Compass Security seeking new leader in Toronto
My name is Ivan Bütler and I'm the co-founder of Compass Security, a leading cyber security company based in Switzerland with five offices worldwide. Compass Security opened its Canadian office in Toronto five years ago. Shortly before COVID, we lost our CEO due to a health issue, consequently resulting in closing the Toronto office. We’re excited to announce that 2024 signals the reopening of our Toronto office! I am delighted to meet with the community to find our future Business Development Specialist and acting CEO.
Let’s talk
I’m actively engaged in conversations with interested people, on-site, in Toronto. This article is my attempt to provide context for the role and the challenge ahead. Reach out to me.
Our Approach
Compass Security has grown organically over the last 25 years. It is part of our DNA to develop business models and business cases organically. In particular, this means that we won’t be acquiring other smaller security companies for our growth. We’re looking for someone who knows the Canadian cyber security market, is well connected and able to leverage our infrastructure and expertise to benefit our Canadian customers. For the initial phase, we’ll staff Canadian projects with our experienced security analysts from Europe. With our growth in creating successful engagements, our local Canadian cyber security office will grow to a team of 20 people within five years.
Motivation for Toronto
Five years ago, we decided to expand our business to Canada. We consider Toronto to be the center of the financial and insurance industry, just as Zurich is for Switzerland. Most of Compass Security’s customers are leaders in these industries. In addition, its part of our DNA to create new opportunities for our employees by allowing employees from Europe to work in Canada for a few weeks or months, or for Canadian employees to work in Europe. Our employees are very important to us, on average our employee retention is five years or more. And, creating valuable, diverse working opportunities abroad is an important aspect of our strategy in retaining top talent in our sector.
Synergy
Our employees and the provision of high-quality tools and methods for our cyber security services are very important to us. Our know-how is managed in our test cases. All analysts (pentesters, red teaming, bug bounty, and DFIR) benefit from our know-how because we leverage a sophisticated methodology among all our teams, worldwide. Our new Business Development Specialist in Canada will establish a trusting business relationship with Canadian companies with support from our European offices. As soon as there is sufficient demand, we’ll build up the cyber security team with local talent in Canada.
Security Analyst Strategy
We employ security analysts as permanent hires at Compass Security. We do not allow the use of freelancers for the provision of cyber security services, as we maintain a binding relationship with clients and employees through Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA). This is an advantage for employees because they are part of our team, promoting both continuity and trust. We expect our security analysts to work 100% at the start of their employment, but after 2–3 years a part-time position is also possible.
The Ask
The ideal person for this role is already at home in the Toronto Area, and has built up a trusted cyber security network in our target industry.
It is not necessary for this person to be able to perform penetration testing or technical analysis themselves, but we do require the ability to work with clients to specify the scope of work including in-depth knowledge of clients’ requirements, procedures, limitations of penetration testing, security analysis, social engineering, red teaming engagements, bug bounty services and cyber security training.
In addition, the new Business Development Specialist and acting CEO will be able to negotiate contracts and coordinate the timing and content of engagements supported by Compass Security talent. Our new leader in Canada must be able to recruit a local team of specialists, supervise them and enable them to provide high quality services.
Can Compass Security Canada be described as a start-up?
Yes. There is currently no base of existing customers in Canada and building a team will feel similar to building a start-up. In addition, it will be necessary to initiate certain marketing and PR activities in Canada and own the local office P&L and the planning of resources.
Compass Security Group
Compass Security is organized in a holding structure, with each country having its own legal entity. The CEOs of the respective legal entities meet regularly to discuss know-how topics and coordinate joint projects, ideas and visions. The holding company is responsible for financing, HR, CISO and DPO.
Interested?
If you find this article interesting, you can view the official job description at the following link. If you are not interested yourself, but perhaps know someone who is, we would be delighted if you would forward this article to them.
Disclaimer
Applicants must already be legally able to work in Canada and must be residing in the General Toronto Area (GTA). Unfortunately, we are unable to consider applicants from the US, Europe or other countries for this position.
Thank You
Thank you for reading. If you’ve made it this far and would like to know more about the position or the offer, please contact me at ivan.buetler@compass-security.com
