Lead Cyber Security Risk Manager - Home Office Cyber Security

About the job

Job summary

Home Office Digital designs, builds and develops services for the rest of the department and for government. Every year our systems support up to 3 million visa applications, checks on 100 million border crossings, up to 8 million passport applications and deliver 140 million police checks on people, vehicles and property.

As a Lead Cyber Security Risk Manager in the Compliance and Assurance team, you will lead proportionate, risk-based cyber security assurance across Home Office projects and live services, identifying, assessing and helping mitigate cyber risks to critical national infrastructure and business-critical systems. Drawing on a range of evidence and your expertise, you will provide independent challenge and advice throughout the service lifecycle, enabling stakeholders, including senior leaders, to make informed, auditable decisions about cyber risk.

You’ll be joining an expert team of cyber professionals, committed to reducing the exposure to cyber-attack of new and existing digital systems. You’ll be aided in your role by a diverse and supportive organisational culture, and a commitment to further your continuous development.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. Where this is the case, employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in the office. Applicants can raise any queries to the email address at the bottom of the advert.   

Watch this short video to hear from members of Home Office Digital talking about the projects they work on and their experience of working here: Working for Home Office Digital. 

Job description

The Lead Cyber Security Risk Manager supports, plans and develops the implementation and management of organisation-wide processes and procedures for the management, assurance or governance of cyber risk.  They will provide tailored expert support and advice that highlights cyber security risks to a range of stakeholders, projects, business teams and service owners, helping them to remedy identified risks by enabling well-informed and auditable decisions, using published guidance and standards, and drawing on a range of experts as well as personal expertise.

Person specification

As a Lead Cyber Security Risk Manager, your main responsibilities will be;  

• Independently and impartially undertaking risk management activities within a given area of practice or expertise, usually within established security and risk management governance structures. You will lead the independent derivation and analysis of security needs including assuring, evaluating and challenging the adequacy of risk assessments, controls and evidence, while retaining the ability to undertake targeted assurance activity where necessary.
• Lead and prioritise proportionate, risk-based second-line cyber security assurance across an assigned portfolio of projects, live services and product areas, ensuring assurance effort is focused on the areas of greatest material risk and formulate clear, evidence-based assurance opinions, identifying material control weaknesses, residual risks, dependencies and limitations, and provide recommendations to support informed and auditable risk decisions.
• Developing risk management-related policy and assure the ongoing appropriateness of policy in accordance with regulation and wider organisational and government policies, embedding Secure by Design principles where appropriate.
• Communicating effectively with senior stakeholders to ensure they recognise the importance of security considerations and advising senior stakeholders on their approach to risk assessment in the context of their organisational outcomes, providing independent constructive challenge where appropriate.
• Managing risk management processes, reviewing their efficiency and effectiveness, and leading recommendations for continuous improvement. This includes reviewing internal controls following any security breach, providing advice on how to remediate any vulnerabilities discovered, and agreeing and overseeing remedial solutions, controls and safeguards, including tracking assurance findings where appropriate.
• Assessing reviews and risk assessments and ensuring identified risks are managed in accordance with Home Office risk management policies, including assurance outcomes and remediation activity where applicable.

Working Pattern 

Due to the business requirements of this role, it is only available on a full-time basis. However, compressed hours are available. 

Essential Skills

• Information or cyber security including threat and risk analysis for complex, high-risk and/or mission critical systems, preferably involving the Home Office, Cabinet Office, NCSC or within industry Security Operations Centres (SOCs) and departments.
• Proven ability to lead, develop and provide professional oversight to cyber security risk or assurance practitioners, setting standards for quality, consistency and professional judgement.
• Proficiency analysing or implementing technical or security policies in a large organisation. Skilled in balancing security requirements with business impact to ensure practicality and effectiveness. 
• Ability to champion cybersecurity risk and ensure ongoing appropriateness or practices.
• Proven track record in implementing cybersecurity risk, assurance or governance processes and procedures.
• Cyber risk and controls frameworks such as NIST, ISO27001, COBIT, BS EN 31111, Cyber Essentials, CAF and general wider NCSC guidelines.

SFIA capability framework 

Skills for the Information Age (SFIA) version 8 is the technical framework that sets the standard capability and development of all levels in the Home Office. This is a link to the capability framework:  All skills A - Z English (sfia-online.org). 

We use set SFIA technical skills to form our interview questions and we will assess you against these technical skills during the selection process. 

The essential skills listed above are reflective of the Home Office Government Digital and Data Profession Career Framework (based on the industry standard SFIA framework).  Use the SFIA Levels of responsibility to understand what would be expected for each technical skills listed below. 

Strategy and architecture:

•   Security and Privacy
  • Information Assurance (INAS) – Level 3
  • Information security (SCTY) – Level 4
    
    
• Governance, Risk and Compliance
  • Risk management (BURM) – Level 3
  • Audit (AUDT) – Level 4
    
    
• Advice and Guidance
  • Specialist advice (TECH) – Level 4

Relationships and Engagement

• Stakeholder Management
  Stakeholder relationship management (RLMT) – Level 4

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Information assurance (INAS) – Level 3
• Information security (SCTY) – Level 4
• Risk management (BURM) – Level 3
• Audit (AUDT) – Level 4
• Specialist advice (TECH) – Level 4
• Stakeholder relationship management (RLMT) – Level 4

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £62,732, Home Office contributes £18,173 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Why work for us...  

Find out more information at: Benefits - Home Office Careers, but some of the primary ones are: 

• A Civil Service Pension with employer contribution rates of at least 28.97%. 
• In-year reward scheme for one-off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements. 
• 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service. 
• 8 days of public holidays, plus 1 additional privilege day. 
• Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office. 

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