‘Individuals and Tradition Drive Our Success,’ Says Jacob’s Caesar Nieves on Way forward for Cyber and Intel Enterprise

For Jacob’s Caesar Nieves, 2021 was a yr to remodel, alter and give attention to tradition. As he seems on the new yr forward, he’s calling 2022 a stabilization yr — a time to execute and broaden on cyber and intelligence mission areas.

As senior vp and basic supervisor of the cyber and intelligence enterprise, Nieves stated his workforce spent a big portion of the yr getting the tradition and the folks proper, so every part would fall into place.

“We additionally needed to create a real id — who we’re,” he advised WashingtonExec.

The enterprise unit has about 4,000 staff and brings in $1 billion in income. It was constructed from a handful of massive acquisitions — that means 5 totally different cultures and methods of doing enterprise. “I actually spent the final yr and a half reworking the enterprise to compete successfully with different giant trade friends using our strengths in multi-domain cyber and intelligence options.” Nieves stated.

He recognized which core markets and capabilities to prioritize as a part of an effort to focus capabilities in areas of rising shopper demand and the place Jacobs options and applied sciences get pleasure from clear aggressive benefit.

“After which, do we’ve got the suitable tradition to assist drive that?“ Nieves stated. So, his workforce set its sights on three core areas: readiness, operations and its insights group.

“We went from range piped, functionally centered . . . to market centered and a refreshed set of capabilities that align to the market/buyer wants and budgets,” Nieves stated. This included specializing in core capabilities that instantly met the wants of consumers.

In 2022, the enterprise unit is trying to execute on its 3-year pipeline on the mission-focused environments aligned with these capabilities. It’s additionally the yr to proceed and additional broaden the enterprise unit’s higher-margin profile.

The Wants of an Rising Market

“A lot of our readiness functionality space is tied to the cyber and intelligence coaching that we carry out utilizing proprietary options and applied sciences,” Nieves stated. “It additionally has quite a few areas that we do from a digital options perspective.” This consists of DevSecOps and IT modernization alternatives with current clients.

When it comes to operations, that is the place Nieves and his workforce give attention to the three-letter businesses, on cyber and intelligence information and data gathering, menace looking, monitoring and managing networks. “Should you take a look at the adversarial issues which can be happening, whether or not it’s the darkish internet, whether or not it’s issues which can be happening in Afghanistan from a watchlist perspective, we’re offering distinctive options to deal with all of these shopper challenges,” Nieves stated.

The enterprise unit additionally carried out an insights group, made up of information scientists and all-source intelligence personnel centered on large information, synthetic intelligence and it’s varied sorts together with using machine studying to resolve cyber and different mission information issues throughout the federal authorities. Jacobs has constructed a hub for all sorts of superior analytics constructing decision-making instruments that enable clients to behave decisively with velocity and accuracy.

“We’re in an rising market — cyber and intelligence — that’s evolving day by day,” Nieves stated. “New threats and tendencies . . . all centered on information and data — all areas which can be priorities for the federal government and have budgets that proceed to extend.”

To reply to these wants, Nieves and his workforce recognized core areas to give attention to with purchasers: digital intelligence, cyber terrorism, area convergence, assortment automation and superior coaching — however they’re not doing it alone.

“As you’ll be able to think about, our clients and purchasers wish to do issues sooner with protection and industrial state-of-the-art know-how — so we’ve developed partnerships with startups and the enterprise capital neighborhood to distribute, co-develop, and combine next-generation options with firms equivalent to HawkEye360 and NetAbstraction,” Nieves added. “Now we have additionally expanded our trade partnerships with know-how suppliers like IroNet, ForeScout and Splunk to develop built-in options for a few of our shopper’s most urgent issues.”

Contemplating the rising threats and class of cyberattacks, the quantity of information the federal government consumes and produces, the necessity to use that information to make choices and the character of as we speak’s digital world, Jacobs is working with clients to assist them be at the forefront.

“Our job has actually been that true partnership, and to share and herald new applied sciences and rising tendencies for them to concentrate on,” Nieves stated. “We take into account ourselves a big options and know-how disruptor.  Working round our shopper’s mission, we’re reworking the way in which that our purchasers do enterprise by way of using new know-how and deeply technical advisory providers.”

And that disruption was a lot wanted in the course of the pandemic, which accelerated technological wants as places of work turned digital and staff went distant. Other than extremely labeled work that have to be completed in SCIFs, Jacobs has corporately embraced collaboration instruments.

“We’ve needed to modernize our infrastructure to maintain up with the most recent tendencies which can be happening, but it surely’s actually elevated and sped up our focus of what we had deliberate to do three years from now and as a substitute we’re doing these issues as we speak,” Nieves stated. And in doing so, Jacobs can be upskilling its workforce to maintain up with the tempo of know-how.

Placing Nationwide Safety and Individuals First, All the time

The federal mission is a private one to Nieves. He spent his total life within the federal area, and his profession path has at all times been about nationwide safety and defending the nation. “I grew up within the Air Drive, within the navy, within the GovCon world, and in order that’s actually all I do know,” Nieves stated.

A Northern Virginia native, Nieves was raised in an Air Drive household. His mother and father are Air Drive veterans, and his brother can be within the Air Drive. “That’s type of all I knew, is the navy, in order that’s what I caught with,” Nieves stated.

He joined the Air Drive when he graduated from highschool in 1992, and later attended school whereas serving. Nieves earned his bachelor of science diploma in methods group and administration at Hampton College in 1998, at a time when methods group was tied to folks, tradition and know-how in the course of the insurgence of IT and web. Throughout his time within the Air pressure, Nieves was answerable for the acquisition, configuration and upkeep of community operations whereas assigned to the Air Fight Command.

After transitioning into trade and in addition receiving his MBA in data methods administration at Regis College in 2002, Nieves spent 10 years at Booz Allen Hamilton studying consulting and understanding learn how to develop and progress in sure purposeful areas inside a enterprise.

After Booz Allen, Nieves served as a sector chief and vp at Dell Federal answerable for customer support engagements, and as a vp at Unisys serving to to remodel the protection enterprise to be extra know-how centered. He additionally held senior-level positions with Engility and CALIBRE Techniques earlier than touchdown at Jacobs in 2019. All through his navy and personal sector profession, he’s at all times been centered on cyber, intelligence, C5ISR and methods engineering.

“What Jacobs was dedicated to is constructing the trade’s greatest cyber and intelligence enterprise that delivers on mission outcomes and drives extremely worthwhile income development on the finish of the day,” Nieves stated. “With my background and the discussions I had with Jacobs company management, this was the suitable alternative for me to leverage Jacob’s world scale and capabilities to remodel the cyber and intelligence enterprise.”

At present, whereas overseeing technique and supply of cyber and intelligence options, he leads a workforce supporting 150 initiatives in 30 places across the globe. “Our development has been pushed by the digitization of intelligence, assortment automation, and key cyber options like our menace looking capabilities and superior cyber coaching,” Nieves stated.

And as a navy veteran, Nieves stated the character of the work at Jacobs is significant and continues to drive his focus going ahead — which incorporates serving to mentor and put together the subsequent era of leaders. After making a imaginative and prescient and reworking the tradition of the cyber and intelligence enterprise unit, the joy and keenness of his workforce strikes the enterprise ahead.

“The folks and tradition drive our success — listening, empowering, being a disruptor, making daring strikes — all issues I’ve discovered by way of my profession,” Nieves stated. “My job over the past 5 years or so has been to show an increasing number of leaders and rising stars to what allowed me to achieve success.”