- Perform damage assessments, secure network communications, and use security event correlation
- Utilize the SOC checklist when reviewing the latest alerts and events from various SOC sensors to determine relevancy and urgency.
- Review open source and other sources of information to identify events that should be transitioned into the incident response process.
- Under supervision, may manage and configure security monitoring tools (SIEM, IDS, Firewall, Access Control Lists, etc.) to mitigate existing threats and vulnerabilities.
- May assist with the design of incident response for cloud service models.
- As a requirement of this position, all candidates must be a U.S. Citizen. In accordance with 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(2)(C) , we will not consider candidates for this position who do not meet the aforementioned conditions.
- Must hold an active Dept. of War Interim Secret or Secret Clearance
- Must hold at least one certification as required by DoD 8570.01-M and DoD Directive 8140.01, IAT Level II or Higher OR have the ability to obtain within 6 months of hire.
- Must hold at least one of the following certifications or have the ability to obtain within 6 months of hire: CompTIA CySA+, EC-Council CEH, GIAC GCIA, Microsoft AZ 900, Palo Alto Networks PCCET, or Splunk Core Certified Advanced Power User
- Must have a minimum of one (1) year of professional experience in networking, UNIX/Linux system administration, software engineering, or software development.
- Will accept a bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, information technology, cybersecurity, or related field in place of the 1 year of experience.
- Knowledge of or experience with some of the following:
- Computer networking concepts, OSI model, and network protocols such as TCP/IP, Dynamic Host Configuration, Domain Name System (DNS), and directory services, and network security
- Host/network access control mechanisms (e.g., access control list, capabilities lists).
- Network traffic analysis methods an packet-level
- Cyber threats and vulnerabilities; cyber-attack stages, classes of attacks and attackers; cyber defense and information security policies, procedures, and
- Incident response and handling methodologies, incident categories, and timelines for
- Intrusion detection methodologies and techniques for detecting host and network-based intrusions.
- Malware analysis concepts and methodologies.
- System administration, network, and operating system hardening techniques as well as data backup and
- Proficient in at least one programming language.
- Working understanding of computer forensic techniques and methodologies.
- This team operates in a 24/7 shift environment. The SOC Analyst I will provide support Monday - Thursday, 6:45am - 5:15pm PST.
Skills Required
- U.S. citizenship
- Active Department of War Interim Secret or Secret clearance
- At least one DoD 8570.01-M / DoD Directive 8140.01 IAT Level II or higher certification, or ability to obtain within six months of hire
- At least one of CompTIA CySA+, EC-Council CEH, GIAC GCIA, Microsoft AZ-900, Palo Alto Networks PCCET, or Splunk Core Certified Advanced Power User, or ability to obtain within six months of hire
- At least one year of professional experience in networking, UNIX/Linux system administration, software engineering, or software development
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, information technology, cybersecurity, or related field may substitute for the one year of experience
- Knowledge of networking concepts, OSI model, TCP/IP, DHCP, DNS, directory services, and network security
- Knowledge of host and network access control mechanisms
- Knowledge of network traffic and packet-level analysis
- Knowledge of cyber threats, vulnerabilities, attack stages, attack classes, attackers, and cyber defense policies
- Knowledge of incident response and handling methodologies
- Knowledge of intrusion detection methodologies for host- and network-based intrusions
- Knowledge of malware analysis concepts and methodologies
- Knowledge of system administration, network and operating system hardening, and data backup
- Proficiency in at least one programming language
- Working understanding of computer forensic techniques and methodologies
- Availability to work in a 24/7 shift environment, Monday through Thursday, 6:45 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. PST
AMERICAN SYSTEMS Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about AMERICAN SYSTEMS and has not been reviewed or approved by AMERICAN SYSTEMS.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — The ESOP provides an ownership stake that adds long-term financial value and complements base pay. This employee-ownership structure stands out within the overall package.
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Retirement Support — A 401(k) with automatic enrollment and broad investment options, alongside the ESOP, strengthens retirement pathways beyond salary. These features are presented as competitive within the defense contracting space.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Base pay is considered fair or comparable to industry peers, particularly for technical roles. Starting compensation is described as solid for areas like cybersecurity, systems administration, and IT engineering.
AMERICAN SYSTEMS Insights
What We Do
AMERICAN SYSTEMS is an employee-owned government services contractor that delivers professional, technical, information technology, engineering, analysis, testing, evaluation, and training solutions for complex national-priority programs. Based in McLean, Virginia, the company supports federal customers—particularly defense and other Department of Defense missions—with mission-essential and information engineering, digital engineering, systems integration, cybersecurity, cloud, data, and lifecycle IT services across critical public-sector environments.







