Trainee Cyber Security Analyst (Security Trainee)
Job summary
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 four operational areas:
- Cyber Security Operations Unit (CSOU & SIO)
- Cyber Delivery Unit (CDU)
- Cyber Improvement Programme
- Chief Information Security Office Function (CISO)
Main duties of the job
You will join the Analyst Pool within the Protective Monitoring team in the CSOC and will be performing first line alert triage from our cybersecurity monitoring tooling, evaluating and investigating the alert before reaching a conclusion to supply back to the relevant external healthcare organisations or internal stakeholders.
You will have access to extensive technical monitoring tooling across networks, cloud environments, endpoint telemetry, collaboration and identity management services working to protect healthcare nationally.
You will be empowered to develop or use knowledge of cybersecurity tooling to automate and refine our systems to improve detection rates by developing new detection rules. You will support other areas of the CSOC team in assessing alerts and ensuring they are escalated and handled with the correct level of technical understanding for successful remediation by the affected organisations.
The CSOC has an excellent training pathway for onwards development in our chosen toolsets, combining on the job training with industry recognised certifications and vendor qualifications which you will follow as part of a program of development and upskilling.
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.
As part of the shortlisting process you may be asked to complete an assessment via a third party platform called Immersive. Immersive is a gamified learning environment. We use their screening product to help assess whether our candidates meet the technical requirements were looking for during the recruitment process.
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 Trainee and this job title is advertised to attract the right skills needed for the role.
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
- Basic knowledge of modules, processes and technologies of Information Security Operation Centre (ISOC); ability to detect, response and utilise related platform and applications to perform cyber security initiatives.
- Basic knowledge of techniques, approaches and processes of digital threats; ability to detect, monitor, analyse and prevent digital threats.
- Basic knowledge of technologies and technology-based solutions dealing with information security issues; ability to apply these in protecting information security.
- Basic 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.
- Basic knowledge of IT security policies, standards, and procedures; ability to utilise a variety of administrative skill sets and technical knowledge to ensure cybersecurity compliance.
Qualifications
- NHS England Academy apprenticeship graduation or equivalent cyber security experience, which equates to degree level equivalent/ vocational qualification level 6 or equivalent 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
Leeds/Exeter
LS1 4AP
United Kingdom
Employer's website
https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/working-for/