Home Office

Contents

• Location
• About the job
• Benefits
• Things you need to know
• Apply and further information

Croydon, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Southport

About the job

Job summary

The Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) profession enable the Home Office to keep the UK safe and secure. They do this by designing, building, and running the services that help people apply for visas or passports, support policing and counter-terrorism operations, and protect the UK’s borders.

We are recruiting for Lead Security Architects in 2 different portfolios: Data Services and Analytics (DSA) and End User Compute and Collaboration (EUC&C). To find out more about each portfolio, please find attached the Portfolio Summary document in the attachments section below. 

Team members have specialised knowledge and a calling to build on it. We want the best people to come to the Home Office and work in the diverse roles and communities they’re passionate about. This is how we produce exceptional outcomes.  

Due to business requirements this post is available on a full time/flexible working basis. 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.

We value diversity and inclusion and welcome applications from the widest diversity of backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. We particularly encourage applications from women, people with disabilities and LGBT+ as they are currently under-represented in the Home Office at this grade level. Appointments will be made on merit based on fair and open competition.

Job description

A Lead Security Architect is responsible for driving the secure design and development of solutions for one or more major business sectors within the department. They lead the security engagement for all projects within their portfolio ensuring that the department’s security design standards are adhered to. 

As a Lead Security Architect, you will provide an ‘out-reach’ service to your business areas to advise on security requirements and solutions to enable technical teams to make security decisions, ensuring the effective use of common tools and products. 

You will collaborate with peers both within and outside of your Portfolios to identify new opportunities for exploiting emerging technologies and support the development of architectures, patterns and approaches to support their safe use in accordance with the department’s risk appetites. 

At all times your goal is to help ensure delivery of systems that meet the desired business outcomes with security decisions and controls being proportionate to the risk. 

You will build effective partnerships with diverse teams across multiple locations and technologies and effectively communicate security and risk implications across technical and non-technical stakeholders. 

You will manage other Security Architects, covering critical review architecture referencing NCSC guidelines. You will also be responsible for their training and development. 

Your main day to day responsibilities will be: 

• Contributing to the vision, principles and strategy set down by the Principal Security Architect ensuring it reflects the needs of your portfolio as well as the wider department. 
• Overseeing the security engagement for projects within your business sphere and cooperating with colleagues to find common solutions to similar challenges across all business lines. 
• Driving ‘secure by design’ by promoting security as an aspect of quality, ensuring that program, project and service managers own this responsibility. 
• Following developments in the security and technology industry to ensure that the technology landscape is kept secure in line with industry standard. 
• Recommending security controls and identifying solutions that support a business objective, working out subtle security needs and understanding the impact of decisions, balancing requirements and deciding between approaches. 
• Providing specialist advice and recommending approaches, interacting with senior stakeholders across departments and influencing a wide range of people across larger teams and communities to execute security standards, policies and principles. This will include advising on key security related technologies and assessing the risk associated with proposed changes

Person specification

Essential skills 

You’ll have a demonstrable passion for Security Architecture, with the following skills or strong experience in: 

• Leading and evaluating the secure design of major products, services and input to complex solutions, challenging outmoded concepts and driving improvements with innovative, creating precedents and setting direction. 
• Making and guiding effective decisions on risks, based on information assurance risk assessment methodology, explaining clearly how the decision has been reached. 
• Applying security concepts to a technical level across multiple projects, working with security tools, network security infrastructure technologies, and information security management frameworks (e.g. ISO 27001, NIST). 
• Working with penetration testing and effectively translating cyber risk analysis into standards, patterns and approaches to enable the safe exploitation of current and emerging technologies. 
• Understanding NCSC information security guidance and architecture patterns. 
• Understanding architecture methodology e.g. SABSA, TOGAF. 

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 levels of responsibility to understand what would be expected for each technical skill listed). Please see below for the relevant skills for your role: 

Strategy & Architecture: 

• Strategy and Planning 

o Strategic Planning (ITSP) – Level 3 

o Solution Architecture (ARCH)– Level 5 

o Innovation (INOV) – Level 3 

o Enterprise and Business Architecture (STPL) – Level 3 

• Advice & Guidance 

o Consultancy (CNSL) – Level 4 

o Specialist Advice (TECH) – Level 4 

Technical skills

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

• Strategic Planning (ITSP) – Level 3
• Solution Architecture (ARCH)– Level 5
• Innovation (INOV) – Level 3
• Enterprise and Business Architecture (STPL) – Level 3
• Consultancy (CNSL) – Level 4
• Specialist Advice (TECH) – Level 4

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £60,300, Home Office contributes £17,468 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

You’ll also have access to the same benefits available to all civil servants in the Home Office: 

• An in-year performance bonus scheme.
• A Civil Service pension with employer contribution rate of 28.97%, depending upon salary.
• 25 days annual leave on appointment, plus 8 days public holidays and 1 day for the King’s Birthday, rising further with service.
• Flexible working options to enable you to achieve the work life balance that right for you including. 
• Training and development opportunities tailored to your role.
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
• Season ticket loans and rental deposit loans.
• Cycle to work and payroll giving.
• Employee discounts - including a huge number of retailers, Microsoft Home Use programme and gym membership.
• A variety of staff recognition schemes including thank you vouchers.
• Health and wellbeing initiatives including monthly mindfulness sessions.
• Staff support networks.
• Maternity, adoption or shared parental leave of up to 26 weeks full pay followed by 13 weeks of statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaid.
• Maternity and adoption support leave (paternity leave) of 2 weeks full pay.
• Up to five days paid leave for volunteering.
• Study leave and support for studying for a qualification or other accredited development relevant to your role. 

You can find more information at Benefits - Home Office Careers 

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : AC Recruitment
• Email : ACRecruitment@homeoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the recruitment

principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance

HORecruitment.GRS@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

Read Full Description