Job summary
- Main area
- Cyber Operations
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8b
- Contract
- Fixed term: 13 months (Secondment only for current NHS Employees. Until 31/10/2026)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 990-TD-15009-E
- Employer
- NHS England
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Wellington Place, Leeds / Hexagon House, Exeter
- Town
- Leeds / Exeter
- Salary
- £83,792 - £97,365 Per annum (this includes a RRP payment of 30%).
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 09/09/2025 23:59
Employer heading

Cyber Security Lead - Service Integration and Ownership
NHS AfC: Band 8b
Our Organisation
The NHS is building a culture that is positive, compassionate and inclusive – and we all have our part to play.
As employers we are committed to protecting and promoting the physical and mental health and wellbeing of all our colleagues. This underpins our values as set out in the NHS Constitution and supports us to be an Employer of Choice, while helping our colleagues to deliver high quality services for our patients and communities.
As a flexible employer, we want to support you to work in a way that is best for the NHS, our patients and you. Talk to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time, hybrid working or another flexible pattern. In addition, although the role advertised may have a ‘home’ office base indicated, we remain committed to supporting flexibility around workplace locations. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.
We are an accredited Living Wage Employer which means that every colleague working for our organisation and third-party contractors will earn a real Living Wage. We are one of over 15,000 organisations, who voluntarily chose to pay the real Living Wage.
Job overview
Join NHS England Cyber Operations as a Security lead to support safe care and build public trust by building NHS England’s cyber resilience and enabling the wider health system to be cyber resilient.
This post is within Service Integration and Ownership (SIO), which is part of Cyber Operational services. SIO is primarily external facing, managing a portfolio of Cyber Services to the NHS, to manage cyber risk and ultimately provide cyber resilience while underpinning the delivery of patient services and outcomes.
You would be providing Security leadership to a subset of the services in our portfolio throughout their lifecycle ensuring they improve cyber resilience. Developing, assessing and reviewing security requirements, providing security consultancy, advising health and care organisations how to get the best out of the services
Services we provide include Secure Boundary, Vulnerability management, Cyber security ratings service and the Data Security and Protection Toolkit.
Consistent, efficient, proportionate security risk management is best achieved by a blend of centralised advice, control and security services blended with individual security responsibility and actions. You would be supporting the NHS by keeping their services secure, deliver managed security services to the system, filling the gaps where secure design & operation or other constraints fail to deliver proportionate security across the system.
Main duties of the job
The role requires an individual with excellent knowledge and experience of working in a cyber environment providing expertise to both support strategic decisions and security requirements to the portfolio of cyber services managed centrally. This may include the full management and delivery of a subset of the portfolio and subsequent replacement/renewal of services manging this across the whole lifecycle from requirements gathering, transitioning and ownership
As a Security Lead you will
- Have a good understanding of information security / governance frameworks / Security operations.
- Have a good understanding of the end-to-end management and enhancement of services, including management of 3rd party providers
- Detailed understanding of what constitutes good and poor cyber hygiene.
- A good understanding of the health and care system in England
- The ability to communicate complex concepts to audience that have limited knowledge of cyber security.
- Be able to influence organisations in improving their cyber posture whilst maximising the value from central services
- Support the portfolio of cyber services delivered by the SIO team to the wider NHS .
The role will also be required to manage members of the team, ensuring they deliver on team objectives and promote their personal development ambitions.
Working for our organisation
The NHS England board have set out the top-level purpose for the new organisation to lead the NHS in England to deliver high-quality services for all, which will inform the detailed design work and we will achieve this purpose by:
- Enabling local systems and providers to improve the health of their people and patients and reduce health inequalities.
- Making the NHS a great place to work, where our people can make a difference and achieve their potential.
- Working collaboratively to ensure our healthcare workforce has the right knowledge, skills, values and behaviours to deliver accessible, compassionate care
- Optimising the use of digital technology, research, and innovation
- Delivering value for money.
If you would like to know more or require further information, please visit https://www.england.nhs.uk/.
Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in-person.
Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.
If you are successful at interview, we will run an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) in the Electronic Staff Record system (ESR). This transfer gathers valuable information from a previous or current NHS employer to support the onboarding process, including; statutory and mandatory competency status, Continuous Service Dates (CSD), and annual leave entitlement. You will have the opportunity throughout the recruitment process to inform us if you do not consent.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification for more information about the role and responsibilities.
Please ensure your supporting statement includes demonstratable evidence and specific examples on how you meet the criteria for each of the key skills specified. This will be used in both the shortlisting and interview processes
Important: Please be aware there are residency requirements you need to meet:
All NHS England Cyber Security personnel must hold Security Clearance level as a minimum. To meet National Security Vetting requirements, SC clearances require 5 years continuous UK residency. In certain cases, this can be reduced to three years continuous UK residency, with additional overseas checks for the previous two years. Candidates who were posted abroad for service with HM Government, Armed Forces or within a UK government role - will still be considered.
Please make sure you meet these requirements before applying for this role. You don’t need to have SC already, however, failure to achieve the requirements for SC after offer will result in the job offer being withdrawn. For further advice please check https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels/national-security-vetting-clearance-levels#security-check-sc
Please be aware that should you be successful in this position, you will be hired to the job title of Security Lead and this job title is advertised to attract the right skills needed for the role.
The post of Security Lead has been awarded a Recruitment and Retention Premia (RRP) in response to current labour market conditions. In recognition of this, the role attracts an additional monthly RRP payment equal to 30% per annum.
Please be aware that RRP is non-contractual and subject to review
Secondments
Applicants from within the NHS will be offered on a secondment basis only, agreement should be obtained from their employer prior to submitting the application.
Please note that the reason for the fixed term of this contract is short term vacancy
If you like what you have read and think you have the skills and experience, we need then don't delay, apply today! We get lots of applications for our roles and so we sometimes have to close our posts early. Don't miss out!
Person specification
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Extensive knowledge of techniques, roles, and responsibilities in providing technical or business guidance to clients, both internal and external; ability to apply this knowledge appropriately to diverse situations.
- Proven knowledge of processes, tools and techniques for assessing and controlling an organisation's exposure to risks of various kinds; ability to apply this knowledge appropriately to diverse situations.
Desirable criteria
- Detailed knowledge of tools, techniques, approaches and processes of cybersecurity risk management; ability to ensure organisational network operation and minimise negative effect by cybersecurity risks.
Skills and Experience
Essential criteria
- Detailed knowledge of the processes, tools and techniques of information security management, ability to deploy and monitor information security systems, as well as detect, resolve and prevent violations of IT security, to protect organisational data.
Desirable criteria
- In-depth knowledge of domestic and international laws governing information security; ability to interpret and take action on the aspects of information security laws that impact the business.
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- CISSP/CISM
Applicant requirements
This post will require a submission for Disclosure to be made to check for any unspent criminal convictions.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Liam Coughlan
- Job title
- Senior Service Manager
- Email address
- [email protected]
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