Background
NetWitness is a leading North American cybersecurity vendor, delivering a portfolio of advanced EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) and NDR (Network Detection and Response) solutions trusted by enterprises and governments worldwide.
As part of their global growth strategy, NetWitness set out to establish and scale their Incident Response practice in Saudi Arabia, a move that would strengthen their regional presence and provide critical, in-market response capability for clients across the Middle East.
However, hiring in Saudi Arabia presents unique challenges. The Kingdom’s Saudization program mandates national hiring quotas, creating fierce competition for local cybersecurity talent. Skilled IR professionals are in extremely short supply, most are already embedded in government entities, Tier 1 consultancies, or cloud service providers.
Cultural, regulatory, and visa complexities add further friction, meaning traditional hiring approaches are slow, ineffective, and often fail to meet both technical and localisation requirements.
NetWitness needed to find a partner capable of executing with speed, precision, and cultural fluency to identify, attract, and secure elite IR professionals in one of the most complex hiring environments in the world.
Iperium partnered with NetWitness to design and deliver a Saudi-specific Incident Response hiring strategy powered by talent.ai, our proprietary talent intelligence platform.
Our approach combined deep cybersecurity domain knowledge with data-driven precision to build the team from the ground up:
- Targeted Talent Mapping: Identified both regional and international IR professionals with live breach experience across forensics, threat intelligence, containment, and professional services, capable of operating in high-pressure, high-stakes environments.
- Saudization Alignment: Advised on workforce planning and role design to integrate Saudi nationals where possible, balancing localisation compliance with technical excellence.
- Passive Talent Activation: Engaged globally dispersed, passive candidates through behavioural insights and outreach campaigns tailored to NetWitness’ IR mission in the Kingdom.
- Employer Branding: Positioned NetWitness as a strategic, front-line cybersecurity leader offering rare exposure to critical incident response work in one of the world’s most security-conscious regions.
- Speed-to-Shortlist: Delivered high-fidelity shortlists within days, not weeks, enabling NetWitness to move decisively in a market where top talent disappears quickly.
Through this combination of global reach, local intelligence, and precision targeting, Iperium built the foundations of NetWitness’ Saudi IR practice, assembling consultants, analysts, and professional services experts equipped to respond to critical incidents across the Gulf.
Within weeks, NetWitness successfully stood up a fully operational Incident Response team in Saudi Arabia, meeting both localisation requirements and the company’s technical standards.
The hires have since become a cornerstone of NetWitness’ regional operations, providing real-time incident response capabilities to enterprise clients, enhancing service delivery, and deepening the company’s strategic footprint across the Middle East.
This success also laid the groundwork for continued growth, as Iperium remains engaged to expand the team further across the Kingdom.
Why it worked
“When you’re facing a breach at 3AM in Riyadh, the difference between ‘we’ll get to it’ and ‘we’re already on it’ is talent, tools, and precision. Together with Iperium, we’ve built a team that delivers at machine speed and human accuracy.”
— Stefano Maccaglia, Head of Incident Response, NetWitness
- Cybersecurity Specialism: Iperium’s two decades in cybersecurity leadership search meant we already knew where elite IR talent lived and what motivates them to move.
- Local Intelligence: Understanding the realities of Saudization, cultural expectations, and visa constraints allowed us to move with confidence where others stall.
- Speed & Precision: talent.ai enabled rapid identification, qualification, and engagement of high-fit candidates, reducing time-to-hire by over 60%.
- Trusted Partnership: Alignment between NetWitness’ mission and Iperium’s delivery model turned a complex regional expansion into a fast, structured success.