Ministry of housing, communities and local government
Head of Cyber Security
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About the job
Job summary
Here at the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG), we work on things that make a real difference to people’s lives.
Whether it’s through the homes we live in, the work of our local councils, or the communities we’re all part of, our work is at the top of the political agenda. We have ambitious and far-reaching outcomes to achieve this year and, if you’re thinking of joining us, there’s never been a more exciting time.
We have over 3,500 staff who are based in 20 offices across the UK.
Now is an extremely exciting time to lead our Cyber team as we use a modern tech stack, specialist external suppliers and a growing number of internal staff to mature our capabilities and deliver Departmental objectives. This role sits within the technology team of the Digital Directorate. We’re looking for an experienced Cyber Security professional to join us in providing cyber security services to the Department in line with our strategy.
You will lead the team to plan improvements and increase capability whilst operating the Department’s evolving Cyber services on a day to day basis. You will be accountable for the Department’s overall assurance and for oversight of our Arms Length Bodies (ALBs) against centrally mandated requirements such as GovAssure and Secure by Design. The role is responsible for areas including: cyber strategy and policy, cyber risk management, assurance (systems, services, products and suppliers) and management/operation of cyber services such as major incident response, protective monitoring, CSOC and vulnerability management delivered internally or via external partners.
We particularly welcome candidates from an ethnic minority background and other underrepresented groups to apply, as we work to continually improve our ability to represent the places and communities we support through our work.
Find out more about what it’s like to work in a digital, data and technology role at MHCLG including our culture, ways of working, career progression and staff benefits. You can also read the MHCLG Digital blog to learn about the work we’re doing.
Job description
As a Head of Cyber Security, you’ll:
- provide strong leadership to your internal team and external service providers underpinned by policies, processes and technologies that you will champion
- develop and communicate a strategy for cyber security aligned with the Department’s goals and risk appetite, subsequently using this to implement a cyber security roadmap that moves the Department forward in it’s maturity of modern technologies, industry best practices and zero trust
- be responsible for the management and implementation of cyber security risk management, regularly assuring and security testing all systems to agreed KPIs/SLAs
- provide cyber security advice and guidance to the Department and other bodies it is responsible for, working collaborative with key internal and wider government partners to understand the wider cyber security environment
- to lead and manage the proactive cyber security monitoring and alerting for our systems and services, including pro-active exercising of our response to security incidents
- lead, develop and advise on approaches to improve the risk posture and reduce the attack surface of our systems and services, ensuring the Department understands and identifies remediations to both detected and published vulnerabilities that may affect systems and services
- ensure vulnerability management is well implemented in the centre and stakeholders operate their services in line with policies to reduce and remediate issues, liaising with service managers to ensure our external service providers patch and sufficiently protect our systems and services in a timely and efficient manner
- provide appropriate reporting to the Department, including a consolidated view of the Department’s and it’s Arms Length Bodies threat surface and risk posture
- be responsible for MHCLG GovAssure and accountable for Arm’s Length Bodies GovAssure
- lead and monitor the production of cyber security related technical documentation for all relevant services and systems in the Department
Person specification
We will use the essential criteria below to evaluate you during the recruitment process. Make sure your CV details how you meet the criteria.
As a Head of Cyber Security, you’ll have:
- good familiarity with security principles and technologies for AWS, Azure, and SaaS
- proven experience of day to day management of a multi-disciplinary team of cyber security professionals
- strong experience of operating a SOC service that includes creation and testing of major incident response plans for the enterprise
- extensive enterprise level experience operating in the Cyber Security Information Assurance, Information Risk Management and Assurance space
- demonstrable technical security knowledge in building a comprehensive security stack to support operation of a zero trust environment with modern services in the cloud
- expert knowledge of typical threats and attack vectors with appropriate remediation methods
- developed problem solving skills including addressing complex technical security and process challenges that ensure delivery at pace to an appropriate risk appetite
- knowledge of relevant laws, regulations, and industry/HMG standards including GDPR, NCSC CAF, Cyber Essentials and ISO27001, with a strong understanding of information security principles, concepts, and best practices
- excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to effectively communicate complex security concepts to non-technical stakeholders, influence stakeholders and create easy to consume articles such as blogs, policies and presentations
- relevant professional certifications, such as CISSP, CISM, CRISC or equivalent experience
Behaviours
We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Delivering at Pace
- Changing and Improving
Benefits
- 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%
Things you need to know
Selection process details
MHCLG want to bring in a diverse workforce at all levels.
Our application system is designed to remove as much bias as possible from the recruitment system – this means that a hiring manager does not know your name, your details, see your whole application in one go (or have your CV at review stage unless stated otherwise).
CV Declaration
We recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity – this is called name blind recruitment.
Please remove references to your:
- name/title
- educational institutions
- age
- gender
- email address
- postal address
- phone number
- nationality/immigration status
Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that your application would be viewed by different assessors.
At sift, through your CV we will be assessing:
- Experience
- Technical
The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:
Behaviour: Delivering at Pace, Changing and Improving
Experience: Experience questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the person specification
Technical: Technical questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the person specification
In full the campaign will test the below Success Profile Elements:
Experience: Experience will be tested at sift and through interview questions which will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the person specification
Technical: Technical will be tested at sift and through interview questions which will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the person specification
Behaviours: Delivering at Pace, Changing and Improving
We do not consider direct CV applications – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs:
Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign.
Group 1 Digital and Data roles
MHCLG has implemented the Digital and Data capability framework for Group 1 roles. Applicants that are successful at the sift stage will be required to complete a capability assessment at interview.
MHCLG will honour completed capability assessments for this role from other Government Departments for existing Civil Servants. Please provide a copy of your capability assessment to the Hiring Manager when applying. If you have any queries on pay, please contact the Hiring Manager.
Salary is determined by performance at interview, within the range advertised. Each experience or technical skill is assessed between 1-3, representing working towards, at or above the job level requirements. You are awarded a proficiency level accordingly, and you will be given opportunities at least once a year to re assess your capability and progress through the pay scale within your grade. An additional digital allowance may be payable depending on level of assessed capability.
Candidates moving from another government department have the option to retain their current salary where the principle for implementation is there is no detriment where existing pay exceeds the indicative level. Where individuals are at a lower salary than their assessed level, they will receive an upward adjustment.
Grade 6 Group 1 Digital and Data salary
The salary for this role will between £77,257 – £83,230 (London), £70,644 – £76,608 (National) depending on the proficiency level assessment
An additional digital allowance may be payable depending on the level of assessed capability up to £11,335
For applicants in receipt of existing allowances, we will assess each case individually and aim to match the digital allowance implemented with no detriment
For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable
Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions.
Benefits
Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018:
Any move to MHCLG from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk.
For further information about the benefits available to MHCLG employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack.
Geographical Location:
- London
- Leeds
- Darlington*
There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role.
- Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects – a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service. This role is based at MHCLG and we will be joined on the campus by:
- HM Treasury
- Department for International Trade
- Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
- Office for National Statistics
- Department for Education
For further information on the DEC, please take a look at the attached DEC candidate pack.
Sift and Interview dates
Sifting is envisaged to take place from Friday 31/01/2025 with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall.
Reserve List
In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details on a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@levellingup.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list.
SC (Security Check):
Important note
Successful candidates for roles based in our 2 Marsham Street building must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Security Check and the process can take up to 8 weeks to complete.
Please note that successful candidates will need to pass the Security Check – this requires you to have been resident in the UK for the past 5 years. Please refer to the MHCLG Notes on Security Clearance section of our Candidate Pack for further information on Security Check (SC).
Candidates should also note that with effect from 1st August 2018 the department will also check all applicants who are successful at interview, against the Internal Fraud Database (IFD) held by the Cabinet Office. In accordance with the Civil Service Internal Fraud Policy, any applicant who is included on the IFD will be refused employment by MHCLG Please see the Candidate Pack for further information on the Internal Fraud Database.
Candidate Pack Information
Please see attached Candidate pack for further information.
Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the MHCLG candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules
Internal Fraud Database
The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to MHCLG as a participating government organisations. MHCLG then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.
For more information please see- Internal Fraud Register
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
Nationality requirements
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)
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
Diversity and Inclusion
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
Recruitment team