Cyber Security Consultant

The IT Security Consultant is responsible for leading and managing the organisation’s IT security operations, cybersecurity risk management, vulnerability assessment, security audits, and regulatory compliance programmes. The role involves developing and implementing security strategies, overseeing security assessments, managing incident response, and ensuring that IT infrastructure, networks, applications, and cloud environments comply with established security policies and industry standards.

The incumbent will work closely with internal IT teams, project management, clients, and external auditors to strengthen the organisation’s security posture, mitigate cybersecurity risks, and maintain compliance with applicable regulatory and contractual requirements.

Key Responsibilities

1. IT Security Management and Strategy

   • Develop, implement, and maintain IT security policies, standards, procedures, and operational guidelines.

   • Lead the implementation of cybersecurity strategies aligned with business objectives, project requirements, and regulatory obligations.

   • Oversee day-to-day IT security operations, providing technical guidance on security incidents, risk mitigation, and compliance matters.

2. Cybersecurity Risk and Vulnerability Management

   • Plan and coordinate vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, security reviews, and remediation activities across on-premises and cloud environments.

   • Identify, assess, and prioritise security vulnerabilities, threats, and risks, recommending appropriate corrective and preventive measures.

   • Review security configurations, system hardening standards, patch management practices, and infrastructure baselines to ensure compliance with security requirements.

3. Security Audits and Regulatory Compliance

   • Lead internal and external IT security audits, including audit planning, evidence collection, stakeholder coordination, and remediation tracking.

   • Coordinate security assessments and compliance reviews against applicable organisational and government security requirements, including IM8 where relevant.

   • Maintain security documentation, System Security Plans, audit evidence, risk registers, and procedural documents.

   • Engage external auditors, coordinate audit fieldwork, and monitor the closure of audit findings within agreed timelines.

4. Security Incident Management

   • Lead the investigation and management of IT security incidents, analysing system logs, network traffic, and security artefacts to determine root causes.

   • Coordinate incident containment, remediation, recovery, and follow-up actions with relevant technical teams.

   • Review security alerts and monitoring reports from SIEM, endpoint protection, and network security platforms to identify potential threats and security weaknesses.

5. Network, Infrastructure and Cloud Security

   • Oversee the security of enterprise networks, servers, endpoints, and cloud infrastructure.

   • Review firewall configurations, network access controls, intrusion prevention measures, and secure network architecture.

   • Ensure appropriate implementation of access controls, system hardening, encryption, logging, and other security safeguards.

   • Work with infrastructure and network teams to implement secure configuration changes and maintain the integrity and availability of IT systems.

6. Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC)

   • Conduct IT risk assessments covering information security, data protection, privacy, and regulatory compliance.

   • Review risk acceptance requests, policy exceptions, and deviations from established security standards, ensuring appropriate approvals and compensating controls.

   • Prepare security posture reports, risk summaries, remediation updates, and compliance metrics for management and client stakeholders.

7. Team Leadership and Stakeholder Management

   • Supervise and guide IT security personnel in the execution of security operations, assessments, and compliance activities.

   • Coordinate with project managers, system administrators, network engineers, application teams, clients, and external service providers.

   • Plan and deliver IT security awareness programmes to promote cybersecurity best practices across the organisation.

Technical Competencies

• Security Assessment: Tenable Security Center, Nessus, Kali Linux, Burp Suite and Nmap.

• Security Information and Event Management: Splunk, NetWitness and ArcSight.

• Endpoint Security: Symantec EPP and Trellix.

• Network Security: Palo Alto, Fortinet, Check Point, Web Application Firewalls and F5 Load Balancers.

• Log Analysis and Monitoring: Wireshark, Syslog, FortiAnalyzer, SolarWinds and Nagios.

• Access Management: CyberArk and Aruba ClearPass.

• Infrastructure Security: Cisco networking, network segmentation, firewall management, Windows Server and VMware environments.