Army Security Risk Manager

Ministry of Defence; Bristol; On-site; GBP 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A government department of the United Kingdom is seeking a talented individual for the role of Principal Security Advisor. This role involves managing Army Security Risk Management, ensuring alignment with strategic objectives. Responsibilities include conducting security risk assessments and offering expert guidance across various domains. Strong communication and coordination skills are essential, along with a commitment to flexible working practices. The position offers competitive benefits, including a substantial pension scheme and personal development opportunities.

Benefits

25 days paid annual leave

Highly competitive pension scheme

Professional development opportunities

Qualifications

• Ability to communicate complex risks to various stakeholders.
• Ability to engage with internal and external stakeholders effectively.
• Highly organised and able to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Drive a consistent approach to security risk management across the Army.
• Conduct comprehensive threat and vulnerability assessments.
• Manage and maintain the Army’s Security Risk Register.

Skills

Communication skills

Team coordination

Risk management

Education

Management of Risk qualification or equivalent experience

Job description

About the job

The Ministry of Defence employs over 50,000 Civil Servants. Within that, with responsibility for an annual budget of over £10bn, the Army is a major part of the Ministry of Defence and one of its largest operating centres who employ around 12,000 Civil Servants located at over 300 locations supporting the 110K regular and reserve soldiers across the Army. This Civil Service workforce is diverse, with many different functions and professions ranging from police officers, security guards, trainers, human resources, teachers, and psychologists to storekeepers, financiers, project and programme managers, and policy secretariat staff. Army Headquarters provides forces to support operations around the globe and directs, develops and delivers the people, equipment, training and sustainment to ensure the Army is ready to fight and win wars on land. An exciting job role exists in the Principal Security Advisor\'s (PSyA) Team to develop, manage and cohere Army Security Risk Management (SRM). This post is an excellent opportunity for individuals looking to develop and progress their careers, working to a civilian line manager within the inclusive and innovative Cyber and Security team, a diverse and highly capable workforce. Security Risk Management in the Army is understanding and mitigating security risks. The Army approach is to anticipate, prepare for, respond, and adapt to sudden disruptive events, across physical and personnel, both malicious and non-malicious. Secure behaviours play an integral role in protecting both the UK, and our Armed Forces, against external and internal threats. Through this role, you will have the opportunity to develop a broader understanding of the security risks facing the Army across the physical, cyber and personnel domains. You will also become a member of the Government Security Profession, and there are further opportunities for continued professional development. This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Job description

This role acts as a focal point for Army Security Risk Management activity, supporting the Governance Risk and Compliance Lead and assisting in actively managing security process detailed in Army policy, cohering risk narratives, driving metric development and reporting a comprehensive risk analysis process across the Army’s strategic security risk. Key responsibilities include delivering threat, vulnerability, and exposure assessments; risk evaluation and profiles (likelihood and impact) and mitigation proposals (Treat, Terminate, Tolerate & Transfer).

We are looking for a talented and motivated individual who is a team player but is equally comfortable working on their own to assure physical, personnel, cyber and information security and ensure confidentiality, integrity and availability of Army operated and managed systems and networks. The successful candidate must be comfortable engaging with wider Defence, Government, and industry. Occasional travel within the UK will be required but this will rarely demand overnight stays.

The successful candidate will be required to:

• Drive an overarching and consistent approach to security risk management across the Army ensuring alignment with strategic objectives
• Produce, review, and deliver Army Policy and direction on security risk management
• Lead and cohere the Army Security and Resilience Board’s (ASRB), setting the agenda and ensuring effective delivery of outcomes
• Support the subordinate Army Cyber Governance and Compliance Board (ACyGRC), ensuring cyber risk is integrated into broader SRM efforts
• Coordinate and support the ASRB 9 Principal Risk Area Leads, including the development, maintenance, and execution of risk and issue management and response plans
• Conduct comprehensive threat and vulnerability assessments, including risk evaluations, risk scoring, mitigation proposals and management plans for Army risks
• Proactively identify and respond to emerging and dynamic security risks, ensuring timely escalation and mitigation
• Manage and maintain the Army’s 4* Security Risk Register, including risks escalated to the 4*, spanning physical, personnel, information, cyber and resilience domains
• Provide regular reporting and briefings to Governance, Risk and Compliance lead (GRC), Army Principal Security Advisor (PSyA), Chief Security Officer (CSO) and the Senior Security Risk Coordinator on current and emerging risks, trends, and mitigation progress
• Operationalise SRM through the implementation of tools and platforms, ensuring accessibility, usability, and integration across the Army estate
• Provide expert guidance and support to risk owners and managers across Army formations, ensuring consistent SRM practices and compliance
• Engage and co-ordinate with key stakeholders across Army and the wider Defence community, fostering collaboration and alignment on SRM initiatives
• Develop and deliver SRM training and awareness campaigns with guidance materials to build capability across the Army
• Responsible for the direct line management of two Higher Executive Officer (HEO) SRMs. Provide leadership, direction and professional development
• If you are a strong communicator able to engage with stakeholders across government, work efficiently and at pace, across multiple IT systems and security classifications, we need you!

This post is an excellent opportunity for individuals looking to develop and progress their careers. Appropriate training courses will be provided to ensure the candidate has the skills and knowledge required to perform the role. The MOD offers support and development in your career, including training as part of your role. In the Army we are passionate about delivering great things for our people. But we also know you will have a life outside of work; we respect your priorities and are committed to flexible working practices to give you freedom to balance work and life.

Person specification

We are looking for enthusiastic individuals who can handle the pressure of coordinating a wide range of activities and should be comfortable working within the service management profession, willing to challenge established norms and process and be prepared to adapt to changing priorities. Applicants should also have effective written and verbal communication skills and display a positive and professional attitude. Good judgement and strong interpersonal skills are required, as well as the ability to work under pressure.

It is essential that the successful candidate should be able to demonstrate:

• Ability to communicate complex risks, implications, and mitigations to a variety of stakeholders
• Ability to work with diverse internal and external stakeholders and build strong relationships
• Highly organised and able to deal with multiple requests/priorities with competing deadlines

Desirable: Management of Risk qualification or equivalent experience

Behaviours

We\'ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together
• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:
• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,590, Ministry of Defence contributes £12,917 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. The Army prides itself on being a supportive employer and where possible encourages flexible working, helping you to maintain a great work/life balance. Other benefits for Army civil servants include:

• 25 days paid annual leave rising (1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of 5 years’ service
• Highly competitive pension scheme with a 28.97% contribution
• Personal and professional development of skills
• Alternative working patterns for many roles
• Access to the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), a free service that assists you with achieving a productive, healthy environment that is conducive to a healthy lifestyle
• Enhanced parental and adoption leave
• 6 days special leave per year which can be used for volunteering activities
• Learning and Development
• We believe that everyone has the potential to make a difference and you will be supported to help you learn and advance in your career. This includes working towards membership of a professional body and/or undertaking a modern apprenticeship as part of your role.
• A modern apprenticeship is a combined package of work and training. Through the schemes available you will gain a professional qualification, practical experience, and the broader skills required to develop in your current role and pave the way for your future career.
• The post does not offer relocation expenses.
• 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 the Childcare Choices site.
• 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 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.
• 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 UK GDPR. The MOD Privacy Policy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using the Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours and Experience. At application you will be asked to provide a CV and a personal statement of no more than 750 words providing evidence of your suitability for the role against the person specification. You will also be assessed against the following behaviours: Making Effective Decisions, Working Together, and others as listed. Applications will be sifted using all elements listed above, but in the event of a high number of applications, a sift will be conducted on the lead behaviour only: Making Effective Decisions. At interview you will be assessed against the behaviours: Communicating and Influencing, Seeing the Big Picture. Application sifting will be scheduled to take place within 7 days of the application closing date. Interview dates are to be confirmed but will be held in person at Army Headquarters, Andover. We endeavour to keep to these time frames, but these are subject to change around business needs.

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 applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme 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: [e-mail].

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came in to 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. This role does not meet that category and we will not sponsor a visa. It 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.

Security: Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check and meet the security requirements. The level of security needed is developed vetting. See the vetting charter and baseline personnel security standard checks.