Security, Privacy & GRC - Security
Physical Security Systems Engineer
IC / Practitioner
Independently auditedProtects the company's systems, data, and customers from real adversaries. Owns a defined area of the function and the outcomes it produces.
Audited package
Built, independently audited role package. Everything on this page is written for this seat.
Your Stack (Swappable)
This role works against whatever tools you already run. We list the tool categories the role operates in, never a named vendor, so you are never asked to replace a system that works.
- Workplace & Facilities
- Video / VMS
- Alarms / intrusion
- Identity & Access (SSO/IAM)
- Device health / network
- HRIS & Payroll
Deliverables
- Detection rules and tuning notes
- Risk and architecture reviews
- Incident write-ups
- Control evidence packs
Responsibilities
- Design and deploy access control for new and existing sites - controller/reader placement, access-level structure, and fail-safe vs. fail-secure per door driven by life-safety
- Design and maintain video surveillance (VMS/CCTV) coverage, time-sync, and retention so footage is usable in an investigation
- Deploy and monitor intrusion/alarm systems and visitor-management flows, with defined zones and response
- Run a device-health discipline - verify cameras, readers, and controllers on a cadence; drive mean-time-to-repair down
- Tie the badge/credential lifecycle to the employment lifecycle (joiner/mover/leaver), with same-day revoke for terminations
- Advance physical-logical convergence - one identity lifecycle for badge and system access, and secure the networked devices themselves
- Assemble access-and-video timelines to support incident investigations, and prep physical-security audits
- Manage integrators and vendors through installs, service, and standards conformance
The essence of this seat
The Physical Security Systems Engineer deploys and runs the technical systems that protect people and facilities - access control and badging (the PACS/ACS), video surveillance (CCTV/VMS), intrusion and alarm systems, and visitor management - plus the growing convergence of physical and logical security, where badge credentials and networked devices share an identity lifecycle with IT.
Signature move
Verify before you trust a device. On any health, deployment, or incident task, the first move is to confirm the affected cameras, readers, and controllers are actually reporting and healthy - a device that has not been verified is not working, and a silent failure surfaces during the incident, too late
What good looks like
decides per door on life-safety/egress first, security second - egress paths fail-safe (unlocked), non-egress high-value doors fail-secure (locked) with inside egress preserved; can justify each individually rather than blanket-setting; and confirms the life-safety envelope with the building code / Fire-Life-Safety / AHJ rather than signing it alone
Decision rights
- - system design and configuration, device placement and health standards, access-level structure, and maintenance cadence
Working vocabulary
What this role does
The Physical Security Systems Engineer deploys and runs the technical systems that protect people and facilities - access control and badging (the PACS/ACS), video surveillance (CCTV/VMS), intrusion and alarm systems, and visitor management - plus the growing convergence of physical and logical security, where badge credentials and networked devices share an identity lifecycle with IT. They design and deploy these systems for new and existing sites, keep them healthy, and make sure the data (who badged where, what a camera saw) is trustworthy and retrievable when security or an investigation needs it. This is typically an individual-contributor role, reporting to a Physical Security Lead, Head of Security, or Facilities/Security manager, and accountable for reliable, audited physical-security infrastructure - not for surveillance-privacy, life-safety, or active-incident-response decisions, which carry legal and safety weight and escalate to the accountable owner. What separates great from average is treating physical systems as reliable, audited infrastructure: badge access that mirrors the employment lifecycle, cameras and readers that actually work when needed, and a system of record that stands up in an investigation - not a pile of devices that quietly drift out of service.
Best-fit customer
security teams that need consistent triage, review, and evidence quality
Need more than one role?
Buying the whole team or the complete department lowers your effective cost per role at every tier of the ladder.