Defence Business Services (DBS) - DDaT ITMS Cyber Security Assurance and Risk Assessor
Job summary
Are you a dedicated person who is passionate about making a difference?
Would you like to work for the Ministry of Defence?
Defence Business Services (DBS) is one of the largest shared service organisations in Europe that provides a wide range of corporate services, to over 1.2 million end users, including serving and past military and families, as well as MoD civil servants and industry. DBS delivers large scale administration and smaller specialist services to enable the wider MOD to focus on its core aims, maintaining the UK’s Defence and Security. Services include Human Resources, Pay, Veterans, Finance and Procurement.
- Our Vision - To support UK defence customers with outstanding service every time.
- Our Mission – Together we will proudly support Defence, continuously improving and delivering flexible, timely, sustainable and value for money services that underpin the whole force and enhance operational capability.
DBS is committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues. We are building an inclusive culture and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society.
We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us through opportunities to develop your skills and experience. We also offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career accessible to you and offer a Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%. Where your role permits, we support a blended working approach alternatively known as hybrid working.
Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to capacity and any required workplace adjustments. Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD office, will also count towards this level of attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements.
Come and join the DBS community today!
Job description
DBS DIT provides digital capability that supports corporate services across the Ministry of Defence, including Finance, Commercial, Payroll and Human Resources for Military Personnel, Civilian Personnel and Veterans. Cyber Security Assessors are responsible for independent assessment of Delivery Teams’ adherence to Secure by Design and the NCSC Cyber Assurance Framework, relevant risk and security policies and standards. They coordinate between Delivery Teams dealing with similar security challenges to optimise solutions and minimise duplication of effort. They are responsible for consistent, coherent advice and support to relevant capabilities. They identify, understand and mitigate cyber-related risks. They provide risk or service owners with advice to help them make well informed risk-based decisions.
As Cyber Security Assurance and Risk Assessor within the DBS Cyber Team you will manage all day to day IT Security and System Information Assurance, and, applying Secure by Design, ensure that security is embedded in all stages of the application development life cycle, and that there is continuous monitoring through use. You will also advise on and test the efficacy of measures to build security into continuous integration and deployment with specific responsibilities for the day to day IT security for multiple Military and Civilian HR systems and Finance systems. The role will require you to demonstrate a talent for solving complex problems and for effective communication at all levels. You will be able to advise on complex risk balance decisions, propose innovative solutions and to explain MOD’s security policy, governance and technology controls to non-IT/security experts. Senior Responsible Owners and Project Leads will rely on your expertise to ensure they have an accurate understanding of through-life cyber security risks, so they can make informed decisions. Projects may involve complex technical and security challenges and you will need a good understanding of technical controls and policy.
The Key Responsibilities are:
- Lead the embedment of Secure by Design (SbD) principles into application development by providing advice and internal consultancy on highly complex criteria and contexts for multiple systems.
- Lead multi-team assessment of application resilience throughout the DBS IT estate, reviewing regular application security reports, holding accountability and responsibility for secure design implementation; supporting delivery of main gate assurance of all projects and changes; ensuring compliance with Information Assurance Policy and Security Principles
- Lead and assure processes, and provide specialist advice though leadership on tooling and dynamic and static analysis in the product development life cycle.
- Work with Delivery Team Security Leads (previously Security Assurance Co-ordinator (SACs)) and Cyber Risk Leads alongside senior decision makers to embed secure development life cycle and security awareness.
As a Principal Cyber Security Risk Manager, you will:
- Conduct cyber security risk assessments
- Implement continuous risk management; Lead and undertake risk management activities against the hardest or more novel scenarios, while applying the fundamental principles of risk management to a range of complex scenarios and lead regulatory or legislative compliance activities.
- Guide and direct specialist activities or others, actively promoting development in the applicable skills, providing leadership and sharing best practice widely across government, the public sector, and industry.
- Lead the analysis and derivation of complex security needs.
- Lead Cyber Security related risk assessments and other expert risk management activities, including providing guidance on establishing the organisation’s Cyber Security related governance arrangements.
- Provide guidance to ensure on-going confidence that fundamental organisational security needs have been met, including integrating a range of assurance approaches and techniques to give continued confidence to the risk, service or system owner.
- Shape leadership decision-making through
- Effective reporting and communication regarding the effectiveness of security processes across an organisation
- Providing recommendations to highly complex problems
- Acting as an SME for complex cyber risk management concerns, issues and problems
Person specification
- Knowledge/experience of implementing Secure by Design Principles.
- Knowledge and experience of risk management
Desirable Qualification
CISSP/CISM would be considered an advantageous qualification to hold
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Making Effective Decisions
- Developing Self and Others
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Government Security Professions Career Framework
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £61,630, Ministry of Defence contributes £17,854 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- An environment with flexible working options Monday-Friday
- 25 days paid annual leave rising (1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of 5 years’ service (pro rata). In addition to 8 public holidays per year, you will also receive leave for His Majesty The King’s birthday
- Hybrid working where role permits
- An opportunity to be considered for Reward and Recognition
- Family-friendly policies including - parental leave and adoption leave
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- Professional and personal development of skills
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- Minimum of 15 days special leave in a rolling 12 month period for volunteer reserve commitments
- Special paid leave to volunteer up to 6 days per year
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
DBS has recently undertaken a review of its operational locations in the North West, and have consolidated all activities in Norcross, Blackpool. A further move, to the new Government Hub at Talbot Gateway in Blackpool, is scheduled to take place in 2027.
This post is eligible for a Digital Skills Allowance of up to £15,300 per annum. Eligibility for this allowance will be assessed at interview against the 4 core technical skills only and reviewed annually in line with departmental policy.
Employment Hours
- This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.
The post does not offer relocation expenses.
Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts.
External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.
Please Note: Expenses incurred for travel to interviews will not be reimbursed.
Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts.
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/.
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 however some exemptions are in place, please refer to local guidance. 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.
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 Policy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights.
Things you need to know
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.Please ensure that at the application and interview stages of the campaign you review the Success Profiles Framework to assist you in the demonstration of your skills and experience.
Your suitability for the role will be assessed using the Success Profile elements that have been chosen for this campaign. Each element will be scored accordingly, and the successful candidate will be appointed on merit.
Applications will be sifted on all Success Profile elements, but in the event of a high number of applications, an initial sift will be conducted on the following success profile elements:
Primary: Career - Personal Statement
Secondary: Career - CV
In this instance the remaining elements will be tested at interview.
At sift, you will be assessed against the following Experience
- Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history; qualification details and previous skills and experience.
- Candidates will be required to provide a statement of suitability in no more than 750 words.
At interview, you will be assessed against the following:
Behaviours
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Making Effective Decisions
- Developing Self and Others
Technical Skills
- Technical - Government Security Professions Career Framework
In the rare case where individuals have exact matching scores, the order of merit will be determined based on the behaviour scores at interview in the following order:
- Career - Personal Statement
- Behaviour - Seeing the Big Picture
- Behaviour - Making Effective Decisions
- Behaviour - Developing Self and Others
- Technical - Government Security Professions Career Framework
If candidate scores are still exact, the merit order will then be determined on the sift score in the following order:
- Career - Personal Statement
- Career - Job History
- Career - Qualification Details
- Career - Previous Skills
We want to offer opportunities to all who are successful at interview for our roles, but this isn’t always possible, so we do hold candidates on an active reserve list for 12 months.
Application sifting to take place : Early August
Interviews are currently taking place via the following method: Ms Teams
Interviews will be conducted : Mid-Late August
A minimum of 2 full working days’ notice will be provided for interviews.
We endeavour to stick to these dates, but these are subject to change around business needs.
The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.
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: DBS-EnhancedRecruitmentTeam@mod.gov.uk
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.
To assist with your application please find attached -
DBS Candidate Information Guide - Working for Defence Business Services - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
(26) UK Ministry of Defence: Life , LinkedIn
Technical Skills - Framework: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-government-security-profession-career-framework
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.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).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.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 : Michael Moynihan
- Email : michael.moynihan100@mod.gov.uk
Recruitment team
Further information
Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles and would like to raise this, please contact DBS-EnhancedRecruitmentTeam@MOD.gov.uk in the first instance. If the role has been advertised externally (outside of the Civil Service) and you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitm…Attachments
Defence Internal Brief notice Opens in new window (docx, 43kB)Candidate Information 2025 Opens in new window (docx, 31kB)MOD Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 1562kB)DD Candidate Pack 2025 Opens in new window (pdf, 2123kB)Salary range
- £61,630 - £67,750 per year