Cyber Security Advisor
Job summary
NHS England's Chief Information Security Office (CISO) Function's purpose is to enable safe care and build public trust by strengthening the cyber resilience of the NHS. The CISO supports the Technology Digital and Data Directorate's purpose of delivering the best care and outcomes for patients, and enables faster, safer digital transformation of the NHS.
As part of the CISO function the Security Advisor sits in the Security Assurance Team who provide ongoing assurance that proportionate levels of cyber security are being maintained across the enterprise.
This is an exciting opportunity to support the delivery of cyber resilient services for the NHS. You'll be given the support and autonomy to use your skills, knowledge, and experience, to make a real impact on improving people's lives.
Main duties of the job
As a Security Advisor you will:
- Work within a small team dedicated to the assurance of the NHS England supply chain (Third Party Risk Management) and product assurance. You may also be required to support related priority work areas including insider risk and assurance of NHS England security controls / systems.
- Engage diverse stakeholders across NHS England on continual security assurance activities to drive timely security improvements and resilience.
- Support the development and management of key security assurance metrics to enable evidenced-based decision making.
- Support assurance activities in line with applicable frameworks and legislation such as NCSC CAF, NIS Regulations, GovAssure, HMG Secure by Design, NIST Special Publication 800-53, ISO 27001/2 and the Data Security and Protection Toolkit.
- Collate, analyse and summarise intelligence on security maturity indicators, audit actions and assurance reporting.
- Undertake line management responsibilities as required.
About us
NHS England has a wide range of statutory functions, responsibilities and regulatory powers. These are focused on supporting the wider NHS to deliver high quality care, as well as doing those things that are best done once for the whole NHS.
Our staff bring expertise across clinical, operational, commissioning, technology, data science, cyber security, software engineering, education, and commercial specialisms -- enabling us to design and deliver high-quality NHS services.
In March 2025, the Government announced that NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care will increasingly merge functions, ultimately leading to NHS England being fully integrated into the department.
If you currently work within the NHS and 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 process.
Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in our offices.
Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.
We cannot offer visa sponsorship for any vacancies.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification for more information about the role and responsibilities.
Relevant cyber security qualification from a recognised professional body (e.g. CISM, CRISC, CISA, CISSP, SSCP) is desirable.
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 dont 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 Adviser/Analyst and this job title is advertised to attract the right skills needed for the role.
The post of Security Adviser/Analyst 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 20% per annum.Please be aware that RRP is non-contractual and subject to review
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
- Proven knowledge of and the ability to utilise tools and techniques for assessing the effectiveness of information security measures, identifying potential risk exposures, and protecting the availability, confidentiality and audit trails of information from destruction or manipulation.
- Proven knowledge of IT security policies, standards, and procedures; ability to utilise a variety of administrative skill sets and technical knowledge to ensure cyber security compliance.
- Demonstrable 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.
Skills and Experience
- Demonstrable knowledge of technologies and technology-based solutions dealing with information security issues; ability to apply these in protecting information security across the organisation.
- Basic knowledge of and the ability to protect information and information systems while ensuring their confidentiality, integrity and availability.
Qualifications
- Post-graduate level degree in Cyber Security or a relevant subject, or equivalent level of experience.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Employer details
Employer name
NHS England
Address
Wellington Place, Leeds / Hexagon House, Exeter / Wellington House, London
Leeds / Exeter / London
LS1 4AP
United Kingdom
Employer's website
https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/working-for/