What is a Security Engineer at Ascension?

As a Security Engineer at Ascension, you are the primary defender of one of the largest nonprofit Catholic health systems in the United States. Your work directly safeguards the sensitive health data of millions of patients and ensures the operational resilience of a network that empowers over 99,000 associates. This is not just a technical role; it is a mission-critical position where your security architecture directly impacts patient care, privacy, and organizational trust.

At Ascension, the Security Engineer role spans highly complex, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. Depending on your specific team, you will either drive the technical implementation of cloud security posture management—securing GCP and Azure infrastructures, Kubernetes clusters, and AI workloads—or you will focus heavily on cybersecurity risk management, ensuring that technical controls align with stringent healthcare regulations and frameworks like NIST and ISO 27001.

This role requires a unique blend of deep technical expertise and strategic vision. You will be expected to move seamlessly between configuring Microsoft Defender or Google Security Command Center, writing Infrastructure as Code (IaC) to automate security pipelines, and presenting risk dashboards to executive leadership. If you thrive in high-stakes environments where security enables life-saving healthcare services, this role offers unparalleled scale, complexity, and purpose.

Common Interview Questions

While the exact questions will vary based on your interviewers and the specific focus of the team, the following patterns frequently appear in Ascension interviews. Use these to practice your structuring and delivery.

Cloud & Infrastructure Security

This category tests your hands-on ability to design, implement, and troubleshoot security controls across modern cloud environments.

• Walk me through the architecture of a CNAPP solution you have implemented. What challenges did you face?
• How do you secure a Kubernetes cluster (GKE or AKS) from the ground up?
• Describe a time you used Terraform to automate a security deployment.
• How would you correlate telemetry from Microsoft Defender and Google Security Command Center to identify a sophisticated threat?
• What specific security controls are necessary when deploying an AI/ML workload in Azure?

Risk Management & Frameworks

These questions assess your ability to operationalize compliance and manage the lifecycle of enterprise risks.

• How do you evaluate the maturity of an organization's cybersecurity controls using the NIST CSF?
• Walk me through your process for managing a risk register. How do you ensure findings are actually remediated?
• Tell me about a time you identified a critical risk but faced pushback from the engineering team on fixing it. How did you handle it?
• How do you ensure that risk management activities align with healthcare regulatory requirements like HIPAA?
• Describe your approach to creating a risk dashboard for executive leadership. What metrics do you include and why?

Identity & Access Management

Interviewers want to ensure you understand how to protect the organization's most critical boundary: user and machine identities.

• Explain the principles of Zero Trust and how you have practically applied them in a previous role.
• How do you design privileged identity management using tools like CyberArk?
• Walk me through how you would configure conditional access policies in Microsoft Entra ID for a remote workforce.
• How do you manage and secure non-human identities or service accounts in a multi-cloud environment?

Getting Ready for Your Interviews

To succeed in the interview process at Ascension, you must demonstrate a holistic understanding of enterprise security. Your interviewers will evaluate you across several core dimensions:

• Cloud Security & Architecture – You must prove your ability to design and secure multi-cloud environments (GCP and Azure). Interviewers will look for hands-on expertise with Cloud Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP), Kubernetes security, and threat detection mechanisms.
• Risk Management & Compliance – Because Ascension operates in a highly regulated healthcare environment, you will be evaluated on your fluency with industry frameworks (NIST CSF, ISO 27001, CIS) and your ability to map technical vulnerabilities to business risk.
• Identity & Zero Trust – You are expected to understand how to design and enforce strict access governance. Strong candidates will confidently discuss privileged identity management, conditional access, and tools like Microsoft Entra ID and CyberArk.
• Strategic Communication & Leadership – Interviewers will assess how well you translate complex technical risks into actionable insights for non-technical stakeholders. You must show that you can lead initiatives, influence peers, and drive a culture of security.

Interview Process Overview

The interview process for a Security Engineer at Ascension is designed to thoroughly evaluate both your technical depth and your alignment with the organization's mission and regulatory requirements. The process generally begins with an initial screening by a technical recruiter, who will assess your baseline experience, your familiarity with required frameworks, and your logistical alignment (such as remote work expectations and core hours).

Following the recruiter screen, you will typically meet with the hiring manager. This conversation focuses on your past experiences, your approach to solving enterprise-scale security problems, and your cultural fit within Ascension. If successful, you will advance to a series of technical and behavioral panel interviews. These rounds dive deeply into cloud architecture, risk assessment methodologies, scenario-based problem solving, and executive communication. You will be asked to walk through past architectures, explain how you evaluate and remediate vulnerabilities, and demonstrate your knowledge of multi-cloud security tools.

This visual timeline outlines the typical sequence of your interview stages, from the initial recruiter screen to the final panel interviews. Use this to pace your preparation, ensuring you review high-level risk concepts early on and reserve deep-dive technical architectural reviews for the later panel stages.

Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

Cloud Infrastructure & CNAPP Security

As Ascension operates a massive hybrid and multi-cloud footprint, your ability to secure these environments is paramount. Interviewers want to see that you can move beyond basic administration to actively architecting secure cloud postures. Strong performance here means demonstrating how you unify threat visibility across different cloud providers.

Be ready to go over:

• Multi-Cloud Posture Management – Correlating telemetry between Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Google Security Command Center.
• Container & Pipeline Security – Securing Kubernetes environments (GKE/AKS) and integrating security into DevOps pipelines.
• AI Workload Security – Applying NIST AI RMF standards to secure AI/ML workloads in Azure and GCP.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Integrating custom threat intelligence feeds into centralized SIEM/SOAR workflows, or building custom automation for automated threat response using Python or Go.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk me through how you would design a CNAPP solution to secure a newly deployed microservices architecture across both GCP and Azure."
• "How do you handle a scenario where Google Security Command Center flags a critical misconfiguration in a production GKE cluster?"
• "Explain your approach to securing an AI/ML workload in the cloud. What specific controls would you implement?"

Risk Management & Healthcare Compliance

In a healthcare environment, security is inextricably linked to compliance. You will be evaluated on your ability to operationalize security frameworks and manage the lifecycle of a risk. A strong candidate does not just identify risks but tracks them through to remediation while keeping leadership informed.

Be ready to go over:

• Framework Fluency – Deep knowledge of NIST CSF, NIST 800-30, ISO 27001, and CIS Controls.
• Risk Lifecycle Management – Evaluating control effectiveness, maintaining a risk register, and driving timely closure of findings.
• Regulatory Context – Understanding the unique constraints and requirements of the healthcare sector (e.g., HIPAA, protecting patient data).
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Conducting quantitative risk assessments or mapping complex third-party vendor risks to internal control sets.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Describe a time you evaluated an existing security control, found it lacking against the NIST CSF, and successfully implemented a remediation plan."
• "How do you prioritize vulnerabilities when you have a massive backlog and limited engineering resources?"
• "Walk me through how you prepare and present a risk dashboard to an executive who has no technical background."

Identity, Access Governance & Zero Trust

Identity is the new perimeter, especially in a remote-first, cloud-heavy organization. Interviewers will test your ability to enforce least-privilege access without crippling business operations.

Be ready to go over:

• Zero Trust Architecture – Implementing conditional access policies and continuous verification.
• Identity Platforms – Designing governance through Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD), CyberArk, and Duo.
• Privileged Access Management (PAM) – Securing administrative accounts and managing secrets in cloud environments.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Just-in-Time (JIT) access provisioning or securing non-human identities (service principals, workload identities).

Example questions or scenarios:

• "How would you design a conditional access policy in Microsoft Entra ID for a fully remote workforce accessing sensitive healthcare applications?"
• "Explain your strategy for rolling out CyberArk to secure privileged accounts across a legacy on-premises environment and a modern cloud environment."

Key Responsibilities

As a Security Engineer at Ascension, your day-to-day work will heavily depend on whether you lean toward the cloud architecture or the risk management side of the house, though both require cross-functional collaboration. You will spend a significant portion of your time managing and optimizing tools like Microsoft Defender and Google Security Command Center, ensuring that threat detection and endpoint protection are robust across all hybrid environments. This involves constantly tuning alerts, integrating posture management insights into SIEM/SOAR workflows, and automating responses where possible.

You will also be a key driver of security governance. This means actively managing identity and access controls via Microsoft Entra ID and CyberArk, enforcing Zero Trust principles across the organization. For those focused on risk, your days will involve evaluating current security controls against NIST and ISO frameworks, updating the risk register, and tracking remediation efforts.

Collaboration is a massive part of this role. You will regularly partner with DevOps and Infrastructure teams to implement Infrastructure as Code (Terraform) securely, ensuring that pipelines and Kubernetes clusters (GKE/AKS) are hardened before they reach production. Furthermore, you will frequently distill your technical findings into clear, concise risk reports and dashboards, presenting the organization's current risk exposure to IT leadership and executive management so they can make informed strategic decisions.

Role Requirements & Qualifications

To be a competitive candidate for the Security Engineer role at Ascension, you must possess a strong foundation in enterprise security, specifically tailored to highly regulated environments.

• Must-have skills – Deep proficiency in multi-cloud security architecture (GCP and Azure), hands-on experience with Microsoft Defender and Google Security Command Center, and a strong command of Identity and Access Management (Microsoft Entra ID, CyberArk). You must also have demonstrable experience with cybersecurity risk management frameworks, particularly NIST CSF and NIST 800-30.
• Experience level – Ascension typically looks for candidates with 5 to 10 years of cumulative, job-specific experience, depending on the seniority of the specific posting. Backgrounds in the healthcare sector (Hospitals, IDNs, or Payers) are highly scrutinized and valued.
• Soft skills – Strategic executive communication is critical. You must be able to translate complex technical risks into actionable business insights. You also need strong self-management skills to thrive in a high-fidelity, remote operational environment.
• Nice-to-have skills – Active certifications such as Google Professional Cloud Security Engineer, Google Professional Cloud Architect, or Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate will make you stand out. Experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform), automation (Python or Go), and securing AI/ML workloads against NIST AI RMF standards are highly preferred additions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How technical are the interviews for the Risk Management focused roles? Even if you are interviewing for a risk-heavy role (like Cybersecurity Manager of Risk), Ascension expects a solid technical foundation. You will not necessarily be asked to write code on a whiteboard, but you must be able to deeply understand the technical architecture of the cloud environments to accurately assess their risk and propose realistic remediations.

Q: Is the Security Engineer role fully remote? Yes, these roles are generally listed as fully remote within the United States. However, Ascension expects "domestic remote operational excellence," meaning you must be highly available and collaborative during standard working hours (typically 8 am – 5 pm CST), with the flexibility to handle extended-hour escalations if a critical security incident occurs.

Q: What is the most important framework to know for Ascension? The NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) and NIST 800-30 (Risk Assessments) are the bedrock of Ascension's security program. Being able to speak fluently about how to map technical controls to NIST categories (Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover) is non-negotiable.

Q: How should I prepare for the executive communication aspect of the interview? Practice the "So What?" method. When you explain a technical vulnerability (e.g., an open S3 bucket or a misconfigured IAM role), immediately follow it up with the business impact (e.g., potential patient data exposure, regulatory fines, loss of trust). Interviewers want to see that you speak the language of business risk, not just IT administration.

Other General Tips

• Anchor Answers in Healthcare Impact: Whenever possible, tie your security examples back to the ultimate mission: protecting patient data and ensuring hospital availability. A ransomware attack in this context doesn't just cost money; it stops patient care. Highlighting this understanding shows great culture fit.
• Master the Shared Responsibility Model: Because Ascension utilizes GCP and Azure heavily, ensure you can clearly articulate where the cloud provider's security responsibility ends and where Ascension's begins, especially concerning PaaS and SaaS offerings.

• Show Automation Bias: When asked how you would solve a repetitive security task or monitor a massive environment, your answer should default to automation. Mentioning tools like Terraform, Python, or integrating alerts into a SOAR platform proves you can operate at enterprise scale.

• Know Your Acronyms (and when not to use them): You will be dealing with CNAPP, SIEM, SOAR, PAM, and CSF. Use them accurately with technical interviewers, but be prepared to seamlessly drop the jargon and explain the concepts plainly when role-playing a presentation to non-technical leadership.

Summary & Next Steps

Interviewing for a Security Engineer position at Ascension is a rigorous but deeply rewarding process. You are applying to protect the infrastructure of a massive healthcare organization where your work directly enables secure, reliable care for millions. The process will heavily test your multi-cloud architecture skills, your fluency with NIST risk frameworks, and your ability to govern identity in a Zero Trust environment.

The compensation data above reflects the overarching ranges for security engineering and risk management roles at this level. When interpreting this data, remember that your specific offer will depend heavily on your exact location, your specialized certifications (like GCP Cloud Security Engineer), and your demonstrated ability to lead complex initiatives.

Your most effective preparation strategy is to bridge the gap between technical execution and business risk. Review your past projects and practice explaining not just how you configured a security tool, but why it mattered to the organization's risk posture. By focusing on multi-cloud security, healthcare compliance frameworks, and clear executive communication, you will position yourself as a highly capable and strategic candidate. You have the skills and the experience—now it is time to confidently articulate your value. Good luck!