Pascal Charest
Senior Information Security Officer @Jsi
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WORK HISTORY
Senior Information Security Officer @Jsi
Ottawa, ON, CA
What I do**- Lead engineering security governance and risk programs aligned to business and product strategy (policy, controls, metrics, and executive reporting)- Drive secure-by-design across the SDLC: threat modeling, architecture reviews, and continuous assurance for AI-enabled analytics at scale- Partner with Product, Engineering, Compliance, and IT to meet customer, regulatory, and audit expectations across global markets- Champion a pragmatic security culture: clarity of ownership, least-privilege access, and measurable risk reduction.Context: JSI is a provider of lawful intelligence and AI-enabled data analytics software trusted by law enforcement, intelligence, and security organizations worldwide. JSI has been helpingmake the world a safer place for over 40 years. JSI is headquartered in Ottawa with offices in Washington, Frankfurt, and Sydney, with a global team of over 400 professionals who are committed to making a difference.
EDUCATION
Polytechnique Montréal
Computer Engineering
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
Oxford Executive Leadership Programme, Business Administration and Management, General
SKILLS
ABOUT PASCAL CHAREST
I’m a security engineering leader who turns risk into velocity. Over 21 years of shipping impactful systems - 15 years managing geo-distributed technical teams (up to ~22 employees) and 8 years leading engineering managers. I build pragmatic, scalable security programs that let engineering ship fast, safely.I currently lead the Trust & Security group at Relay Financial, spanning Application Security, SRE, Compliance, and IT. I partner with executives to translate technical risk into clear roadmaps and measurable outcomes, balancing security, cost, and speed across legal, business, and engineering domains.Recent impact- Modernized delivery: refactored CI/CD on GitHub Actions and led AWS ECS → EKS migration, enabling 150+ deployments/week with stronger security guardrails- Raised the identity bar: rolled out Zero-Trust, device-based access (mTLS/cert-based tagging) and layered controls (MDM via Kandji, secure networking via WARP) for sensitive internal tools- Built the incident-response craft end-to-end: stood up the SOC, runbooks, and cross-functional coordination with Support & Legal; served as \'Sev-0\' technical responder for mission-critical incidents- Launched and operate a bounty based vulnerability disclosure program, deeply integrated in our delivery workflow, and materially reduced exposure windows- Achieved SOC 2 and embedded vendor risk management into procurement and continuous assurance- Scaled IT capabilities to support company growth from 20 → 280+ employees without compromising control or velocity- Deployed external brand/abuse monitoring and automation to quickly defang large phishing campaigns.Earlier career & technical depth- Designed and operated dynamic, secure infrastructure as code; built fault-tolerant data platforms (MySQL multi-master/master-slave, PostgreSQL, Elasticsearch) and shared storage (AoE, iSCSI, FCoE, FC)- Implemented a customized Zero-Trust/BeyondCorp-style access model in a “default-to-open, digital-by-design” environment, with employees.What I bringCalm, systems-thinking leadership; crisp decision-making; and a culture of accountability that raises the security bar without slowing the business. Anchored by a global vision, my leadership style fosters collaboration across stakeholders, aligning diverse perspectives into shared momentum. By pairing accountability with a problem-solving approach, it creates an environment where challenges become opportunities to strengthen resilience, accelerate execution, and scale securely.
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