Head of Secure Design

DWP Digital; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 83,000 - 102,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Civil service pension

Generous leave (26–31 days)

Job summary

Head of Secure Design at DWP Digital leads cyber security, fraud risk and secure design across Working Age Services. You will enable risk-based decision making while ensuring services are secure, resilient and trusted.

You will oversee security standards, risk and assurance activities, strengthening responses to threats and enabling the safe delivery of services at scale. This is a senior role shaping security direction across a large public sector portfolio.

Qualifications

• Strategic leadership in cybersecurity for complex environments.
• Innovation in protective security balancing safety and service delivery.
• Holistic threat understanding using threat models and intel.
• Oversight of security specialists (pen-testers, architects, DevSecOps) in change programs.
• Proven ability to communicate risk for informed decisions and prioritisation.
• Experience on large-scale, high-impact programs.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for cyber security across Working Age Services.
• Enable risk-based decision making while ensuring secure, resilient services.
• Embed security from the outset with senior leaders and multidisciplinary teams.
• Shape standards, controls and assurance activities across the function.
• Strengthen response to emerging threats, vulnerabilities and fraud risks.
• Drive digital transformation to deliver secure services at scale.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Protective security

Threat modelling

Lead security experts

Risk lifecycle

Enterprise programs

Job description

Pay up to £92,522, plus 28.97% employer pension contributions, hybrid working, flexible hours, andgreat worklife balance.

Please note

this role requires you to pass

Security Check

clearance.

DWP. Digital with Purpose.

DWP is the UK's largest government department. We help people into work and make payments worth over £195 billion each year, supporting millions of people across the UK.

Working Age Services delivers some of the nation's most critical public services, including Universal Credit. As Head of Secure Design, you'll lead the security, fraud and risk strategy that protects these services, ensuring secure design principles are embedded across digital delivery.

Working across one of government's largest and most complex digital estates, you'll shape security at scale, balancing the protection of essential citizen services with innovation, transformation and the delivery of trusted digital experiences.

What skills, knowledge and experience will you need?

• Experienced in providing strategic leadership in a complex cyber security environment, setting clear direction and leading specialist teams to deliver effective risk management outcomes, while communicating to multidisciplinary stakeholders and direct reports.
• Expert knowledge of leading innovation in protective security, taking into account the need to balance security requirements against service innovation.
• Expert in combining external threat information, organisational context and situational awareness to provide a holistic threat understanding capability, including the use of threat models and communicating to relevant stakeholders.
• Able to provide strategic oversight and leadership for specific experts (be they pen-testers, Security Architects, Dev Sec Ops, product or compliance assurance, for example) in the context of driving change and being confident to challenge.
• Proven experience in developing approaches to effectively manage risk through the full risk lifecycle. Evidence of communicating risk in clear terms to enable informed decision making and prioritisation.
• Proven record of working on a large high impact programme or enterprise scale operation.

You and your role

As Head of Secure Design, you'll provide strategic leadership for cyber security, fraud risk and secure design across Working Age Services. You'll enable informed, risk-based decision making while ensuring services remain secure, resilient and trusted.

Leading the Secure Design function, you'll work with senior leaders, security specialists and multidisciplinary teams to embed security from the outset.

You'll shape standards and controls, oversee risk and assurance activity, and strengthen the department's response to emerging threats, vulnerabilities and fraud risks.

You'll play a central role in the digital transformation of services used by millions of people, modernising security approaches and enabling the safe delivery of services at scale.

This is a rare opportunity to influence the future security direction of one of government's most important digital portfolios, protecting public services, citizen data and taxpayer value.

Location:

You'lljoin us inone of our brilliant digital hubs in Birmingham, Leeds, London, Manchester or Newcastle Upon Tyne, whichever is most convenient for you.

Hybrid Working:

Weworka hybrid model -you'llspend some time working at home andsome timecollaborating face to face in a hub.

Pay:

We offer competitive pay of up to £92,522.

Pension:

You'llgeta brilliant civil service pension with employer contributions worth 28.97%.

Holidays:

A generous leave package starting at 26 days rising to 31 days over time.

You can also take up to 3 extra days off a month onflexi-time.You'llalso get all the usual public holidays.

We have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

• Flexible working including flexible hours and flex-friendly policies
• Time off volunteering and charitable giving
• Bring your authentic self to work with 'I Can Be Me in DWP'
• Discounts and savings on shopping, fun days out and more
• Interest-free loans to buy a bike or a season ticket, soit'seven easier for you to get to work and start making a difference
• Sports and social activities
• Professional development, coaching, mentoring and career progression opportunities.

And we have an award-winning environment and culture:

• DWP have beenrecognisedas 2024 Diversity Employer of the Year at the Computing Women in Tech Excellence awards
• Diverse and Inclusive Leadership at Digital Leaders Awards 2024
• Commended as Best Place to Work in Digital category in the Computing Digital Technology Leaders awards 2025
• Recognisedas one of the Best Public Sector Employers at 2025 WomenInTech Employer Awards

Process:

We know your time isvaluableso our application and selection process is just two stages:

Interview: a single stage interview online.