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Paul Oyola

@pauloyola

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I am a strategic cybersecurity leader turning cloud, OT, and AI risks into actionable security roadmaps.

United States

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What I'm looking for

I am seeking a senior engineer/architect with leadership role to build and scale cloud, OT, and AI-aware security programs, advise executives, drive measurable risk reduction, and embed DevSecOps and automation across cross-functional teams.

I am a strategic cybersecurity architect and program leader with 20+ years of experience and CISSP certification, focused on translating cloud, OT, and AI risks into board-level outcomes. I have built and governed security programs aligned to NIST CSF, ISO 27001, SOC 2 and NERC, delivering measurable risk reduction (20%) and compliance artifacts for regulated environments.

I combine hands-on engineering with executive communication—leading migrations, DevSecOps, threat hunting, and incident response while mentoring teams and embedding AI/ML where it improves detection and automation. I consistently deliver zero-incident go-lives, reduce analyst toil, and drive cross-functional initiatives that improve security KPIs and business resilience.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

AI Security Researcher

Current

Decisive Algorithms

Oct 2024 - Jun 2025 (8 months)

Researching AI security implementation from security AI models, AI best practices, ethics, current legislation landscape.

AI AI ML AI Technologies AI Security Agents AI Service Implementation AI Governance AI Agent Creation

SOC Analyst

Ingram Micro

May 2024 - Aug 2024 (3 months)

Launched a threat-hunting program and trained an international SOC, improving response time by 10% and integrating threat intelligence into the XDR platform to enhance proactive detection and executive reporting.

Threat Hunting SIEM Threat Intelligence SOC Incident Response Security Monitoring Leadership

Security Engineer

MUFG

Jun 2020 - May 2024 (3 years 11 months)

Served as web application security contact point for company 's main financial customer web portal. Was part of the SOC team during incidents, conducted network investigations, and constructed detailed playbooks reducing time to resolution times by 20%.

WAF Security Engineering Security Architecture Security Compliance

Principal Security Architect

Grid Security

Sep 2022 - Jul 2023 (10 months)

Authored and executed a security strategy that cut organizational cyber risk 20% and ensured NERC compliance across OT/IT environments, instituting metrics for quarterly board reviews.

Risk Management Security Architecture Compliance Policy Development Board Reporting Security Metrics Leadership

AWS Security Architect

Metabank

Mar 2022 - Sep 2022 (6 months)

Directed a secure AWS migration with zero security incidents during go-live and embedded DevSecOps into CI/CD, lowering deployment vulnerabilities by 30%.

AWS Cloud Security DevSecOps CI CD Cloud Migration WAF Vulnerability Management Incident Response Leadership

Information Security Architect

VMware

Nov 2020 - Mar 2022 (1 year 4 months)

Led security architecture reviews to ensure applications met compliance requirements. Reduced threat detection time, designed AWS logging and monitoring strategies,

Threat Modeling Threat Detection Threat Assessment Threat Intelligence

IT Security Manager

Cavco Industries

May 2019 - May 2020 (1 year)

Established security standards program working with key stakeholders. Led incident response and forensic analysis, reducing recurrence of incidents by 25%. Configured Sophos firewall networks, decreasing malware incidents by 50%.

Security Architecture Security Compliance Security Engineering Firewalls SIEM Platforms Project Management Leadership

Senior Security Architect

Ditech Holdings

May 2018 - Apr 2019 (11 months)

Led security reviews and threat modeling sessions, improving application security posture. Collaborated with development teams to secure AWS environments with native security tools. Established a penetration testing program, identifying and mitigating critical vulnerabilities. Provided artifacts for SOX2 and 3rd party compliance.

Security Architecture Security Compliance Project Management Leadership Policy Development Policy Management Policy Implementation Cloud Security Threat Modeling

Senior Information Security Architect

Arcadis

Sep 2015 - May 2018 (2 years 8 months)

Designed and secured SCADA and business networks, ensuring ISA-99 compliance. Developed security frameworks for operational technology (OT) environments. Collaborated with executive stakeholders on high-profile projects securing ICS.

Security Architecture Project Management Leadership Threat Modeling Operational Technology (OT)SCADA Security Purdue Model Framework

Network Security Engineer

No Blink Media

Jul 2010 - Aug 2015 (5 years 1 month)

Designed and deployed secure business networks, increasing client retention by 25%. Configured IPSec VPNs, enhancing data security and remote access. Led WAN upgrade projects, improving network performance by 30%. Integrated Cisco VOIP solutions across multiple locations.

Security Architecture Project Management Leadership Firewalls SIEM Routers Network Security Network Engineering Network Management

Systems Administrator

Human Resources Agency of NYC

Nov 2005 - Jun 2010 (4 years 7 months)

Led 2 branch wide migration projects that involved approximately $750K worth of equipment. Managed branch locations hosting public city programs serving thousands of residents. Maintained network uptime, addressed infrastructure issues, and aging hardware. Conducted risk assessments and served as a member of the IT Emergency Response Team.

Project Management Networking Network Security Endpoint Security Local Area Networking Linux Server Administration Windows Server Administrator Server And Network Infrastructure Implementations

Network Engineer

Lloyd Staffing

Nov 2003 - Jun 2005 (1 year 7 months)

Installed & configured Cisco equipment in the financial, and education sectors. Maintained datacenter – managed upgrades, connectivity issues, migrations, decommissioning.

Networking Local Area Networking Server And Network Infrastructure Implementations

Education

Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework

MIT Professional Education

Certificate, Artificial Intelligence

2023 - 2023

Learned the algorithms that run AI ML initiatives and the use cases for each algorithm. The course also gave me a look into practical data science applications.