Skip to main contentDefence Digital – Cyber Security Awareness Deputy Head
Ministry of Defence
Apply before 11:55 pm on Sunday 18th June 2023
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About the job
Job summary
Are you ready to work in one of the most interesting cyber security environments and share your experience to support national security?
Cyber security plays an integral role in protecting the UK against external and internal threats, acting as a deterrence to ensure that our Armed Forces have the strong cyber defences they need.
The Cyber Defence and Risk (CyDR) team is at the forefront of Cyber Security and Information Technology within Defence and is responsible for enabling Defence through the provision of specialist assurance and cyber security services across UK Defence, including industry partners, other Government Departments and our international allies. Services provided by CyDR include:
- MOD defensive cyber strategy development
- Development of cyber security policy
- Managing and driving mitigation of Departmental cyber risk
- Security assurance and accreditation support and advice
CyDR sits within the Defence Digital team who provide digital and technology services to our Armed Forces. Defence Digital operates at scale, with an annual budget in excess of £2Bn and a diverse team of 2,500 colleagues, it aims to make our Armed Forces some of the most technologically advanced in the world.
With a fantastic growing team of military and civilian staff operating across the UK, it is a great time to be a cyber security professional in the Ministry of Defence.
If you can see yourself contributing to the world of CyDR the next chapter of your career may be with us!
This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.
Job description
Cyber Awareness, Behaviours and Culture is a foundational protection in cyber defence and our people are regarded as the real first line of defence in cyber and information security.
With a large number of personnel within Defence and the extended enterprise, including veterans, families and suppliers, cyber awareness is one of the most critical cyber defences.
The Deputy Head Cyber Security Awareness will work with internal and external stakeholders, including security policy teams, other government departments and industry partners, to develop and implement strategy which will ensure that the cyber security awareness and behaviours of MOD personnel are more than a match for the threats we face. Our ambition is that MOD will have the best cyber security culture across UK Government. The role will define, co-ordinate and produce effective awareness and training material for different audiences across Defence and be responsible for driving the necessary behavioural change programme.
This is an exciting role which will allow the candidate to liaise with all teams across defensive cyber and wider security teams in Defence and build cyber skills.
This leadership role is ideally suited to someone with a good grounding in cyber security and behavioural change.
In return, you’ll benefit from excellent learning and development opportunities tailored to your role and beyond. Whilst in post, you’ll be able to gain industry recognised qualifications, and we’ll support you throughout the process.
You’ll also be able to take advantage of our excellent benefits package, including flexible working, generous leave allowance, great discount services and a market-leading Civil Service pension.
The CyDR team has exciting plans for growth, so now is a great time to join us and be part of our journey!
Person specification
Responsibilities include:
- Lead development of the Defence-wide cyber awareness programme, with the objective of continuing to improve cyber awareness, behaviours and culture across Defence people
- Line management of the Awareness team including performance management
- Lead regular stakeholder engagement across MOD, to identify and maintain insight on the key areas of focus for awareness and behavioural change
- Oversee production of cyber awareness material, targeted at different audiences across Defence, including videos, e-learning, posters and general communication
- Create an effective "market segmentation", identifying specific audiences and their awareness needs, to drive maximum benefit from investments
- Co-ordinate phishing tests and other measures of cyber behaviours
- Work with incident teams to identify new awareness topics and quickly develop and communicate corporate messaging
- Lead the creation, analysis, tracking and reporting of measures of cyber behaviours
- Collaborate across Defence to manage a federated approach to cyber awareness, including co-ordination of cyber awareness working groups to drive coherence alignment
- Support development of cyber awareness mandatory training
- Engage with personnel across MOD, building the community of interest and promoting cyber awareness.
We are committed to encouraging and enabling our staff to develop in and above their role and we will support you in undertaking further learning and development opportunities, within your designated field and beyond. Wherever possible, we will provide upskill learning options and further training to support your continuous professional development.
Person Specification
If you have the following knowledge, skills and experience, we would love to hear from you!
We would expect to see some previous experience in a Cyber Security environment leading Cyber or Information Security training and awareness campaigning and/or behavioural change programmes. Ideally, you also have the following skills:
- Able to lead and manage teams
- Great communication skills, able to converse at a wide variety of levels
- Excellent organisational skills with a keen eye for detail
- Excellent relationship-building ability
- The ability to support a team, as well as form effective partnerships across different organisations
- The ability to quickly assess information and make recommendations
- Eagerness to learn and continue your professional development
Qualifications: Your experience is key but if you have any of the following industry qualifications that would great:
- CISMP or equivalent – training can be provided to attain in post, if required
- BSc in Psychology or similar subject
Memberships: If you aren’t already a member, we’ll help you with the process and if/when you are, we’ll assist you in supporting & maintaining them:
- Member of British Psychology Society
Location: This position can be based at RAF Wyton, Huntingdon or Main Building, London. Work location will be agreed once the successful candidate has been selected.
Dependent on the business need, there may be a requirement to travel to meetings within the UK and occasional overseas visits.
This job role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is an informal, non-contractual and voluntary arrangement, blending a balance of attendance in the workplace (your permanent duty station, which is based on business assessment of where the work is best done) and working from home as a personal choice (if the role is suitable for this). If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Leadership
- Changing and Improving
- Making Effective Decisions
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
- Family Friendly – Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Leave.
- A wide range of discounts – Defence Discount Service, Civil Service societies for Sports and Leisure, Healthcare, Insurance, Motoring, company discounts with Virgin, Vodafone, and Microsoft Office.
- 5 days per year Learning & Development
- In year rewards and ‘thank you’ schemes.
- Flexible working.
- Generous leave allocations.
- Please see Benefits Leaflet for more detail
Equality and Diversity
Our people are at the heart of everything we do at Defence Digital. It’s vital that our workforce reflects the diversity of both our audience and the wider society in the UK, so we’re proud to be an equal opportunities employer and we actively seek candidates from diverse backgrounds and communities. We also recognise the importance of a good work life balance, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including part-time and job shares for all our roles. Please let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process if this is something you want to explore.
Defence Digital operates an organisation model in which every individual belongs to a Government Profession. The successful applicant will be posted into one of the defined Government Professions on Standard Terms of Reference for the grade. Defence Digital reserves the right to move individuals between roles, within their allocated profession, to meet the needs of the business and in support of agile resourcing.
Within Defence Digital each profession is led by a Professional Head of Community who will lead professional development and support the Continuous Professional Development path for their group.
Defence Digital is currently going through a Transformation Programme which aims to ensure we have the right workforce, with the right skills, to deliver the MOD's Digital Strategy. As the programme progresses, Defence Digital staff may be required to undergo an assessment to understand and develop their upskilling needs to support the delivery of this strategy. This post may be impacted by Transformation.
The post does not offer relocation expenses.
The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Smoke-Free Working Environment policy, Smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) will not be permitted anywhere in the Defence working environment by 31st December 2022. The policy is Whole Force and includes all Defence personnel, contractors, visitors and other non-MOD personnel. All applicants seeking, considering, or accepting employment with the Ministry of Defence should be aware of this policy and that it is already in place at a number of Defence Establishments.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
To apply please complete the CV template provided on the CS Jobs dashboard. You will be assessed against your relevant, skills, knowledge and experience which demonstrates the essential criteria listed within this advert.
All applicants will also need to provide a personal statement (max. 1250 words) and it is essential that this includes evidence of the following essential criteria. Each one will be scored 1-7 and make up part of your overall score to assess your suitability to be invited to interview:
1. Describe your experience of working in a Cyber Security environment.
2. Describe your experience or knowledge of implementing cyber security awareness, training and behavioural change programmes.
3. Describe your experience of building strong working relationships and how they were established and maintained.
4. Tell us about your experience of managing and leading a team.
Interviews
We’ll assess you against these behaviours & experience during the interview process:
Presentation
- You will be asked to prepare and deliver a 5-minute (max) presentation at interview entitled: The key features of an effective cyber security behavioural change programme.
Behaviours
- Leadership
- Changing & Improving
- Making Effective Decisions
Experience
- You will be asked questions related to your relevant experience for this role.
As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical.
The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected, and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.
This vacancy is part of the A Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative, Making-the-civil-service-a-great-place-to-work-for-veterans
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk
MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – we may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights.
Any move to MOD from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
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Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
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Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Defence Digital Talent Acquisition Team
- Email : ukstratcomdd-hr-talentacqdel@mod.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : DBSCivPers-ResourcingTeam3@mod.gov.uk
Further information
