Security Architect

Department: Technology Roles Location: London Salary £68,826 – £73,691 with enhancement (plus an additional annual allowance of £6,251 – £14,851 dependent on skills, knowledge and experience). Job description  Flexible Working: This role is office based. Options for compressed or part time hours are also possible. We’re MI6, also known as the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). Our mission is to protect the security and economic wellbeing of the UK from overseas threats such as regional instability, terrorism, and cyber-attacks. Working across the globe and in close partnership with MI5 and GCHQ we help the Government to counter these threats through the provision of secret intelligence. A role in MI6 will see you providing vital support to this work, within a supportive and encouraging environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork. The Role As a Security Architect, you’ll join a small team of Security Architects working independently within the organisation and providing impartial information security advice and guidance. Working together with our capability centres, you’ll develop secure solutions for an ever-changing technology landscape and a volatile world. It’s a great opportunity to build on your existing cyber security knowledge and take it to the next level. You will be working in a team that nurtures creative thinking and innovation through continual development. Day to day, you’ll give advice, enabling technical teams to make vital security decisions. We’ll look to you for guidance to ensure common tools and patterns are used to deliver secure systems and recommend proportionate security controls. You’ll also facilitate the technical design of systems and services. This involves justifying and communicating all security design decisions, and applying research and innovative security architecture solutions to new and existing problems. Additionally, you’ll support and enable technical teams to threat model their solution to ensure that risks are managed appropriately. It’s an opportunity to provide teams with the knowledge, skills, and tools to conduct threat modelling throughout the lifecycle of a system. When you’re not doing that, you’ll lead the analysis of business-supporting security needs, undertake cyber security-related risk assessments, conduct tailored threat assessment and take on other risk management activities. Whatever the task, you’ll stay up to date with protocols as you tackle all kinds of projects. You could be working independently, as part of a team or with external partners. Projects could involve AI, Cloud or more niche technology. In many ways you’ll be a champion for cyber security, raising awareness within our diverse team. In some cases you’ll provide training, so sound interpersonal and people skills will be needed. About You At this level, you must have an industry qualification in Information Security that’s relevant to the role. You’ll also need the experience to make an impact right from day one. Your expertise will cover the principles of Information Security; Risk Management; Threat Modelling; and Security Testing. You could have built your cyber security knowledge in any of the following areas: Operating Systems Identity and Access Networking Software Development Database Storage Security Engineering Cloud Architecture Telecommunications Ideally, you’ll also have an interest and/or experience in one of the following fields: Digital Forensics Incident Response Intrusion Detection and Analysis Threat Intelligence & Threat Assessment Software Development System or Network Administration Along with your technical expertise, you’ll be curious, and have sound problem-solving skills and an analytical mind. You’ll also have the communication skills to express information clearly, to both technical and non-technical audiences. With these abilities, you’ll be able support junior members of the team, and liaise with stakeholders. It’s all about connecting and supporting a broad range of contacts. Training and development Training will start the moment you join and continue throughout your career. You can expect mentoring, supportive managers, plus a programme of internal and external training, which includes industry-leading courses and opportunities to attend summits. There may also be the chance to gain industry certifications relevant to your role. However, this will depend on your existing qualifications. Rewards and Benefits You’ll receive a starting salary of £68,826 – £73,691 plus other benefits including: 25 days’ annual leave, automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years' service, and an additional 10.5 days public and privilege holidays Opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme Opportunities to work flexibly, subject to business needs Interest-free season ticket loan Excellent pension scheme Cycle to work scheme Facilities such as a gym and restaurant, and on-site coffee bars Paid parental and adoption leave Equal Opportunities At MI6 diversity and inclusion are critical to our mission. To protect the UK, we need a truly diverse workforce that reflects the society we serve. This includes diversity in every sense of the word: those with different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, ways of thinking and those with disabilities or neurodivergent conditions. We therefore welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including those from groups that are under-represented in our workforce such as women, those from an ethnic minority background, people with disabilities and those from low socio-economic backgrounds. Find out more about our culture, working environment and diversity on our website: https://www.sis.gov.uk/explore-careers.html We’re Disability Confident MI6 are proud to have achieved Leader status within the DWP’s Disability Confident scheme. This is aimed at encouraging employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people. Being Disability Confident, we aim to offer a person-to-person interview to any candidate who self-identifies as disabled and meets the criteria for the role. This is our “offer of interview” (OOI). To secure an interview for this vacancy, the minimum criteria (in order of application process) are: Industry qualifications in information security, relevant to the role of a Security Architect Demonstrate a strong motivation for applying to work for MI6 as a Security Architect – assessed at application sift Successfully pass the online situational judgment test What to Expect Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order: You’ll complete an online application form and online test You’ll be invited to attend an online interview If you’re successful at this stage, you’ll be made a conditional offer of employment Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process to progress to the next. Your application may take around 6 - 9 months to process including vetting, so we advise you continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer. Before You Apply To work at MI6, you need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. You can read our full eligibility criteria here. This role requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes. You can find out more about the vetting process here. Please note we have a strict drugs policy, so once you start your application, you can’t take any recreational drugs and you’ll need to declare your previous drug usage at the relevant stage. Before you apply, we advise you to consider setting up a separate email address for your contact with us, to ensure your personal and application correspondence remain separate. Try to avoid having identifying features in your email address, such as your first and/or surname and date of birth. This is good practice and will help you to manage your application with us more discretely. The role is based in London, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application. A loan is available to support people relocating to London. Please note, you should only launch your application from within the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you visit the UK to launch an application. Applying from outside the UK will impact on our ability to progress your application. Right to Withdraw Statement Please be aware that we withhold the right to bring forward the closing date for this role from the original closing date once a certain number of applications have been received. Please be mindful of this and submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.