Governance, Risk & Compliance Director

TX-HHSC-DSHS-DFPS • Austin, TX

1d • Onsite

About The Position

This position is open to permanent residents or US citizens only.

The GRC Director serves as the senior leader for Governance, Risk, and Compliance functions within the HHSC Office of the Chief Information Security Officer. This position directs enterprise cybersecurity governance frameworks, risk management programs, and compliance oversight to ensure HHSC information systems and services meet federal and state cybersecurity requirements, including NIST 800-53 Rev. 5, MARS-E 2.0, HIPAA, Texas DIR standards, and HHSC security policies.

The role provides executive oversight of Authorization to Operate (ATO) governance, System Security Plans (SSPs), Security Assessment Reports (SARs), Plans of Action and Milestones (POA&Ms), Risk-Based Decisions (RBDs), Vendor Risk Management, Insider Risk Management, security awareness compliance, and audit readiness. The GRC Director ensures cybersecurity risks impacting confidentiality, integrity, and availability are consistently identified, documented, mitigated, or formally accepted in a defensible manner.

Requirements

• Expert knowledge of NIST 800-53 Rev. 5, MARS-E 2.0, HIPAA Security Rule, and Texas DIR cybersecurity standards.
• Advanced knowledge of Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) frameworks.
• Proven leadership skills in ATO governance, POA&M and SAR oversight, vendor risk, insider risk, and RBD processes.
• Highly skilled with GRC tools such as Archer or equivalent platforms.
• Ability to communicate cybersecurity risk to executive and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to maintain the security and integrity of critical infrastructure systems by preventing unauthorized access and ensuring compliance with laws and regulations related to national security and foreign ownership restrictions
• Professional certifications: CISSP, CISM, CRISC, CISA, CGRC or GRCP
• Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with major coursework in information technology security, computer information systems, computer science, management information systems, or a related field is strongly preferred. Education and experience may be substituted for one another on a year for year basis.
• Seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in: Cybersecurity governance, risk, or compliance Security authorization (Authorization to Operate or ATO) processes A Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) management

Nice To Haves

• Ten (10) or more years of cybersecurity GRC leadership experience.
• Experience in state or federal government or healthcare environments.
• Leadership experience in vendor risk and insider risk programs.
• Experience briefing executives and supporting high-visibility audits.

Responsibilities

• Direct HHSC’s enterprise cybersecurity governance, risk, and compliance programs.
• Establish risk management frameworks, tolerance thresholds, escalation procedures, and reporting mechanisms.
• Provide executive-level risk posture reporting and compliance dashboards.
• Ensure alignment of cybersecurity governance with HHSC strategic objectives and regulatory obligations.
• Lead and oversee ATO and ATO renewal processes for HHSC systems and applications.
• Coordinate with system owners, ISSOs, assessors, auditors, and Authorizing Officials.
• Validate ATO artifacts including SSPs, SARs, POA&Ms, and RBDs.
• Facilitate executive risk acceptance and authorization decisions.
• Direct lifecycle management of POA&Ms for remediation of security findings.
• Review and validate SARs, compensating controls, and residual risk statements.
• Monitor remediation progress and escalate overdue or systemic risk items.
• Oversee development and maintenance of SSPs aligned with NIST and MARS-E.
• Ensure SSPs accurately reflect system boundaries, implemented controls, and operating environments.
• Provide authoritative guidance on control documentation standards.
• Direct cybersecurity risk management for vendors and third-party service providers.
• Review vendor security artifacts including TxRAMP packages, SOC reports, security questionnaires, and contract clauses.
• Provide cybersecurity risk input into procurement, contract negotiations, and renewals.
• Ensure vendor risks are mitigated or formally accepted.
• Lead insider risk governance in collaboration with IAM, SOC, HR, Legal, and Privacy.
• Assess risks related to privileged access, user behavior, and data handling.
• Ensure insider risk decisions and investigations are properly documented.
• Oversee development, review, and lifecycle tracking of RBD documentation.
• Ensure risk acceptance decisions are documented, approved, and periodically reassessed.
• Provide audit-defensible evidence of executive risk decisions.
• Direct cybersecurity tabletop exercises and scenario-based simulations.
• Coordinate participation across technical, legal, privacy, and executive teams.
• Track lessons learned and corrective actions.
• Oversee security awareness and role-based training compliance.
• Monitor completion metrics and audit reporting.
• Promote agency-wide cybersecurity culture.
• Serve as senior liaison to internal audit, external auditors, DIR, CMS, and oversight entities.
• Direct preparation of compliance evidence and audit responses.
• Ensure GRC documentation is audit-ready and defensible.
• Lead development, maintenance, and enforcement of HHSC cybersecurity policies, standards, and procedures.
• Ensure agency security policies remain aligned with evolving federal, state, DIR, and regulatory requirements.
• Coordinate policy exception requests and ensure approved exceptions are documented through Risk-Based Decisions (RBDs).
• Oversee continuous security control monitoring strategies in coordination with SOC, Infrastructure, and Application teams.
• Ensure security metrics, risk indicators, and compliance status are reported to CISO leadership on a recurring basis.
• Identify emerging threats and systemic risk trends and recommend mitigation strategies.
• Partner with Data Governance and Privacy Offices to ensure data classification, protection, and privacy controls are integrated into risk decisions.
• Ensure privacy risks (PII/PHI) are considered in SSPs, SARs, vendor risk reviews, and RBDs.
• Coordinate cybersecurity risk input into Business Impact Analyses (BIA), Disaster Recovery (DR), and Business Continuity (BCP) planning.
• Validate recovery strategies and backup controls align with system risk and availability requirements.
• Provide risk-based input into cybersecurity funding requests, exceptional items (EI), and technology investment proposals.
• Support workforce planning and capability development for GRC functions.
• Provides strategic direction and oversight to GRC managers, analysts, and support staff.
• Assigns work, reviews performance, and ensures staff development.
• Coordinates cross-functional teams and working groups.
• Perform other job-related duties as assigned by the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Deputy CISO, or agency executive leadership to support mission requirements, emerging regulatory mandates, or agency priorities.

Benefits

• comprehensive benefits package includes 100% paid employee health insurance for full-time eligible employees, a defined benefit pension plan, generous time off benefits, numerous opportunities for career advancement and more

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level