Head of Cyber Security - CSOC Innovation & Improvements

NHS ENGLAND; Leeds; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Recruitment and Retention Premia (RRP)

Job summary

NHS England is seeking a Head of Cyber Security - CSOC Innovation & Improvements to lead cross-team initiatives and drive improvements across Threat Ops, Protective Monitoring, and Incident Management.

You will manage the Innovation and Improvement team, coordinate major incidents, and present to senior leaders while advancing CSOC resilience across the NHS. 40% in-office presence expected.

Qualifications

• Leadership and cross-team collaboration within CSOC functions.
• Line management of the Innovation and Improvement team.
• Coordinate complex incidents across the NHS.
• Drive CSOC improvement initiatives for service delivery.
• Specialist knowledge in Threat Ops, Monitoring, Security Eng, Incident Mgmt.
• Stay current on security trends, threats and mitigations.
• Use analytics to identify threats and vulnerabilities.
• Present to senior leaders.

Responsibilities

• Maintain Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity plans.
• Coordinate post-incident activities and lessons learned.
• Represent CSOC at risk governance meetings.
• Act as cyber SME for external improvement programmes.
• Build stakeholder relationships across health sector and suppliers.

Job description

Please be aware that should you be successful in this position, you will be hired to the job title of Head of Security (Lead) and this job title is advertised to attract the right skills needed for the role. The Head of Cyber Security Innovation & Improvement is on ensuring that the NHS's systems operate from a cyber resilient architecture, looking at people, processes and technology. The role is part of a small team that supports all functions (Protective Monitoring, Threat Operations, Incident Management and Engineering) within the Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC) with the delivery of technical and innovative solutions and the implementation of processes to support day to day output and services to the health sector. Cyber Operations purpose is to support safe care and build public trust by building NHS England's cyber resilience and enabling the wider health system to be cyber resilient, supporting Transformation Directorate's purpose of delivering the best care and outcomes for the NHS. The post of Head of Cyber Security-CSOC Innovation & Improvements has been awarded a Recruitment and Retention Premia (RRP) in response to current labour market conditions. In recognition of this, the role attracts an additional monthly RRP payment equal to 30% per annum. Please be aware that RRP is non-contractual and subject to review, The Head of Cyber Security - CSOC Innovation & Improvement will be accountable for:

• Leadership and management of cross-team initiatives and interactions between teams including the Engineering, Security Ops, and Threat Ops functions within the CSOC.
• Line Management of the Innovation and Improvement team.Contribution to the management of complex incidents and investigations, co-ordinating activity during large scale incidents across the NHS.
• Identification and leading on the implementation of CSOC improvement activities that support the successful delivery of CSOC services.
• Providing specialist knowledge and expertise in a diverse range of cyber security areas related to Threat Operations, Protective Monitoring, Security Engineering and Incident Management.
• Keeping up to date with the latest security and technology trends, to include researching and evaluating emerging cyber security threats, and mitigations.
• Using advanced analytic tools to help analyse emerging threat patterns and vulnerabilities.
• Presenting to senior leaders.
• Maintaining the CSOC's Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity plans and for coordinating when enacted.
• Manage the CSOC's Lessons Learned process and post incident activities.
• Representing the CSOC at organisational Risk Governance meetings.
• Act as a cyber subject matter expert for external improvement programmes.
• Develop and maintain stakeholder relationships across the health sector, X-Gov and suppliers.
  NHS England has a wide range of statutory functions, responsibilities and regulatory powers. These are focused on supporting the wider NHS to deliver high quality care, as well as doing those things that are best done once for the whole NHS.

Our staff bring expertise across clinical, operational, commissioning, technology, data science, cyber security, software engineering, education, and commercial specialisms -- enabling us to design and deliver high-quality NHS services. In March 2025, the Government announced that NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care will increasingly merge functions, ultimately leading to NHS England being fully integrated into the department. If you currently work within the NHS and if successful at interview, we will initiate an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR).This retrieves key data from your current or previous NHS employer to support onboarding, including competency status, Continuous Service Dates (CSD), and annual leave entitlement. You may opt out at any stage of the process. Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in our offices. Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.