Head of Secure Design & Risk Strategy

Women in Data®; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 83,000 - 102,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Competitive pay up to £92,522

Civil service pension 28.97%

Generous leave (26–31 days)

Flexible hours

Job summary

DWP – Digital with Purpose is seeking a Head of Secure Design to lead cyber security, fraud risk and secure design across Working Age Services. You will enable informed, risk-based decision making while ensuring services remain secure, resilient and trusted.

Leading the Secure Design function, you will work with senior leaders, security specialists and multidisciplinary teams to embed security from the outset and to balance protection with service innovation at scale.

Qualifications

• Experience providing strategic leadership in a complex cyber security environment and ability to lead specialist teams.
• Expert knowledge of protective security innovations balancing security with service delivery.
• Ability to synthesize threat information and communicate risk to stakeholders.
• Experience in guiding experts (pen-testers, security architects, DevSecOps, etc.) in driving change.
• Proven track record in managing risk through the full risk lifecycle and prioritisation.
• Experience on large, high-impact programmes or enterprise-scale operations.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for cyber security, fraud risk, and secure design across Working Age Services.
• Enable informed, risk-based decision making while ensuring services remain secure and trusted.
• Embed security from the outset by working with senior leaders and multidisciplinary teams.
• Shape standards, oversee risk and assurance activities, and respond to emerging threats and fraud risks.
• Support digital transformation to modernise security approaches and enable scalable, safe services.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Cyber security leadership

Threat modelling

Risk management

Communication to stakeholders

Team leadership

Job description

DWP – Digital with Purpose is seeking a Head of Secure Design to lead cyber security, fraud risk and secure design across Working Age Services. You will enable informed, risk-based decision making while ensuring services remain secure, resilient and trusted.

Leading the Secure Design function, you will work with senior leaders, security specialists and multidisciplinary teams to embed security from the outset and to balance protection with service innovation at scale.