Chief Information Security Officer
Summary
Senior civil service role: CISO for the Ministry of Defence's Defence Nuclear Organisation, accountable for cyber security strategy, information risk management, incident response, and leading a specialist security team from MOD Main Building in London (min 60% office time). Requires expert cyber/information-risk leadership and developed vetting clearance.
- Job grade: SCS Pay Band 1
- Contract type: Permanent
- Business area: MOD - Defence Nuclear
- Type of role: Digital, Information Technology, Intelligence, Security, Senior leadership
- Working pattern: Flexible working, Full-time
- Number of jobs available: 1
Location
subsistence costs will be reimbursed except when travelling to your base location in line with departmental policy.
About the job
Job summary
The Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is a senior role within the Defence Nuclear Organisation (DNO), accountable for providing strategic leadership on cyber security matters. The role holds ownership of information security and cyber risk across DNO and provides strategic influence throughout the organisation, working across boundaries to ensure effective risk management and security practices. The position is critical for mainting a coherent enterprise view of information security risk and strengthening DNO’s overall security posture.
The post-holder will operate in a challenging and evolving cyber threat environment, facing risks from hostile states, criminals, ransomware groups, and others. As DNO becomes increasingly digital and data-led, the expanding attack surface underscores the importance of strong cyber leadership to protect critical systems, information, and services.
Job description
- Provide strategic leadership and accountability for cyber security across DNO, including policy framework, secure-by-design principles, and alignment with government and MOD requirements.
- Lead and develop a specialist cyber security team, managing resources, budget, capability while providing clear and trusted advice to senior leaders and governance boards.
- Deliver independent oversight and assurance of cyber and technology risks, ensuring effective risk management and escalation of material risks.
- Lead and coordinate senior responses to major cyber incidents, ensuring effective escalation, operational decision support, and post-incident learning.
- Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders, including MOD CISO, Product Owners, and CIO leads, to embed security into digital, data, technology, and transformation initiatives.
- Ensure cyber risk transparency through evidence-based reporting to support informed decision-making on resilience, mitigation, and investment.
- Manage cyber security resources effectively to deliver value for money and maintain organisational resilience amid evolving threats.
Person specification
- Expert knowledge of cyber security, information risk management and protective security, including cyber threats, risk mitigation and security controls.
- Proven ability to develop and implement cyber security strategies, policies and control frameworks aligned with government, national and industry standards.
- Strong analytical skills, with the ability to assess cyber threats, vulnerabilities and risks, challenge technical evidence, and provide clear advice to senior leaders.
- Proven experience of leading responses to major cyber incidents, demonstrating sound judgement and effective decision-making in complex, high-pressure environments.
- Strong strategic leadership capability, with the ability to set direction, drive improvement, and align cyber security outcomes with organisational objectives.
- Strong communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to translate technical issues for non-technical audiences and deliver outcomes across complex organisations.
Desirable criteria may be used in the event of a strong field of candidates when there is a need to distinguish between candidates. This will be as a second sift, after the essential criteria has been considered:
- Knowledge of technology services and secure delivery practices.
- Ability to collaborate with suppliers delivering critical services, sharing incident and risk information to strengthen overall security posture.
- Ability to evaluate emerging cyber threats, vulnerabilities in legacy systems, interdependencies across services, and security risks associated with new technologies such as artificial intelligence, applying national and MOD policies pragmatically.
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 employer contribution of 28.97%
Things you need to know
Artificial intelligence
Selection process details
To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process accessed via the Civil Service Jobs portal. This should be completed no later than 23:55 on Sunday 15 November 2026 and will involve providing the two documents which are weighted equally:
- A CV (no more than 2 pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
- A Personal Statement (no more than 2 pages) providing tangible examples that clearly evidence how you meet the essential criteria for the role.
External candidates who join the MOD and are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.
For further information about the role and full application process, please refer to the candidate pack attached below. If you wish to receive any material in a different format for accessibility, then please contact People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.
Security
See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
Nationality requirements
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).
Diversity and Inclusion
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : SCS Recruitment Team
- Email : People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk
Further information
Attachments
| Chief Information Security Officer Candidate Information Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 275kB) |
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