Assistant General Counsel
Citizens Financial Group · Johnston, Rhode Island, United States
Citizens is seeking an experienced, solutions-oriented Cybersecurity Attorney to join the Legal Cyber and Privacy team. In this role, you will serve as a key legal advisor on cybersecurity, data security, incident response, technology risk, and related regulatory matters.
You will partner closely with colleagues across Cyber Defense, Technology, Information Security, Risk, Compliance, Privacy, Communications, and the business to provide practical, business-focused legal advice, identify and mitigate legal and regulatory risk, and support Citizens’ cybersecurity and operational resilience objectives.
The ideal candidate brings significant cybersecurity and technology legal experience, strong judgment and technical fluency, and the ability to provide clear, actionable counsel to senior leaders during complex and time-sensitive matters.
Primary responsibilities include
- Provide strategic legal counsel on cybersecurity, data security, incident response, technology risk, and related regulatory matters.
- Serve as a primary legal advisor during cyber and data-security incidents, partnering with Cyber Defense, Technology, Information Security, Communications, Compliance, Risk, Privacy, and senior leadership.
- Advise on incident escalation, legal and regulatory materiality assessments, regulatory notifications, disclosure obligations, regulatory engagement, and related internal and external communications.
- Monitor and interpret evolving cybersecurity laws, regulations, regulatory guidance, and supervisory expectations and advise stakeholders on their impact to Citizens’ operations, technology environment, and risk-management practices.
- Support enterprise crisis-management activities, including escalation, response coordination, internal governance, regulatory engagement, and communications during significant events.
- Draft, review, and maintain cybersecurity and incident-response policies, standards, procedures, governance documents, and playbooks.
- Provide legal guidance for cyber tabletop exercises, readiness assessments, and cross-functional simulations designed to strengthen incident-response capabilities and operational resilience.
- Serve as legal advisor to the Bank’s Red Team, providing practical, risk-based guidance regarding penetration testing, adversarial simulations, threat-emulation activities, and other cybersecurity testing.
- Advise on cybersecurity and data-security requirements applicable to third-party service providers and technology integrations, including contractual protections, due diligence, incident-notification requirements, vendor oversight, and regulatory expectations.
- Serve as legal advisor to the Bank’s Open Source Office, providing guidance regarding the use, development, modification, licensing, and distribution of open-source software, including open-source software used or provided by third-party vendors.
- Draft, review, and negotiate technology, cybersecurity, data-security, cloud, software, and related commercial agreements.
- Partner with business and control functions to identify legal risks and develop practical, business-aligned solutions that support Citizens’ strategic and operational objectives.
Qualifications, Education, Certifications and/or Other Professional Credentials
Required Qualifications
- Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school.
- Active license to practice law and membership in good standing in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
- At least six years of relevant legal experience, including significant experience in cybersecurity, data security, privacy, technology law, cyber incident response, or a related area.
- Experience advising on cyber incident response, including legal and regulatory materiality assessments, notification and disclosure obligations, regulatory engagement, and supervisory expectations.
- Strong knowledge of cybersecurity laws, regulations, regulatory guidance, and recognized cybersecurity and data-protection frameworks.
- Experience drafting and maintaining cybersecurity policies, incident-response procedures, standards, governance documents, or playbooks.
- Strong contract drafting and negotiation skills, particularly involving technology services, cybersecurity, data protection, software, cloud services, and third-party risk.
- Demonstrated ability to assess complex legal and regulatory risks and provide practical, business-focused advice.
- Excellent written, verbal, and analytical skills, with the ability to communicate complex legal and technical matters clearly to senior and executive leadership.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities and operate effectively in a fast-paced environment, including during significant cybersecurity incidents and other time-sensitive matters.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience advising a financial institution or other highly regulated organization on cybersecurity, technology, data-security, or incident-response matters.
- Familiarity with cybersecurity technologies and control environments, including logging and monitoring, endpoint security, identity and access management, cloud environments, vulnerability management, threat detection, and security-testing platforms.
- Experience supporting cybersecurity regulatory examinations, supervisory inquiries, internal investigations, or remediation programs.
- Experience supporting crisis-management activities and internal and external communications relating to cybersecurity or data-security events.
- Experience advising on open-source software licensing, governance, development, and distribution.
- Experience working with cybersecurity testing teams, Red Teams, penetration testers, or similar technical functions.
Hours & Work Schedule
- Hours per Week: 40
- Work Schedule: Full-time
Pay Transparency
The salary range for this position is $176,000 - $227,000 per year, plus an opportunity to earn an annual discretionary bonus. Actual pay is based on various factors including but not limited to the budget, work location, and relevant skills and experience.
We offer competitive pay, comprehensive medical, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, maternity/paternity leave, flexible work arrangements, education reimbursement, wellness programs and more. Note, Citizens’ paid time off policy exceeds the mandatory, paid sick or paid time-away policy of every local and state jurisdiction in the United States. For an overview of our benefits, visit https://jobs.citizensbank.com/benefits.