Job summary
- Main area
- Cyber Operations
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8b
- Contract
- Fixed term: 11 months (until 31 October 2026 - Secondment only for current NHS employees)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 990-TD-CY-17818-E
- Employer
- NHS England
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Wellington Place/ Hexagon House
- Town
- Leeds / Exeter
- Salary
- £83,792 - £97,365 per annum (this includes a RRP payment of 30%)
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 02/11/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Cyber Security Lead - Threat Intelligence
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
Cyber Operations purpose is 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, supporting Transformation Directorate’s purpose of delivering the best care and outcomes for the NHS.
The Cyber Operations sub-directorate consists of 4 operational areas:
- Cyber Security Operations Unit (CSOU)
- Cyber Delivery Unit (CDU).
- Cyber Improvement Programme.
- Chief Information Security Office Function (CISO)
The role leads the CSOCs Threat Intelligence team within NHS England CSOC comprised of four primary functions:
- Intelligence Collection & Analysis – Perform collection, aggregation, analysis and contextualisation of healthcare and security information to produce actionable CTI.
- Cybersecurity Threat & Risk Assessment – Perform high-level risk assessments of current and emerging threats to the health & social care estate.
- Intelligence Dissemination & Reporting – Produce stakeholder-specific intelligence reporting for stakeholders.
- Specialist CTI Support - Provides specialist CTI support to CSOC during high complexity incidents.
The post of Cyber Security Lead Analyst - Threat Intelligence 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 none contractual and subject to review.
Main duties of the job
As a Cyber Security Lead Analyst (Threat Intelligence) you will:
- Ensure the objectives and activities of the Threat Intelligence teams and Assessments are aligned with overarching CSOC strategy.
- Represent the function at operational and managerial meetings, including regularly reporting to senior leadership.
- Acts as an escalation point for national cyber threat advisories (NHS High Severity Alerts).
- Acting as an escalation point for technical, operational and strategic threat intelligence queries.
- Be responsible for the management and production of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for the function.
- Manage the resource allocation and workload across the function, including developing innovative solutions to improve quality and efficiency.
- Manage the relationships and process integration between the Threat Intelligence and Threat Hunting teams.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives for the function, for the benefit of the wider CSOC.
Working for our organisation
Our work supports the NHS to deliver high quality services for patients and best value for taxpayers.
Our staff bring expertise across hundreds of specialisms — including clinical, operational, commissioning, technology, data science, cyber security, software engineering, education, and commercial — enabling us to design and deliver high-quality NHS services.
We lead the NHS in England 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
Earlier this year, the Government announced that NHS England will gradually merge with the Department of Health and Social Care, leading to full integration. The aim is to create a smaller, more strategic centre that reduces duplication and eliminates waste.
If successful at interview, we will initiate an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). This retrieves key data from your current or previous NHS employer to support onboarding, including competency status, Continuous Service Dates (CSD), and annual leave entitlement. You may opt out at any stage of the recruitment process.
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 (Analyst) and this job title is advertised to attract the right skills needed for the role.
Secondment
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
Person specification
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Extensive knowledge of techniques, approaches and processes of digital threats; ability to detect, monitor, analyse and prevent digital threats.
- Demonstrable knowledge of tools, techniques and processes of intrusion detection and prevention; ability to detect, resolve and prevent intrusion behaviours to protect organisational networks.
Desirable criteria
- Extensive knowledge of concept, procedures and processes of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM); ability to utilise related applications to protect organisational networks from cyber risks.
Skills and Experience
Essential criteria
- Working 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
- Expert knowledge of and ability to utilise a variety of specific tools for collecting, analysing, and presenting digital-related evidence.
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Masters level degree or equivalent level of experience.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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
- Dan Taylor
- Job title
- Head of Security (Lead)
- Email address
- [email protected]
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