SOC Analyst - Lv2 in Manchester

Methods is a £100M+ IT Services Consultancy who has partnered with a range of central government departments and agencies to transform the way the public sector operates in the UK. Established over 30 years ago and UK-based, we apply our skills in transformation, delivery, and collaboration from across the Methods Group, to create end-to-end business and technical solutions that are people-centred, safe, and designed for the future.

Role summary

As a Level 2 SOC Analyst, you are the senior technical responder within the secure operations team, responsible for owning security incidents end-to-end using the Microsoft security platform. You will act as the escalation point for Level 1 analysts and as the technical lead during active incidents, conducting deep investigations across Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender XDR, and Entra ID to validate threats, contain attackers, and coordinate remediation.

Responsibilities

• Incident investigation & response (primary focus)

• Act as an escalation point for all security alerts raised by Level 1 analysts
• Validate incidents and determine severity, scope, root cause, and business impact
• Lead technical investigations using:

• Microsoft Sentinel (KQL, analytics rules, workbooks, hunting)
• Microsoft Defender XDR (Endpoint, Identity, Office 365, Cloud Apps)
• Entra ID (Azure AD) sign-in and audit logs

• Serve as technical incident lead during major security events
• Provide accurate, timely updates to IT, security leadership, and affected teams
• Maintain clear case management, documentation, and shift handovers within Sentinel/ITSM tooling
• Contribute to operational reporting: incident volumes, time to detect / contain, alert fidelity, repeat incident drivers
• Participate in a business-hours operating model with an on-call rotation for out-of-hours incidents
• Act as a trusted technical point of contact for SOC service discussions, supporting leadership in understanding risk, response options, and technical trade-offs during live incidents

• Tune Sentinel analytics rules to reduce false positives and missed threats
• Improve correlation logic, entity mapping, and severity scoring
• Develop and maintain: Sentinel investigation playbooks, incident response runbooks, triage guides for Defender alerts
• Build and refine SOAR workflows using Logic Apps / Sentinel automation rules
• Perform quality assurance on Level 1 investigations and provide structured coaching feedback
• Introduce threat-informed detection improvements based on real incidents and Microsoft threat intelligence
• Take ownership of defined components of the SOC, MDR, or XDR service, ensuring they are operationally effective, well documented, and aligned to current threat and platform capabilities
• Identify gaps in detection coverage, tooling, or process maturity and propose practical, Microsoft aligned improvements
• Support service innovation by evaluating and piloting new Microsoft security features, detection approaches, and automation capabilities, assessing their operational value before wider adoption
• Translate incident learnings into service improvements, updated playbooks, enhanced automation, and refined escalation models

• Provide informal technical leadership to Level 1 analysts through mentoring, coaching, and example, raising investigation quality and analyst confidence
• Set and reinforce expectations for investigative rigour, documentation quality, and decision making within the SOC
• Work closely with: Microsoft 365 administrators, Identity and access management teams, Endpoint engineering, Cloud platform teams
• Support onboarding of new Microsoft data connectors and Defender features
• Advise on security telemetry requirements for new services or architectural changes

What Success Looks Like

• Incidents are accurately classified and contained quickly
• Sentinel alert quality continuously improves
• Stakeholders trust SOC technical judgement and communication
• Level 1 analysts steadily increase investigation quality and independence
• Playbooks and automation remain current and operationally useful
• The service is viewed as proactive, technically credible, and continuously improving

Requirements

• 2+ years' experience in a SOC or security operations role with ownership of complex investigations
• Strong hands-on experience with:

• Microsoft Sentinel (KQL querying, investigations, analytics rules)
• Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
• Defender for Office 365
• Defender for Identity
• Defender for Cloud Apps
• Entra ID (Azure AD) logs and Conditional Access

• Windows internals and endpoint telemetry
• Identity-based attacks and token abuse
• Email threat techniques
• Common attacker TTPs and kill chains

Certifications (desirable): Microsoft SC-200, SC-100 / SC-300, CompTIA CySA+ / Security+, GIAC certifications (GCIH, GCIA, GMON), Security Blue Team Level 2

Working pattern

Monday to Friday, business hours Participation in a rotating on-call schedule for evenings/weekends to support major security incidents

Benefits

Methods is passionate about its people; we want our colleagues to develop the things they are good at and enjoy. By joining us you can expect autonomy to develop and grow your skills and experience, be part of exciting project work that is making a difference in society, strong leadership, and a supportive environment.

• Development – access to LinkedIn Learning, a management development programme, and training
• Wellness – 24/7 confidential employee assistance programme
• Flexible Working – including home working and part time
• Social – office parties, breakfast Tuesdays, monthly pizza Thursdays, Thirsty Thursdays, and charitable causes
• Time Off – 25 days of annual leave a year, plus bank holidays, with the option to buy 5 extra days each year
• Volunteering – 2 paid days per year to volunteer in local communities or within a charity organisation
• Pension – Salary Exchange Scheme with 4% employer contribution and 5% employee contribution
• Life Assurance – 4 times base salary
• Private Medical Insurance – non-contributory (spouse and dependants included)
• Worldwide Travel Insurance – non-contributory (spouse and dependants included)
• Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Pay
• Travel – season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme

Full benefits details available on methods.co.uk/careers/benefits