Assistant Head of Cyber Security

Location: Northwood HQ, Sandy Lane, Northwood, Middlesex, HA6 3HP

Grade: Grade 7 (B2)

Salary: £57,670 (Appropriate London weighting will be applied to London based roles.)

Digital Skills Allowance: The base salary for this grade is £57,670. Offers above this will be made up of a Digital Skills Allowance of up to £15,300 per annum for exceptional candidates.

Security: DV – Reserved – Sole UK National

Summary

The Assistant Head of Cyber Security for Strategic Command will support the Chief Information Security Officer to lead, drive and manage cyber security transformation across UK Strategic Command (UKSC).

You’ll need to understand the UKSC cyber security threat and risk position, drive a Command level cyber security strategy and transformation plan and support individual business units to improve their cyber security. You will lead cyber security incidents and exercises and ensure that UKSC is taking advantage of all Defence level driven, and funded, cyber transformation activity.

As a Civil Servant, you’ll also have access to our range of excellent benefits, including flexible working, discount schemes, generous leave allowance and a market-leading Civil Service pension.

This post is eligible for a Digital Skills Allowance of up to £15,300 per annum. Eligibility for this allowance will be assessed at interview against 4 core technical skills only and reviewed annually in line with MOD policy.

Passionate about using your skills to make a critical difference? Your next career move could be here.

Job description

In this role, you’ll also be responsible for co-ordinating and driving system remediation activity to systems outside of the risk appetite and to manage incident response procedures and investigations of cyber security events or incidents. You will be responsible for ensuring the incident is contained and lead remediation activity, identify potential process improvements, and maintain organisational readiness through preparedness exercises.

You’ll lead a growing team, developing the core skills and expertise so that they can develop and maintain a wider understanding of cyber security and capabilities across complex and challenging environments.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities include:

· Lead, drive and manage the incident response strategy and transformation plan for UKStratCom across all business units.

· Act as a subject matter expert and advisor for cyber security matters.

· Support cyber security agenda items at UK Strategic Command meetings and individual business unit leadership team meetings as required.

· Position the cyber security threat for all UKStratCom business units liaising with Defence Intelligence.

· Manage & cohere UKStratCom incident response exercises and scoping, design and governance of threat-hunting activity.

· Communicate the significance of the results of investigations and risk mitigation outcomes, guiding UKStratCom in the improvement and maintenance of a robust response to new threats and attack vectors.

· Manage post-incident review, including root cause analysis, to feedback information and to improve monitoring.

· Provide specialist, tailored advice on mitigation, handling escalations with risk and service owners as appropriate.

· Liaise with Defence Cyber Defence team and execute strategic taskings including Critical National Infrastructure, supply chain security and support into the cyber security military taskforce.

· Lead cyber security exercising programme for UKStratCom.

· Share subject matter expertise and support stakeholders across UKStratCom.

· Line management of several direct reports within the team. Resource management across the team, ensuring that the relevant workload is delivered as agreed.

· Support the development of mechanisms to drive continuous improvement and encourage the sharing of best practice. Maintain close liaison with key stakeholders in Defence Digital, Defence Security & Resilience and wider MOD.

· Deputise for the Chief Information Security Officer when required.

Person specification

This role should appeal to someone who has broad equivalency and experience at SFIA 8 Framework: Level 5 – ‘Ensure & Advise’ and/or Level 6 – ‘Initiate & Influence’.

We are committed to encouraging and enabling our staff to develop in and above their role and we will support you in undertaking further learning and development opportunities, within your designated field and beyond. Wherever possible, we will provide upskill learning options and further training to support your continuous professional development.

Desirable qualifications, accreditation, memberships or skills:

· Certificate in Information Security Management Principles (CISMP)

· Certified Information Security Systems Professional (CISSP)

· Certified Cyber Professional (CCP)

· Membership of CIISP, CIISec, BCS or recognised equivalent

Ideally, you’ll also have the following:

· The ability to build long term relationships with key internal and external stakeholders.

· Highly effective networking and the ability to advise and influence people.

· Experience of leading and managing a team.

· Ability to communicate effectively to a variety of audiences, synthesising information to portray key messages and facilitate effective decision making.

This post is eligible for a Digital Skills Allowance of up to £15,300 per annum. Eligibility for this allowance will be assessed at interview against 4 core technical skills only and reviewed annually in line with MOD policy.

This job role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is an informal, non-contractual and voluntary arrangement, blending a balance of attendance in the workplace (your permanent duty station, which is based on business assessment of where the work is best done) and working from home as a personal choice (if the role is suitable for this). If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.

Dependent on the business need, there may be a requirement to travel to meetings within the UK (or potentially occasional overseas visits).

If not already held, successful candidates will be required to undergo DV clearance. Please note this position is open to sole UK Nationals only.

Qualifications (Essential only)

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Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed.

The level of security needed is .

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

To apply please complete the CV template provided on the CS Jobs dashboard. You will be assessed against your relevant, skills, knowledge and experience which demonstrates the essential criteria listed within this advert.

All applicants will also need to provide a personal statement (max. 1250 words) and it is essential that this includes evidence of the following essential criteria. Each one will be scored 1-7 and make up part of your overall score to assess your suitability to be invited to interview:

1. Describe your experience of managing cyber security governance, risk and compliance aspects within an organisation.

2. Provide an example of when you have shaped and influenced cyber security strategy, policy or processes.

3. Tell us about your ability to create, build and maintain strong working relationships with both internal and external stakeholders.

4. Describe your experience of leading, managing and developing resources, teams and staff.

Interviews

We’ll assess you against these behaviours, technical skills & experience during the interview process:

Presentation

You will be asked to prepare and deliver a 5-minute (max) presentation on a role-related subject. Further details will be sent prior to interview.

Behaviours

· Changing and Improving

· Delivering at Pace

Technical Skills

· Applied security capability

· Information risk assessment and risk management

· Protective security

· Threat understanding



The Government Security Profession Career Framework and the Cyber Security Advisory - Risk Manager Principal role used in this vacancy can be found at: Government Security Profession career framework.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Benefits

This post is eligible for a Digital Skills Allowance of up to £18,000 per annum. Eligibility for this allowance will be assessed at interview against 4 core technical skills only and reviewed annually in line with MOD policy.

Our benefits include:
Learning and development tailored to your role with a dedicated minimum of 5 days per year
25 days paid annual leave rising (by 1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of five years’ service
Ability to roll up to 10 days annual leave per year
In addition to eight public holidays per year, you will also receive leave for HM The King’s birthday
A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
Parental and Adoption Leave
* Discounts on a range of services within and external to the civil service – Defence Discount Service, Civil Service societies for Sports and Leisure, Healthcare, Insurance, Motoring, Company discounts with Virgin, Vodafone, and Microsoft Office.
* In year rewards and ‘thank you’ schemes such as vouchers and gift cards
* A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
* Please see Benefits Leaflet for more detail

Equality and Diversity

Our people are at the heart of everything we do at Defence Digital. It’s vital that our workforce reflects the diversity of both our audience and the wider society in the UK, so we’re proud to be an equal opportunities employer and we actively seek candidates from diverse backgrounds and communities. We also recognise the importance of a good work life balance, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including part-time and job shares for all our roles. Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process if this is something you want to explore.

Defence Digital operates an organisation model in which every individual belongs to a Government Profession. The successful applicant will be posted into one of the defined Government Professions on Standard Terms of Reference for the grade. Defence Digital reserves the right to move individuals between roles, within their allocated profession, to meet the needs of the business and in support of agile resourcing.

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: From £57,670.00 per year

Benefits:
* Company pension
* Flexitime
Schedule:
* Monday to Friday

Work Location: In person