Senior Data Security Specialist
Location: Toronto, ON
Work Model: Hybrid – 3 day onsite per week
Contract: 12 months, with opportunity to move to full time permanent position after 12 months
Rate: Up to $150/hour INC
We are working with a large, highly regulated organization that is looking for an experienced Senior Data Security Specialist to support and strengthen its enterprise data security capabilities.
This is a hands-on technical role focused on Microsoft Purview, Data Loss Prevention (DLP), information protection, data discovery and classification, cloud/SaaS security, and emerging technologies including AI.
The successful candidate will work across security, technology, data, privacy, risk, and business teams to identify data security risks, improve controls, investigate potential exposure, and support the secure adoption of new technologies.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop, maintain, tune, and assess Data Loss Prevention (DLP) controls across Microsoft 365, endpoints, cloud applications, and other data environments.
- Implement and maintain Microsoft Purview Information Protection, including sensitivity labels, data classification, encryption, and sensitive-data discovery.
- Investigate DLP events, policy exceptions, insider-risk indicators, security incidents, and potential data leakage.
- Identify and remediate inappropriate sharing, excessive access, stale permissions, and sensitive-data exposure across SharePoint, OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, and other collaboration platforms.
- Conduct sensitive-data discovery and exposure assessments across structured and unstructured data repositories.
- Support data security posture management, including continuous discovery, exposure assessment, risk prioritization, reporting, remediation, and tracking.
- Assess and support data masking and tokenization controls for payment-card data, analytics, AI workloads, testing, and non-production environments.
- Assess data security risks and define appropriate controls for AI platforms, Microsoft Fabric, AI Foundry, cloud services, SaaS applications, and other emerging technologies.
- Support security and classification of structured data across databases, data warehouses, analytics platforms, and related environments.
- Leverage AI capabilities to improve security operations, automate governance processes, enhance risk detection, and develop reporting and dashboards.
- Evaluate new data protection technologies and support their configuration, testing, integration, and implementation.
- Provide data security guidance and design reviews for enterprise projects, cloud services, technology implementations, and business initiatives.
- Develop and maintain security standards, procedures, technical requirements, assessment documentation, and governance guidance.
- Support regulatory, risk, compliance, and audit activities, including control assessments, evidence gathering, technical analysis, and remediation.
What We’re Looking For
- 7+ years of progressive experience within data security, information security, cybersecurity, cloud security, or a related security discipline.
- Strong hands-on experience with Microsoft Purview, particularly:
- Data Loss Prevention
- Information Protection
- Sensitivity Labels
- Data Classification
- Insider Risk Management
- Strong understanding of enterprise data security concepts, including data discovery, classification, encryption, access control, least privilege, data leakage prevention, and secure data handling.
- Experience securing and assessing Microsoft 365 environments, including SharePoint Online, OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, and endpoints.
- Experience investigating data security events, inappropriate access or sharing, policy violations, and potential data leakage.
- Experience conducting security assessments and translating findings into technical requirements and remediation plans.
- Working knowledge of structured-data security, including databases, data warehouses, analytics platforms, and non-production environments.
- Experience applying AI technologies to security, automation, risk analysis, reporting, or dashboard development.
- Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills with the ability to explain technical risks to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Nice to Have
- Experience with Data Security Posture Management (DSPM).
- Experience with data masking and tokenization.
- Exposure to Microsoft Fabric, AI security, user and entity behaviour analytics (UEBA), or data lineage.
- Previous experience within financial services or another highly regulated industry.
- Certifications such as CISSP, CISM, or relevant Microsoft Security certifications.
Education
A university degree or college diploma in cybersecurity, information technology, computer science, engineering, or a related discipline is preferred. Equivalent relevant professional experience will also be considered.
Working Environment
This is a hybrid contract position combining remote work with in-office collaboration. The exact in-office requirement will depend on the needs of the team and project.
This posting is for an existing vacancy with the organization.
AI may be used to screen, assess or select applicants for the position.
