IAM Security Specialist

Job Title: IAM Security SpecialistGENERAL DESCRIPTION:

The IAM Security Specialist is responsible for leading oversight of managed security services provider (MSSP) activities to ensure user access to systems, data, and applications is managed in alignment with organizational procedures, standards, and regulatory requirements, including FRB, NYDFS, GDPR, and NIST expectations. This role exercises independent judgment in validating that authorized users are granted appropriate access, confirming IAM policies are implemented and enforced, and promoting the integrity and security of the IAM environment through proactive monitoring, quality assurance, and continuous improvement.
Additionally, the IAM Security Specialist supports and advances the organization’s IAM program by coordinating access governance activities, reviewing user access certification results, identifying control gaps, recommending process improvements, and partnering with business and technology stakeholders to strengthen compliance and operational effectiveness.

Reporting to the IAM Operations Manager, the Specialist serves as a subject matter contributor for identity-related controls, provides guidance to Analysts and MSSP resources, supports escalations, and helps ensure controls are effectively and consistently implemented across business units.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Lead oversight and quality validation of the MSSP’s user account lifecycle activities, including creation, modification, deletion of user accounts, and management of user roles and permissions, ensuring adherence to organizational policies, standards, and regulatory requirements.
• Monitor, assess, and escalate MSSP handling of end-user password resets and access requests to ensure timely resolution, SLA adherence, and compliance with established security protocols.Evaluate the MSSP’s implementation and enforcement of access control policies and procedures, validating that access is appropriate, authorized, and aligned with least privilege and segregation of duties principles.
• Lead coordination and review of access management incident response activities, ensuring timely resolution, effective escalation, root cause analysis, and documentation of corrective actions.
• Identify and recommend opportunities to improve IAM processes through automation, standardization, and enhanced controls, while supervising MSSP implementation and operational adoption.
• Manage escalations and complex issue resolution with the MSSP, application owners, and business stakeholders related to access management, role assignments, and certification concerns.
• Track, analyze, and report on MSSP remediation efforts associated with access review findings, ensuring issues are resolved timely and recurring trends are identified for management attention.
• Provide direction, review, and quality assurance for the MSSP’s configuration, execution, and completion of periodic access certification campaigns, including application data, user access, enterprise roles and entitlements, and service and generic account reviews.