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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for User Account Consultant

💰 $ - $

ITIdentity and Access ManagementCustomer SuccessConsultingSecurity

🎯 Role Definition

The User Account Consultant is a client-facing specialist responsible for the full lifecycle of user accounts across enterprise systems — from onboarding and provisioning to role assignment, access reviews, and offboarding. This role combines technical identity and access management (IAM) expertise with strong stakeholder engagement to ensure secure, compliant, and efficient account operations. The consultant designs and enforces RBAC and least-privilege models, automates user provisioning/de-provisioning, supports SSO and directory integrations (Active Directory, Azure AD, Okta), and leads account audits and compliance initiatives (GDPR, SOC 2). SEO and LLM-friendly focus: user management, access control, identity lifecycle, permissions governance, automation, and cross-functional collaboration.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • IT Support Analyst with account administration experience
  • Identity & Access Management (IAM) Analyst or Specialist
  • Customer Success Manager with technical onboarding background

Advancement To:

  • Senior User Account Consultant / IAM Consultant
  • Identity & Access Management Manager
  • Security Operations or Access Governance Lead
  • Technical Program Manager (IAM / Access Projects)

Lateral Moves:

  • Customer Success Consultant (technical accounts)
  • Directory Services Administrator (Active Directory/Azure AD specialist)
  • Compliance or Audit Specialist focused on access controls

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Lead and execute end-to-end user account lifecycle management for enterprise clients, including account creation, provisioning, role assignment, group membership, permissions validation, and secure offboarding in accordance with company policies and regulatory requirements.
  • Design, document and implement role-based access control (RBAC) models and least-privilege access frameworks that align with business processes and compliance frameworks such as GDPR, SOC 2, HIPAA or industry-specific standards.
  • Configure, administer and troubleshoot identity providers and SSO integrations (Okta, Azure AD, Active Directory Federation Services, SAML, OAuth2) to deliver seamless and secure authentication experiences for users.
  • Conduct periodic access reviews, certifications and audit-ready reporting; remediate findings by coordinating with application owners and relevant stakeholders to enforce access governance and maintain audit evidence.
  • Automate user provisioning and de-provisioning using SCIM, LDAP, scripts (PowerShell, Python) or identity orchestration tools to reduce manual effort and minimize access-related security risk.
  • Implement and maintain identity lifecycle workflows within IAM platforms and ITSM systems (ServiceNow, Jira), ensuring SLAs for new user onboarding, role changes, and access requests are met.
  • Perform detailed entitlement analysis and cleanup to identify excessive privileges, orphaned accounts, and role creep; recommend and execute remediation plans with measurable risk reduction.
  • Serve as primary technical point of contact for user account escalations, triaging incidents, performing root cause analysis, and implementing permanent fixes to eliminate recurring account issues.
  • Collaborate with HR, recruiting, and hiring managers to synchronize user provisioning and de-provisioning with onboarding and offboarding processes, ensuring timely access for new hires and termination of access for departing staff.
  • Develop and maintain comprehensive runbooks, playbooks, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for account administration, joiner/mover/leaver processes, SLA management, and incident response.
  • Partner with application owners and business stakeholders to translate business access requirements into secure technical implementations, including role definitions, access matrices, and exception workflows.
  • Lead or support directory migrations, consolidation projects, and tenant-to-tenant migrations (e.g., Active Directory or Azure AD consolidation), including bulk user migration planning and execution.
  • Configure and manage delegated administration models to empower application owners without compromising security or control, including RBAC scoping and admin role separation.
  • Conduct periodic user access audits and maintain logs and evidence for internal and external auditors; respond to audit requests with clear remediation plans and status updates.
  • Provide training, enablement sessions, and clear documentation to business users and application owners on access request procedures, password and MFA best practices, and self-service capabilities.
  • Integrate multifactor authentication (MFA) policies and conditional access controls to strengthen authentication posture while minimizing user friction.
  • Implement and monitor metrics and KPIs (e.g., provisioning SLA, mean time to remediate privileged access, number of orphaned accounts, access review completion rate) and present performance updates to leadership and clients.
  • Support privacy and compliance initiatives by ensuring user account handling follows data minimization, role-appropriate access, and appropriate retention/deletion policies for accounts and credentials.
  • Participate in change control and release management for IAM-related configuration changes, ensuring communications, approvals, rollback plans, and post-change validation are completed.
  • Evaluate and recommend IAM tooling, third-party integrations, and automation opportunities that reduce manual overhead and improve security and compliance posture.
  • Conduct complex troubleshooting across authentication flows, directory synchronization, federation, and provisioning connectors; reproduce issues, identify fixes, and implement patch or configuration changes.
  • Facilitate cross-functional governance committees and access review boards to adjudicate exceptions, define high-risk roles, and prioritize remediation efforts.
  • Draft, negotiate and enforce Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and operational level agreements (OLAs) for user account services with internal teams and external vendors or customers.
  • Support client onboarding projects for new customers or new lines of business, including requirements gathering, scoping, technical implementation, and go-live cutover of user account systems.
  • Monitor security advisories and software updates that affect account infrastructure and implement mitigations or configuration changes to maintain resilience against account-based attacks.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
  • Provide subject-matter expertise to product teams on access-related features and workflows during design and QA phases.
  • Assist in vendor selection and manage vendor relationships for IAM or account provisioning tools, including contract and scope reviews.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Identity and Access Management (IAM) concepts: provisioning, de-provisioning, RBAC, ABAC and least-privilege enforcement.
  • Hands-on experience with directory services: Active Directory (AD), Azure AD and AD Connect (Azure AD Connect).
  • Experience implementing and managing SSO and federation protocols: SAML, OAuth2, OpenID Connect, and OIDC flows.
  • Proficient with identity platforms: Okta, Ping Identity, Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD), OneLogin or equivalent.
  • Automation and scripting for account operations: PowerShell, Python, or similar scripting languages for bulk provisioning and connector management.
  • Familiarity with SCIM, LDAP, and connector configuration for application integrations and automated provisioning.
  • Experience with IAM governance: access reviews, entitlement management, certification workflows and audit reporting.
  • Knowledge of MFA and conditional access solutions, and designing policies to balance security and user experience.
  • Experience integrating IAM with ITSM and ticketing systems: ServiceNow, Jira, or similar for request automation and audit trails.
  • Strong understanding of compliance and privacy requirements that impact account management (GDPR, SOC 2, HIPAA).
  • Experience with monitoring, logging and analytics for account activities: SIEM integration, audit logs, and reporting.
  • Familiarity with cloud identity and tenant management (Office 365, Google Workspace) and tenant migration strategies.
  • Experience with identity lifecycle orchestration tools and provisioning platforms (e.g., SailPoint, Saviynt) is a plus.
  • Basic SQL or CSV manipulation skills for bulk user data transformations and reconciliation.

Soft Skills

  • Excellent stakeholder management and client-facing communication — able to translate technical constraints into business terms for non-technical audiences.
  • Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, with a focus on root cause analysis and durable remediation.
  • Detail-oriented with a high degree of accuracy when handling account permissions and audit evidence.
  • Project management and prioritization skills — able to manage concurrent onboarding, access requests, and migration projects.
  • Collaboration and teamwork across product, security, HR, and operations teams.
  • Customer-centric mindset, balancing security needs with end-user productivity and satisfaction.
  • Ability to document processes clearly and create training materials for multiple audiences.
  • Adaptability to changing compliance requirements and evolving identity technologies.
  • Time management under SLA-driven environments with demonstrated ability to meet deadlines.
  • Conflict resolution and negotiation skills for handling exception approvals and access disputes.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Cybersecurity, Business Administration, or equivalent experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's degree plus industry certifications (Okta Certified Administrator, Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate, Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), CompTIA Security+, or CISSP).
  • Advanced degree or specialized training in Identity & Access Management, Cybersecurity, or IT Service Management.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Information Systems / Management Information Systems (MIS)
  • Cybersecurity / Information Security
  • Business Administration with IT focus
  • Human Resources (for identity lifecycle process alignment)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3 - 8 years of combined experience in user account administration, IAM, or enterprise IT support functions.

Preferred:

  • 5+ years in identity and access management or user account consulting roles with demonstrable experience implementing provisioning workflows, RBAC, SSO/federation, and access governance at scale.
  • Prior consultancy or client-facing experience with project delivery, stakeholder engagement, and measurable outcomes (SLA improvements, reduced orphan accounts, compliance audit success).
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