Senior Protective Intelligence Specialist

Global Risk and Security (GR&S) at Vanguard enables business strategy, protects client and Vanguard interests (e.g., assets and data), and stewards a strong risk culture. Our teams leverage enterprise-wide insights, deep expertise, and trusted advice so that across Vanguard leaders and crew drive faster, stronger, risk-informed decisions.

Within GR&S, the Enterprise Security and Fraud (ES&F) sub-division is responsible for the global protection of Vanguard crew, property, data, and client assets. We are the trusted advisors that protect the pride of Vanguard with state-of-the-art security and fraud capabilities. We are a world-class destination of highly engaged, passionate, and diverse talent expected to continuously learn and develop in an ever-changing security landscape.

Our crew are our greatest resource - by joining our team you will build collaborative long-term relationships and enjoy a suite of benefits that includes comprehensive health and wellness care, work-life balance, and an investment in your future at its core.

• Identify, collect, and analyze intelligence related to threats against senior executives, including fixation, grievance, insider risk, and targeted hostility.
• Conduct behavioral threat assessments focused on executive risk, evaluating indicators of intent, capability, and imminence using structured, evidence-based industry standard methodologies.
• Assess executive exposure related to travel, events, residences, offices, and public appearances.
• Monitor open-source, proprietary, and internal data sources to identify emerging or escalating risks to executives and their families.
• Produce timely, actionable intelligence products that directly inform executive protection posture, resource allocation, and decision-making.

• Partner closely with executive protection teams to provide intelligence support for executive travel and event security; protective advance planning; elevated threat or crisis situations; instances of inappropriate approaches or communications.
• Translate intelligence assessments into clear, operationally relevant recommendations for EP leaders and agents.
• Support real-time or near-real-time threat monitoring during sensitive executive movements or engagements.
• Serve as a trusted intelligence advisor during high-risk situations involving executive leadership.

• Apply strong intelligence tradecraft, including structured analytic techniques, hypothesis testing, bias mitigation, and confidence assessment.
• Conduct in-depth analysis of concerning or otherwise inappropriate communications, online behavior, and other indicators relevant to executive targeting.
• Distinguish between credible threats, non-credible expressions, and noise-providing defensible, well-reasoned assessments.
• Maintain rigorous standards for sourcing, documentation, validation, and analytic transparency.

• Contribute to the design, maturation, and governance of the executive protective intelligence program.
• Help develop and refine: threat assessment frameworks and standards; intelligence workflows and escalation protocols; playbooks for executive-specific threat scenarios; metrics to measure program effectiveness and impact.
• Identify gaps in executive threat detection, assessment, or response and propose innovative solutions.
• Lead protective intelligence engagements and collaboration with investigations, legal, Crew Relations, and other key internal stakeholders.

• Stay current on emerging threats to executives, including trends in fixation, activism, insider risk, and online targeting.
• Explore new tools, data sources, and analytic methods to enhance early detection and assessment of executive threats.
• Contribute to a culture of curiosity, learning, and continuous improvement within the Vanguard physical security organization.

• Bachelor's degree in intelligence studies, security studies, psychology, criminal justice, international relations, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• Minimum five years of related work experience with three years experience in protective intelligence, executive threat assessment, or a closely related security discipline in a corporate setting.
• Strong understanding of behavioral threat analysis and pathway to violence frameworks as applied to people protection and executive risk (BTAM, WAVR-21, etc).
• Strong open-source intelligence (OSINT) skills, including the ability to identify, collect, evaluate, and analyze publicly available information to support protective intelligence and threat assessment.
• Proven ability to think critically and assess incomplete, ambiguous, or conflicting information.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to brief senior leaders clearly and calmly.
• High ethical standards and discretion when handling sensitive executive and corporate information.

• Executive threats are identified early and assessed with clarity and confidence.
• Executive protection leaders consistently rely on intelligence to inform posture, planning, and response.
• Threat assessments are clear, defensible, and operationally relevant.
• The executive protective intelligence program becomes more structured, scalable, and impactful over time.
• New tools, processes, or analytic approaches measurably improve executive safety and decision advantage.