Sr. Manager, Physical Security Design

Cipher Digital is hiring a Sr. Manager, Physical Security Design to own its physical security design program, from threat-informed standards and reference designs through construction administration and record documentation. The role coordinates security design across disciplines, leads consultants and vendors, and ensures design packages are complete and buildable.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain the corporate physical security design standards, reference designs, and technical guidelines that drive consistency and repeatability across the portfolio
• Lead the technology strategy: platform and device standardization and sequences of operation (SOO), developed in partnership with the digital security and cybersecurity engineering functions so that what we specify is defensible on the network as well as at the door
• Incorporate operational requirements and lessons learned from the Operations lead into the design standards, so each new reference design reflects what it actually takes to run a site
• Own the physical security design lifecycle from concept and basis of design, through construction administration and record documentation, across new builds and expansions
• Drive consistent, on-time production of every security design package handed to Construction
• Hold every design package to a standard of completeness and accuracy that lets integrators build directly from it without integrator-produced drawings or shop drawings
• Translate threat and vulnerability assessments into layered security designs appropriate to a critical-infrastructure environment, applying established principles such as defense in depth, CPTED, standoff, DORI, and the five Ds
• Own the security scope of coordination with the architectural, civil, structural, MEP, telecommunications, and IT/network engineering disciplines, so security is integrated early into designs rather than tacked on late
• Run formal design reviews at each milestone (SD, DD, CD), including constructability review and security-lens value engineering. Before issue for construction, include the Integration lead as the downstream consumer to confirm each package is complete enough to build from and testable as drawn
• Provide cost and constructability input to project estimates, including consultant and EOR fee assumptions, device counts, and value-engineering trade-offs
• Direct design consultants and EORs through CA services: responding to RFIs, reviewing product submittals, and conducting strategically timed site visits to benchmark installation against design intent
• Own RFI resolution and incorporation, directing EOR responses to field questions and folding agreed changes back into the design and the record set
• Own final record and as-built documentation, incorporating field redlines, RFIs, and change-order additions
• Select, direct, and hold accountable the external design consultants, EORs, and specialty vendors who extend the design function, managing scope, schedule, and deliverable quality across multiple concurrent projects
• Serve as the senior physical security design authority for the organization, representing and defending design decisions to executive leadership, customers, and authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs)

Requirements:

• Eight or more years in physical and electronic security systems (ESS), including several years leading design work, a design team, or design consultants
• A proven track record turning over complex ESS designs on schedule
• Demonstrated depth in access control, intrusion detection, video management, and emergency communications, along with integration architecture, including hands-on experience authoring or owning CSI Division 28 specifications
• Demonstrated ability to translate threat and vulnerability assessments into layered security designs, applying established principles such as defense in depth, CPTED, standoff, DORI, and the five Ds
• Experience coordinating security design with the civil, architectural, electrical, and telecommunications disciplines to produce complete, buildable design packages
• Experience running or directing construction administration for ESS scopes of work: RFIs, submittal review, and record and as-built production
• Working fluency with the network and cybersecurity considerations of modern security systems (segmentation, device hardening, and standards such as NIST and IEC 62443), sufficient to collaborate credibly with a cybersecurity engineering function
• Working fluency with the codes and standards that govern security design, such as NFPA 101 and IBC egress requirements, NFPA 72, and UL 294, and with AHJ review for security and low-voltage systems
• Comfort in the tools of design coordination and review, such as Revit, AutoCAD, and Bluebeam, even if you do not produce drawings personally
• Working knowledge of Genetec, or an equivalent enterprise access control, intrusion alarm, and video surveillance platform
• Demonstrated leadership across teams and through external partners, with the ability to hire, develop, and lead a team as the role scales
• Excellent communication and presentation skills with executive leadership and customers
• Bachelor's degree in engineering, architecture, security management, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• Standardization instinct. The discipline to turn one-off solutions into repeatable standards, and to defend them
• Cross-discipline credibility. The confidence to advocate for security requirements among architects, engineers, and construction managers, who are optimizing for other priorities
• Clean role boundaries. The judgment to hold the line between design authority and field execution without creating friction with Construction or with the Integration lead
• Leadership of external teams. Setting direction, standards, and accountability for consultants, EORs, and vendors who do not report to you
• Executive communication. Clear, concise presentation of design decisions, risk trade-offs, and cost implications to leadership and customers
• Delivery under pressure. Strong schedule and stakeholder management against hard deadlines, with sound independent judgment at a senior level
• Broad collaboration. Effective across construction, operations, IT, compliance, HR, legal, and the vendor community
• Design experience in data center, mission-critical, or other critical-infrastructure construction
• Experience designing to customer- or tenant-imposed physical security standards, such as those of hyperscale cloud providers
• Familiarity with contractual security frameworks such as ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II, and with SLA-driven delivery
• CPP, PSP, CSPM, or PMP certification