Cyber Security Senior Specialist / Analyst

Phoenix; Wythall CP; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial services organization is seeking a Senior Cyber Security Specialist to join their Cyber Security team. You will lead threat detection and response, develop detection rules, and collaborate on threat hunting activities. The ideal candidate has advanced expertise with Microsoft Sentinel and Defender. This position offers competitive salary and flexibility in work location.

Benefits

16% bonus up to 32%

Private medical cover

38 days annual leave

Excellent pension

Career breaks

Income protection

Qualifications

• Experience with continuous threat detection and response operations.
• Ability to design and optimise threat hunting activities using KQL.
• Technical support for deployment of new security capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Oversee threat detection and response operations.
• Develop and implement custom detection rules.
• Collaborate with teams to integrate new detection capabilities.

Skills

Proactive threat detection

Advanced capabilities in Microsoft Sentinel

KQL-based hunting queries

Creating automation playbooks

Collaboration with Security Architecture teams

Tools

Microsoft Sentinel

Microsoft Defender

Job description

Overview

Job Description

Job Type: FTC - 17 months
Location: This role could be based in either our Edinburgh, Telford or Birmingham offices with time spent working in the office and at home.
Flexible working: All of our roles are open to part-time, job-share and other types of flexibility. We will discuss what is important to you and balancing this with business requirements during the recruitment process. You can read more about Phoenix Flex here.
Closing Date: 19th October 2025
Salary and benefits: £55,000 - £65,000 plus 16% bonus up to 32%, private medical cover, 38 days annual leave, excellent pension, 12x salary life assurance, career breaks, income protection, 3x volunteering days and much more
Recruiter: Tim Singh

Who are we?
We want to be the best place that any of our 6,600 colleagues have ever worked.
We’re Phoenix Group, we’re a long-term savings and retirement business. We offer a range of products across our market-leading brands, Standard Life, SunLife, Phoenix Life and ReAssure. Around 1 in 5 people in the UK has a pension with us. We’re a FTSE 100 organisation that is tackling key issues such as transitioning our portfolio to net zero by 2050, and we’re not done yet.

The role

The Phoenix Group are looking for passionate and creative people to join our Cyber Security team within the Security Operations Centre. The Security Operations Centre is the first line of defence, protecting the assets and critical services of the organisation. As a Senior Cyber Security Specialist, you will be responsible for proactive detection and response to threats liaising with stakeholders, internal SMEs and third parties.

What are we looking for?

In the role of Senior Cyber Security Specialist, you will lead proactive threat detection and response using advanced capabilities in Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Defender. Your responsibilities will include developing and tuning custom detection rules, leveraging KQL-based advanced hunting queries, and creating automation playbooks to strengthen our security posture.

Working within the broader Cyber Security function, you will also partner with tour Threat Intelligence team to develop and perform advanced Threat Hunting activities.

As part of the team, you’ll be expected to:

• Oversee continuous threat detection and response operations, ensuring the effective use of Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Defender platforms, while maintaining automation playbooks, detection logic, and detailed documentation.
• Design, execute, and optimise advanced threat hunting activities using KQL queries and telemetry from hybrid environments to identify and mitigate sophisticated threats.
• Develop and implement bespoke detection rules and analytics to strengthen proactive monitoring across on-premises and multi-cloud infrastructures.
• Collaborate with Security Architecture teams to design and integrate new detection capabilities, ensuring alignment with emerging threats and organisational requirements.
• Provide technical support to project teams, enabling the successful deployment of new security capabilities, including Sentinel analytics, Defender configurations, and automated workflows.

We want to hire the whole version of you.

We are committed to ensuring that everyone feels accepted and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. If your experience looks different from what we’ve advertised and you believe that you can bring value to the role, we’d love to hear from you.

If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, please let us know so we can help you to be at your best.

We’re reviewing applications as they come in, so apply early to avoid missing out.

Find out more about

• Guide for Candidates: thephoenixgroup.pagetiger.com/guideforcandidates
• Find or get answers from our colleagues: www.thephoenixgroup.com/careers/talk-to-us
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