Lead Security Risk Assurance Manager

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP); Manchester; On-site; GBP 52,000 - 64,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Job sharing

Flexi-time

Compressed hours

Annual leave

Travel loan / season ticket

Cycle to work

Employee discount

EAP

HASSRA membership

Learning & development

Diversity networks

Job summary

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is seeking a Lead Security Risk Assurance Manager to guide risk assessment and assurance across the department’s critical systems and services. You will deliver enterprise-level risk reports and provide trusted advice to senior leaders on how security risks may impact service delivery and public trust.

You will engage with Directors and executives, analyse information from multiple sources, and lead assurance activities to improve security posture across

Qualifications

• Experience providing risk assessment, assurance or decision support in large, complex environments.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and influencing capability.
• Ability to translate security risk issues into clear, actionable guidance.
• Leadership experience to guide and quality‑assure teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead assessment and assurance of DWP's significant security risks.
• Provide evidence-based advice to senior stakeholders, including Director General and Executive Team.
• Produce enterprise-level risk assessments and assurance reports.
• Translate complex security issues into practical recommendations for decision-makers.

Skills

Risk assessment

Stakeholder engagement

Security principles

Analytical thinking

Leadership

Communication

Job description

Your choice of Blackpool, Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Pontypridd, Sheffield.

You will also need to travel to other DWP locations, with periodic overnight stays required.

£57,946 salary, plus £7000 allowance, and 28.97% employer pension contributions

About your role

Each year DWP is responsible for delivering approximately £280 billion in benefits and pensions, with over eight hundred physical locations and around 1000 commercial suppliers. DWP holds substantial personal data and manages several critical digital systems and key elements of the Government’s critical national infrastructure.

Enterprise Security & Risk Management (ESRM) supports the secure delivery of DWP business, empowering the Department to operate within its security risk appetite, prioritise security improvement activities and maximise return on security investment.

As a Lead Security Risk Assurance Manager, you'll lead the assessment and assurance of DWP's most significant security risks, providing trusted, evidence-based advice to senior leaders, including Director General and Executive Team level stakeholders.

You'll produce enterprise-level risk assessments and assurance reports that help decision-makers understand threats, assess the effectiveness of controls, and make informed choices about risk.

You'll analyse information from multiple sources, identify connections and impacts across services, and translate complex security issues into clear, practical recommendations.

You'll lead security assurance activities across DWP assets and services, providing an independent view of the department's security posture, highlighting good practice, identifying areas for improvement, and helping ensure DWP delivers secure, resilient and effective services for millions of citizens.

We're looking for someone who can see the bigger picture, build credibility with senior stakeholders, challenge constructively, and provide clear analysis of how security risks could affect service delivery, resilience, people, data, assets and public trust.

We would love to hear from you if you can demonstrate your skills and experience across all the following essential criteria:

• Experience providing risk assessment or assurance or decision support within large, complex environments involving multiple stakeholders, competing priorities and distributed accountabilities, alongside a strong understanding of security or risk principles.
• Transferable experience (such as threat analysis, operational risk, resilience, or intelligence) is equally valuable. No mandatory qualifications are required
• Strong stakeholder engagement and influencing capability - build credibility with senior leaders, gain buy-in across organisational boundaries, and communicate complex security risk issues in a clear and compelling way.
• Demonstrate curiosity and professional scepticism – using questioning to test assumptions, understand the evidence to assure effectiveness of controls and develop a strong understanding of risk and business impact.
• Ability to understand and communicate business impact - translating security, technical or operational issues into clear consequences for service delivery, resilience, staff safety or organisational performance
• Leadership experience - able to guide and quality‑assure the work of others, support change, and contribute to improving or professionalising a team or function
• Exceptional analytical skills - able to assess complex, and interconnected security or operational problems, identify dependencies and develop evidence based assurance opinions in ambiguous environments clearly and concisely.

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

• Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
• Generous annual leave - at least 23 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro-rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
• Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
• Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
• Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year's continuous service.
• Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.