Information Security Education & Awareness Specialist

Manchester Digital; Manchester; On-site; GBP 41,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

An innovative digital technology organization in Manchester seeks an Information Security Education & Awareness Specialist. The role involves designing impactful security training programs to empower colleagues against cyber threats. Ideal candidates will possess strong communication skills, a creative mindset, and experience in educational program development. Excellent benefits, including competitive salary, generous holiday allowance, and development support, are offered in a hybrid work environment.

Benefits

30% off Co-op branded products

Annual incentive scheme

28 days holiday plus bank holidays

Subsidised onsite gym

Career development coaching

Access to financial support services

Qualifications

• Strong communication skills to translate technical language for non-technical audiences.
• Experience designing engaging, people-centred learning experiences.
• An understanding of information security principles and data protection regulations.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, delivery, and evolution of information security education programmes.
• Evaluate training needs and create innovative training strategies.
• Support phishing simulation campaigns and analyse results to inform future training.

Skills

Strong communication skills

Creative mindset

Educational programme development

Job description

Information Security Education & Awareness Specialist

Information Security Education & Awareness Specialist
£41,000 to £48,000 plus great benefits (Work Level 6A)
Manchester City Centre (Hybrid)

We’re open to applications from people who may require flexible working arrangements. There’ll be an opportunity to discuss your flexible working requirements during the interview process, and at offer stage.

We’re looking for an Information Security Education & Awareness Specialist to join our Digital Technology & Data team in Manchester. In today’s fast-moving digital world, it’s more important than ever to empower our colleagues with the knowledge they need to protect our Co-op from cyber threats and vulnerabilities – and that’s where you come in. This is a hybrid role, and you’ll split your time between home and the office in a way that suits you (find out more about our hybrid working policy athttps://jobs.coop.co.uk/hybrid-working-policy ).

As our Information Security Education & Awareness Specialist, you’ll lead the design and delivery of an engaging education programme that equips our 54,000 colleagues with the skills, knowledge, and behaviours to keep our Co-op secure. You’ll make sure our annual online security training meets regulatory and policy requirements and use data to measure its effectiveness and spot opportunities to make it even better.

Information security isn’t just about systems – it’s about people. You’ll play a big role in shaping how our colleagues think about and respond to security risks, helping to maintain a culture of awareness and resilience. From enhancing training content to running phishing simulations, you’ll be at the forefront of our efforts to reduce human cyber risk. This is a great opportunity for someone who’s passionate about changing the way people think about security and enjoys creating inclusive, impactful learning experiences that drive real behavioural change. If that sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you.

What you’ll do

• Lead the design, delivery, and evolution of our Information Security & Data Protection education programme
• Make sure our annual online security training drives high participation and meets regulatory, policy, and other compliance standards
• Evaluate training needs to create innovative, engaging, and tailored training strategies, developing scenarios, objectives, tools, and communication materials that bring security awareness to life for a wide range of colleagues of all levels of seniority
• Use data and metrics to evaluate quality of training, measure impact, track behavioural change, and continuously improve our approach
• Collaborate on the development of policies related to training and awareness
• Support phishing simulation campaigns and analyse results to inform future training
• Explore and implement innovative training methods including simulations, workshops, assessments, interviews, adaptive training and testing, gamification etc.

This role would suit people who have

• Strong communication skills, with the ability to translate technical language for a non-technical audience
• A creative mindset and experience designing engaging, people-centred, learning experiences
• Experience developing and delivering educational programmes
• An awareness of information security principles and data protection regulations
• Good relationship-building skills, with the ability to influence and challenge people, of all levels of seniority, inclusively
• A proactive approach to identifying risks and shaping training to address them

We understand that not everyone will meet every requirement listed in our job description. At Co-op, we’re committed to building an inclusive working environment. So, if you’re interested in this role but your experience doesn’t tick every box, we still encourage you to apply. You might be exactly who we’re looking for – either for this role or another opportunity.

Why Co-op?

If you’ve got the skills and experience, we’re looking for, we can offer you a competitive salary and great benefits package which includes 30% off Co-op branded products in our food stores (as well as other discounts on Co-op products and services). You’ll also get a range of benefits aligned to your home role, which include:

• An annual incentive scheme (based on personal and business performance)
• 28 days holiday (rising to 32 with service) plus bank holidays
• A pension with up to 10% employer contributions
• Access to a subsidised onsite gym (at our Manchester HQ)
• Coaching and training to support your career development
• Wagestream – a money management app that gives you access to a percentage of your pay as you earn it
• Grocery Aid – 24/7 access to a range of emotional, financial, and practical support services for you and your family

Building an inclusive work environment

At Co-op, we’re proud to do things a different way. As one of the world’s largest co-operatives, owned by millions of members, community is at the heart of what we do. Since our Co-op was founded in 1844, we’ve had a clear social purpose, and everything we do as a business helps to build more value for our member-owners every day.

We’re actively building diverse teams, and we welcome applications from everyone. If you have a disability, we can make reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process according to your needs. We're also part of the Disability Confident scheme, meaning we'll always offer an interview to disabled candidates who apply through the scheme if they meet the minimum criteria for a job.

We'll ask whether you’d like to be considered under the Disability Confident scheme when you apply.

If we invite you to take part in the recruitment process for any of our jobs, we’ll ask you if you need any reasonable adjustments to enable you to participate.

You can find out more about our recruitment process at jobs.coop.co.uk/apply-process.

You can find out more about the Disability Confident scheme at Disability Confident Scheme - Co-op Colleagues and more about our commitments to diversity and inclusion here