People Function Cyber Security Lead

We are looking for a Grade 7 Cyber Security Lead, to help shape how cyber security is built into digital services used across the Defence People Ecosystem. You will provide senior assurance, influence major transformation activity, and help ensure cyber risks are understood and managed before they affect delivery or live service. This is an opportunity to strengthen the resilience of important people services, improve confidence in digital delivery, and build a lasting cyber security capability across the portfolio.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week. Part time and job sharing arrangements may be considered provided that full time hours are covered.

The People DDaT team is a small enabling team at the heart of the People Function. It provides strategic leadership on digital, data and technology, coheres demand for People products and services, and provides expert advice, guidance, and assurance so that services align with strategic intent and appropriate standards.

The Defence People digital ecosystem is becoming more complex as major programmes modernise corporate services and introduce new platforms and service connections. The current model relies heavily on programme teams, suppliers, and external specialists for cyber input, which can lead to inconsistent standards, limited independent challenge and security risks being identified too late in delivery.

The Cyber Security Lead will work across the Defence People digital portfolio, including major transformation activity. At Grade 7, the role is expected to lead through influence, set clear cyber expectations, provide senior assurance, and challenge, and help shape portfolio decisions.

This is a leadership and assurance role, not a substitute for service or programme level cyber delivery or supplier accountability.

The role will focus on the highest-risk and highest-impact services, providing proportionate assurance where cyber risk has the greatest effect on people services and portfolio outcomes.

Main Duties

• Set direction for cyber security assurance across the People digital portfolio, ensuring risks are identified, understood, escalated, and managed early in delivery.
• Lead the adoption of secure-by-design principles across the People digital portfolio, ensuring security is considered from discovery through to live service.
• Provide senior, independent cyber security challenge to programmes, suppliers, and delivery teams, ensuring assurance is proportionate, evidence-based and aligned to business outcomes.
• Work with the Chief Technology Officer and enterprise architecture function to shape technology strategy, roadmaps, solution designs, and transition plans so that security is built in from the outset.
• Define and maintain common cyber security expectations, patterns, standards, assurance routes, and reusable guidance for People digital services.
• Influence governance forums by presenting clear advice on cyber security risk, design trade-offs, compliance issues, delivery implications, options, impacts, and recommendations.
• Build effective senior relationships across Defence Reform Areas (including the Military Commands), Defence People communities, Defence Business Services, Defence Digital, delivery partners, and suppliers, while strengthening internal cyber capability and reducing avoidable reliance on external consultancy.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

To apply, please upload your CV in the relevant section on the Civil Service Jobs application section, ensuring it clearly demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification. You must also submit a statement of suitability (maximum 1,000 words) providing evidence of how you meet these criteria.

Please find a link to our video, which gives you helpful tips and guidance, on the CS Jobs application process: How to apply for roles on Civil Service Jobs

At sift, candidates will be assessed against their CV and statement of suitability.

At interview, candidates will be assessed against the following:

Behaviours:

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing

Technical Skills:

Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework - Lead Security Architect

• Communications
• Designing Secure Systems
• Enabling and informing risk-based decisions
• Understanding security implications of transformation

Presentation:

• Candidates will also be asked to prepare and deliver a 5-minute (maximum) presentation on a topic related to the role. Further details will be provided prior to interview.

Further information:

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

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