Data Security Senior Engineer

About Us ISTARI is a strategic cybersecurity advisory company with a bold vision: to curate the defining cybersecurity ecosystem of our time - uniting enterprise, academia, government, and innovators to build collective resilience. At the heart of this mission, ISTARI helps clients achieve lasting organisational cyber resilience by convening and applying world-class talent, expertise, and innovation through a uniquely powerful network - with ISTARI as the central orchestrator. The Opportunity We are seeking a Data Security Senior Engineer to provide hands-on architecture and engineering support for a client’s Data Security programme, with a strong focus on Microsoft Purview and enterprise Data Loss Prevention (DLP) capabilities. This is a 12-month contractor role, requiring a senior, delivery-focused engineer who can immediately contribute to the design, implementation, tuning, and operationalisation of data protection controls across endpoints, email, cloud platforms, and analytics environments, while enabling and supporting the security operations function. What You’ll Do (Key Responsibilities) • Design, implement, and maintain Microsoft Purview DLP policies to ensure consistent data protection across endpoints, email, cloud services, and collaboration platforms. • Provide engineering support across Microsoft Information Protection (MIP), DSPM, DSPM for AI, Insider Risk Management, Zscaler Network DLP, and enhanced data security controls within Databricks. • Tune and optimise existing DLP policies to reduce false positives while maintaining strong protection of sensitive data in a mature, large-scale Purview environment. • Integrate data security telemetry into Microsoft Sentinel to support correlation, detection, alerting, and reporting of data-related security events. • Support the design and continuous improvement of data classification and governance frameworks, including Sensitive Information Types (SITs), labels, and policy hierarchies. • Participate in incident response activities related to data exfiltration, insider threats, and policy violations, providing technical analysis and remediation guidance. • Align data security controls and reporting with regulatory and compliance requirements such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, and other applicable standards. • Collaborate closely with security operations, architecture, and platform teams to ensure data protection controls are fully operationalised within an 8 × 5 coverage model. What You’ll Bring Experience, Focus & Tooling You bring deep, hands-on experience delivering enterprise data security outcomes, with the ability to translate policy intent and regulatory requirements into effective, operational controls. You will have: • Strong hands-on expertise with Microsoft Purview (DLP, Information Protection, Insider Risk Management), including policy design, tuning, and optimisation in large-scale environments. • Experience implementing and operating DSPM and DSPM for AI to improve visibility and control over sensitive data across modern data estates. • Proven capability integrating data security telemetry into Microsoft Sentinel to support SOC detection, investigation, and response workflows. • Practical experience delivering network and cloud DLP controls, including Zscaler Network DLP, aligned to enterprise data protection strategies. • Experience securing data platforms such as Databricks, implementing data protection and access controls across structured and unstructured data sources. • A strong focus on reducing false positives while maintaining robust protection of sensitive data. • Demonstrated ability to work as a self-directed contractor, partnering closely with security engineering, platform, and SOC teams to deliver measurable outcomes. • A solid understanding of regulatory and compliance-driven data protection requirements (e.g. PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR) and how these translate into technical controls. Engagement Details • Engagement Type: Contractor (12-month fixed-term engagement) • Duration: January 2026 – December 2026 • Location Preference: US East Coast or Central • Work Authorisation: Not provided