Lead Security Architect: Threat Modelling & Secure Design

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; New York; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Defra seeks an experienced Lead Security Architect to embed secure-by-design principles into critical national infrastructure and public services. You will lead threat modelling, provide architecture guidance, and partner with delivery teams to ensure security by design across the department.

With deep expertise in threat modelling, risk frameworks, and enterprise security architecture, you will write authoritative documentation and scale processes using automation and tooling.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in agile/project delivery environments.
• Deep expertise in threat modelling and risk management frameworks (STRIDE, PASTA) and secure system design.
• Proven track record writing high-quality guidance documentation and standards for enterprise security architecture.
• Experience using IriusRisk or similar platforms for threat modelling.

Responsibilities

• Identify threats by mapping data flows, entry points, and system architecture to uncover security gaps.
• Collaborate with architects, product managers and delivery teams to embed secure-by-design standards.
• Evaluate and apply frameworks (STRIDE, PASTA) to quantify and prioritise risks.
• Document threat lifecycles and develop tooling to scale threat modelling processes.

Skills

Threat modelling

Risk management

Secure system design

Agile delivery

Documentation

Tools

IriusRisk

Job description

Defra seeks an experienced Lead Security Architect to embed secure-by-design principles into critical national infrastructure and public services. You will lead threat modelling, provide architecture guidance, and partner with delivery teams to ensure security by design across the department.

With deep expertise in threat modelling, risk frameworks, and enterprise security architecture, you will write authoritative documentation and scale processes using automation and tooling.