OPT IT Security Specialist Jobs
IT Security Specialist roles qualify as specialty occupations under OPT, making them a strong fit for F-1 students with degrees in cybersecurity, computer science, or information systems. STEM OPT extension eligibility gives you up to three years of work authorization, which is enough time to secure H-1B visa sponsorship.
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Get Access To All JobsJob Title: Senior IT Security Compliance Analyst
Location: Lansing, MI, (Hybrid)-Onsite from day 1, two days a week
Position Type: Contract
Interview Mode: 1st round MS Teams & 2nd round In-person
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Vision insurance
This is a repost of posting ID # 166272. Please note added requirement (Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) -3+ years (Keylight preferred)).
Job responsibilities:
- Provide leadership and oversight for maintaining and updating System Security Plans (SSPs), ensuring documentation accuracy, completeness, and alignment with NIST protocol and SOM compliance standards.
- Lead and coordinate the Authority to Operate (ATO) renewal process, including planning, preparing required materials, managing timelines, and ensuring successful approval and continuous compliance for all supported applications.
- Ensure all applications maintain a valid ATO on a three‑year cycle and lead efforts to validate and maintain accurate security controls throughout each renewal period.
- Reviews and informs management on security risk assessment results and recommends corrective actions as necessary.
- Reviews, assesses risks and scope for high level security incidents. Develops new reports for management based on those collected metrics across multiple agencies: conducts trend analysis.
- Work with stakeholders to address and track Plans of Action & Milestones (POA&Ms) and other compliance requirements, ensuring timely reporting and closure.
- Provide senior‑level support across multiple business areas, MDCR, MCSC & MiLEAP, with a focus on standardized security plan updates, documentation improvements, and long‑term process consistency.
- Analyze existing compliance documentation, identify gaps or risks, and guide corrective actions to meet regulatory and organizational requirements.
- Coordinate cross‑functional collaboration with technical teams, business owners, enterprise security personnel, and project leadership to ensure all evidence and artifacts required for SSP and ATO processes are properly completed and maintained.
- Oversee review, updates, and remediation of security controls, ensuring issues are tracked, communicated, and resolved in collaboration with stakeholders.
- Lead efforts to identify procedural gaps, risks, or required updates during renewal cycles, ensuring consistent application of best practices across all supported systems.
- Contribute to enterprise security governance by providing guidance, maintaining accurate records, mentoring team members, and driving timely completion of compliance activities.
- Leads mid to high‑level Incident Responses when working to resolve incidents.
- Serves as the Incident response specialist for cyber event detection, correlation, response, and recovery.
Job Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in cyber security, Information Assurance, Business Analytics, or IT Related Field
- OR: 5 years of experience
- Preferred Advanced Degrees, Master’s in Cybersecurity, Information Assurance, Information Systems / IT Leadership, or an MBA with an IT or Security Concentration
- Educational or professional knowledge of NIST Framework and Controls a must
- Strong aptitude for written and oral communication
- Strong documentation skills
- Can collaborate cross‑functionally
Skill | Required / Desired | Required Years of experience
Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) -3+ years | Required | 3+ years
Experience providing audit evidence to comply with security standards such as NIST, PCI, HIPPA, FERPA | Required | 5 Years
Exposure to Complex IT web Applications, within the past 5 years | Required | 5 Years
Experience leading meetings and making oral and written reports | Required | 5 Years
Experience working as a liaison between different business and IT areas | Required | 5 Years
Knowledge or experience creating supporting documentation for IT system audits | Highly Desired | 2 Years
Experience with the creation of Disaster Recover Plans, Business Continuity Plans, and Incident Response Plans | Highly Desired | 2 Years
Keylight experience strong desired | Highly Desired | 1-3+ years
Flexible work from home options available.
Job Title: Senior IT Security Compliance Analyst
Location: Lansing, MI, (Hybrid)-Onsite from day 1, two days a week
Position Type: Contract
Interview Mode: 1st round MS Teams & 2nd round In-person
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Vision insurance
This is a repost of posting ID # 166272. Please note added requirement (Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) -3+ years (Keylight preferred)).
Job responsibilities:
- Provide leadership and oversight for maintaining and updating System Security Plans (SSPs), ensuring documentation accuracy, completeness, and alignment with NIST protocol and SOM compliance standards.
- Lead and coordinate the Authority to Operate (ATO) renewal process, including planning, preparing required materials, managing timelines, and ensuring successful approval and continuous compliance for all supported applications.
- Ensure all applications maintain a valid ATO on a three‑year cycle and lead efforts to validate and maintain accurate security controls throughout each renewal period.
- Reviews and informs management on security risk assessment results and recommends corrective actions as necessary.
- Reviews, assesses risks and scope for high level security incidents. Develops new reports for management based on those collected metrics across multiple agencies: conducts trend analysis.
- Work with stakeholders to address and track Plans of Action & Milestones (POA&Ms) and other compliance requirements, ensuring timely reporting and closure.
- Provide senior‑level support across multiple business areas, MDCR, MCSC & MiLEAP, with a focus on standardized security plan updates, documentation improvements, and long‑term process consistency.
- Analyze existing compliance documentation, identify gaps or risks, and guide corrective actions to meet regulatory and organizational requirements.
- Coordinate cross‑functional collaboration with technical teams, business owners, enterprise security personnel, and project leadership to ensure all evidence and artifacts required for SSP and ATO processes are properly completed and maintained.
- Oversee review, updates, and remediation of security controls, ensuring issues are tracked, communicated, and resolved in collaboration with stakeholders.
- Lead efforts to identify procedural gaps, risks, or required updates during renewal cycles, ensuring consistent application of best practices across all supported systems.
- Contribute to enterprise security governance by providing guidance, maintaining accurate records, mentoring team members, and driving timely completion of compliance activities.
- Leads mid to high‑level Incident Responses when working to resolve incidents.
- Serves as the Incident response specialist for cyber event detection, correlation, response, and recovery.
Job Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in cyber security, Information Assurance, Business Analytics, or IT Related Field
- OR: 5 years of experience
- Preferred Advanced Degrees, Master’s in Cybersecurity, Information Assurance, Information Systems / IT Leadership, or an MBA with an IT or Security Concentration
- Educational or professional knowledge of NIST Framework and Controls a must
- Strong aptitude for written and oral communication
- Strong documentation skills
- Can collaborate cross‑functionally
Skill | Required / Desired | Required Years of experience
Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) -3+ years | Required | 3+ years
Experience providing audit evidence to comply with security standards such as NIST, PCI, HIPPA, FERPA | Required | 5 Years
Exposure to Complex IT web Applications, within the past 5 years | Required | 5 Years
Experience leading meetings and making oral and written reports | Required | 5 Years
Experience working as a liaison between different business and IT areas | Required | 5 Years
Knowledge or experience creating supporting documentation for IT system audits | Highly Desired | 2 Years
Experience with the creation of Disaster Recover Plans, Business Continuity Plans, and Incident Response Plans | Highly Desired | 2 Years
Keylight experience strong desired | Highly Desired | 1-3+ years
Flexible work from home options available.
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Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding OPT Sponsorship as an IT Security Specialist
Target employers with established security teams
Large enterprises in finance, healthcare, and defense typically have dedicated security operations centers and HR processes built around sponsoring specialized technical roles. Smaller companies often lack the infrastructure to sponsor efficiently, even when they want to.
Align your degree field with your job title
USCIS scrutinizes whether your degree directly relates to the role. A cybersecurity or information systems degree maps cleanly to IT Security Specialist. If your degree is in a adjacent field, document how your coursework covers security fundamentals specifically.
Pursue relevant security certifications before applying
Credentials like CompTIA Security+, CISSP, or CEH signal job-readiness to hiring managers and strengthen your OPT specialty occupation argument. Employers sponsoring visas want candidates who reduce risk, and certifications reduce perceived hiring risk considerably.
Raise OPT proactively, not reactively
Bring up your OPT status before the offer stage, ideally after a strong first interview. Framing it as a straightforward administrative step rather than a burden gives employers confidence and avoids last-minute surprises that can derail offers.
Emphasize your STEM OPT timeline clearly
Many hiring managers confuse standard 12-month OPT with the 36-month STEM extension. Explaining that your timeline gives them three years before any H-1B visa decision is required often resolves sponsorship hesitation from employers unfamiliar with the process.
Focus your search on OPT-friendly employers
Not every company is experienced with OPT sponsorship. Migrate Mate filters IT Security Specialist jobs by sponsorship history, so you spend time on employers already comfortable with the process rather than educating companies from scratch.
IT Security Specialist OPT: Frequently Asked Questions
Does an IT Security Specialist role qualify as a specialty occupation for OPT?
Yes. IT Security Specialist positions consistently qualify as specialty occupations because they require at least a bachelor's degree in a specific technical field such as cybersecurity, information systems, or computer science. USCIS has approved thousands of petitions for security-focused roles, making this one of the more defensible specialty occupation arguments available to F-1 OPT students.
Am I eligible for the STEM OPT extension as an IT Security Specialist?
Most IT Security Specialists qualify for the 24-month STEM OPT extension, which extends your total work authorization to 36 months. Your undergraduate or graduate degree must appear on the DHS STEM designated degree program list, which includes cybersecurity, computer science, information technology, and most engineering disciplines. Your employer must also be enrolled in E-Verify.
How do I find IT Security Specialist jobs where employers are open to OPT?
The most efficient approach is to focus on employers with a documented history of sponsoring work visas for technical roles. Migrate Mate lists IT Security Specialist positions from employers already familiar with OPT and H-1B sponsorship, which significantly shortens your search compared to filtering through general postings and cold-calling HR departments about their sponsorship policies.
What happens to my OPT authorization if my IT Security Specialist job ends?
You enter a 60-day grace period from the date your employment ends. During this window, you can search for a new IT Security Specialist role, change your program, or prepare to depart. If you're on the STEM OPT extension, you must also report the job change to your DSO within 10 days and update your SEVP portal record.
Can I work as a contractor or on a project basis as an IT Security Specialist on OPT?
Contract and consulting arrangements are permitted on OPT, but your work must remain directly related to your degree field and constitute genuine employment rather than self-employment through your own business entity. Short-term security consulting projects through a staffing firm or direct client engagement are generally acceptable. Document each engagement carefully in case USCIS reviews your OPT period during a future H-1B petition.