MSS Security Specialist

ABOUT NOOKS

Nooks is pioneering Classified-Infrastructure-as-a-Service (CIaaS) — designing, building, and operating Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs) and other secured, classified environments for the defense and national security community. We work with the agencies, contractors, and mission-driven organizations that keep the nation safe, delivering the physical infrastructure that makes classified work possible. We’re growing fast, operating across multiple markets, and building a company that takes both the mission and the business seriously.

About the Role

Through our Managed Security Services (MSS) product line, we serve as the outsourced security function for a growing portfolio of defense tech companies and mission-driven organizations navigating the complex, opaque world of government security compliance. Our MSS team is the outsourced Facility Security Officer (FSO) behind that portfolio.

Every cleared company MSS serves, has the same core security workload — processing clearances, authorizing visits, running self-inspections, and tracking training — executed reliably and on deadline across a portfolio of clients. As a Security Specialist, you will deliver that day-to-day FSO-as-a-service workload, reporting to the Group Lead as a team contributor. You support under each client's appointed FSO; MSS staff act as  Assistant FSOs (AFSOs) to manage operational execution, and not as the client’s appointed FSO. 

In MSS, we move fast. Delivering security operations across a multi-client portfolio means managing high-volume tasks simultaneously, context-switching between client environments, and maintaining strict SLA turnarounds. We’re looking for a proactive, detail-oriented problem-solver who thrives in a deadline-driven environment, handles high-volume compliance workflows with precision, and is ready to lean in wherever a client's security program needs support. 

Key Responsibilities

Client Security Administration

• Initiate and manage personnel security actions  in DISS (Defense Information System for Security) and NBIS (National Background Investigation Services), maintaining accurate, and up-to-date records across your assigned client portfolio. 
• Process visit authorization  requests and maintain personnel access rosters, and manage key management records under each client’s appointed FSO.
• Guide client employees through security-questionnaire submissions in eApp, working directly inside client's systems to ensure accuracy and complete documentation. 

Compliance Readiness & Self-Inspections

• Execute annual 32 CFR Part 117 — National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM) — self-inspections and keep client documentation audit-ready year-round.
• Track corrective action plans to closure following self-inspections or government reviews so findings are resolved promptly.
• Monitor periodic reinvestigation (PR) timelines across your assigned accounts to ensure no clearance actions go overdue.

Insider Threat & Training Support

• Support each client's Insider Threat Program, assisting with the intake and documentation of reportable and adverse information for the client's designated official.
• Deliver, track, and record all  initial, annual, and specialized security briefings and training across your assigned accounts to ensure clients remain fully compliant.
• Maintain complete briefing, debriefing, and training records required for client audit readiness.

Client Service & Communication

• Manage a multi-client caseload while consistently meeting or exceeding service-level agreement (SLA) turnaround times for routine security requests.
• Communicate clearly and professionally with client employees, escalating gray-area, or high-risk compliance matters to a Senior Security Specialist or Group Lead.
• Standardize notes and casework documentation so teammates can seamlessly cover client accounts when needed. 

What Success Looks Like in This Role

You handle day-to-day administrative execution across your assigned accounts with high precision — keeping personnel clearance actions, mandatory briefings, and system updates moving without operational bottlenecks. Clients and their appointed FSOs rely on your responsiveness and attention to detail, while DCSA security reviews for your accounts run smoothly thanks to your thorough, audit-ready records. You proactively identify routine compliance risks or missing data before they become audit issues, and as you build subject-matter expertise in NISPOM requirements and Nooks’ security software, you take on increasingly complex client requests with growing independence. 

Cross-Functional Expectations

You will work within the MSS team — collaborating with Senior Security Specialists and your Group Lead — as all MSS customer work is owned and delivered within MSS. Your internal collaboration helps balance portfolio workloads, resolve capacity bottlenecks early, and build your core compliance expertise through active casework. Externally, you support your clients' appointed FSOs and cleared personnel by executing daily administrative actions under the client's authority, escalating complex compliance questions, high-risk matters, or government interactions to senior teammates and leadership as needed. 

The Skillset

• 2-3 years of personnel or industrial security experience, or equivalent cleared-environment administrative experience.
• Working knowledge of 32 CFR Part 117 (NISPOM) and the FSO administrative scope — clearances, visits, self-inspections, insider threat, and training.
• Hands-on fluency with DISS and NBIS, and comfort learning each client's security systems.
• Strong attention to detail and deadline discipline across a high-volume, multi-client caseload.
• Clear written and verbal communication with client employees at every level.

Preferred:

• DCSA Center for Development of Security Excellence FSO curriculum, or Security Professional Education Development (SPeD) Security Fundamentals Professional Certification (SFPC).
• Experience with e-QIP/eApp and insider threat program support.
• Prior work in a defense-tech, startup, or multi-client services environment.

Eligibility & Clearance

Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States. An active Secret security clearance is required.