UK Ministry of Defence Jobs 2023 – Cyber Security

About the job

About us:

Are you ready to work in one of the most interesting cyber security environments and share your experience to support national security?

Cyber security plays an integral role in protecting the UK against external and internal threats, acting as a deterrence to ensure that our Armed Forces have the strong cyber defences they need.

Defence Digital provide digital and technology services to our Armed Forces. We operate at scale, with an annual budget in excess of £2Bn and a diverse team of 2,500 colleagues, to make our Armed Forces some of the most technologically advanced in the world.

The Cyber Defence and Risk organisation (CyDR) at Defence Digital is at the forefront of Cyber Security and Information Technology within Defence. The team plays a vital component in protecting MOD and national security. CyDR is responsible for enabling Defence through the provision of specialist assurance and cyber security services across the Department. This includes our industry partners, other Government Departments, including NCSC, and our international allies.

Our projects involve complex technical and security challenges, which may include highly sensitive networks, cryptography and next-generation vehicles. We provide the expertise to ensure an accurate understanding of through-life cyber security risks, to support business decisions.

With a fantastic growing team of military and civilian staff operating across the UK it is a great time to be a cyber security professional in the Ministry of Defence.

If you can see yourself contributing to the world of CyDR, the next chapter of your career may be with us!

Allowances: A Recruitment and Retention Allowance (RRA) of up to £9k may be payable with this post, paid in increments upon reaching the required level of competence.

The role:

The Cyber Security Architect will be involved in producing the defensive cyber technology roadmap and strategy for Defence, incorporating, innovation management and the integration of new security technologies across Defence.

In this role, you’ll collaborate across Defence to ensure that the defensive cyber strategy and Defences’ digital strategy can be delivered securely, is fully integrated across Front Line Commands (FLC) and enable organisations to adopt innovation and meet users’ needs.

The Cyber Security Architect position encompasses the role of a Security Architect, advising and enabling technical teams to make security decisions. You’ll provide advice and guidance to ensure common tools and patterns are used effectively, to deliver secure systems and implement proportionate controls.

This position sits within the Cyber Security Architecture team, in the CyDR directorate. We are a small, highly specialised team that is growing, with exciting plans, so now is a great time to join us and become part of our journey!

In return, you will benefit from excellent learning and development opportunities tailored to your role and beyond. Whilst in post, you’ll be required to undertake and achieve TOGAF and/or CISMP and we’ll support you throughout the process. You’ll also be able to take advantage of our excellent benefits package, including flexible working and a generous Civil Service pension.

What you’ll be doing:

Responsibilities include:

• Architectures: Develop appropriate elements of an integrated suite of architectures and technical models and policies to cover the applications, data and information infrastructure/computing layers. Lead the development of and adherence to coherent Defence Enterprise Architectures to drive convergence, coherence and re-use of ICT components.

• Design Authority: Provide input into Technical, System and Layer Design Authority to ensure that services are procured, developed and maintained in accordance with the Departmental strategies, policies and architectures.

• Subject Matter Expertise: Provide Subject Matter Expertise for several core applications and Information Systems technologies, including maintaining the Defence Manual of Information Communications Technology.

• Safety: Ensure that delivered capabilities and services achieve MOD Safety & Environmental requirements and standards, through the provision of Safety Statements and Safety Cases and through relevant reporting.

• Solution Designs: Conduct the capture and development of capability and business requirements, transforming them into systems or service designs, constraints and supporting contextual documents, through the Information Technology Information Library (ITIL) Service Strategy and Design functions.

• Service Development: Assist Programme and Project Managers to ensure that service supplier’s plans and products are aligned with strategy, coherent with the relevant technical architectures and compliant with policies and standards, such as the adoption of SIAM (Service Integration and Management) processes and development of service designs.

• Innovation and Continuous Service Improvement (CSI): Identify CSI opportunities through the investigation and introduction of innovative technical capabilities. Support CSI improvements to business processes on behalf of the CSI Lead or Business Process Owner.

• Strategy & Policy Development: Conduct and contribute to the development of strategy outputs, to support the Defence Digital strategy development process, the Senior Information Risk Owner and senior team requirements. To lead the development of Defence ICT strategy, policy and standards.

• Supplier Relationships: Engage with key suppliers to maintain MOD influence over the supplier’s product development plans; mature the working relationships with service suppliers to optimise development process delivery.

• Diagnostic Analysis: To undertake diagnostic analysis to support strategic decision-making, including balance of investment. Moreover, to undertake diagnostic analysis of Strategic Command capability plans. Exploit industry analysts, to assess ICT technology trends and vendor capabilities.

About you:

If you have the following skills and experience, we would love to hear from you!

Desirable industry qualifications & accreditation:

• Cyber Security Professional (CSP)
• Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
• Certificate in Information Security Management (CISMP) – training available
• TOGAF – training available
• ISO27001
• BCS Chartered IT Professional in Information Management and Security

Desirable knowledge or experience:

• Technical Security Architecture
• Secure Development
• Information Assurance Methodologies

SFIA Framework skills:

• Information Security SCTY
• Enterprise and Business Architecture STPL
• Information Assurance INAS

A few more details:

Allowances: A Recruitment and Retention Allowance (RRA) of up to £9k may be payable with this post, paid in increments upon reaching the required level of competence.

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 (the 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.

This position is open to sole UK Nationals only.

Why we’re great to be part of!:

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Family Friendly – Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Leave.
• A wide range of discounts – Defence Discount Service, Civil Service societies for Sports and Leisure, Healthcare, Insurance, Motoring, company discounts with Virgin, Vodafone, and Microsoft Office.
• 5 days per year Learning & Development
• In year rewards and ‘thank you’ schemes.
• Flexible working.
• Generous leave allocations.
• 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 let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process if this is something you want to explore.

For full details about this role, please click ‘Apply’.