Security Officer

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board; Leeds; On-site; GBP 52,000 - 61,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

RRP 10% annual

Job summary

NHS England is seeking a Security Officer to join the Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC). You will perform first line alert triage, evaluate alerts, and work with national healthcare networks to enhance cyber resilience.

The role involves developing detection rules and guiding analysts, with potential involvement in major incident response as needed. Applicants should have strong SIEM and intrusion detection knowledge, plus post-graduate cyber security credentials or equivalent experience,

Qualifications

• Knowledge of SIEM concepts and related applications.
• Knowledge of intrusion detection and prevention techniques.
• Knowledge of digital threats and forensics methods.
• Knowledge of ISOC/CSOC concepts and operations.
• Knowledge of network monitoring and defence techniques.

Responsibilities

• Perform first line alert triage from cybersecurity monitoring tooling.
• Develop or tune detection rules to improve detection rates.
• Review or guide B5 analysts and create/update triage guides.
• Support other CSOC areas in assessing alerts and remediation.
• Assist incident response activities during major incidents.

Skills

SIEM

Intrusion detection

Threat intelligence

Forensics

CSOC concepts

Network defence

Security vetting

Education

Post-graduate degree in Cyber Security

Equivalent level of experience

Job description

Cyber Operations purpose is to support safe care and build public trust by building NHS England's cyber resilience and enabling the wider health system to be cyber resilient, supporting Transformation Directorate's purpose of delivering the best care and outcomes for the NHS.

• Cyber Security Operations Unit (CSOU & SIO)
• Cyber Delivery Unit (CDU)
• Cyber Improvement Programme
• Chief Information Security Office Function (CISO)

This is for a role within the NHS England CSOC, the Cybersecurity Operations Centre with a national remit across publicly funded healthcare in England. Please be aware that should you be successful in this position, you will be hired to the job title of Security Officer and this job title is advertised to attract the right skills needed for the role The post of Security Officer has been awarded a Recruitment and Retention Premia (RRP) in response to current labour market conditions. In recognition of this, the role attracts an additional monthly RRP payment equal to 10 % per annum. Please be aware that RRP is none contractual and subject to review. Please be aware that should you be successful in this position, you will be hired to the job title of Security Officerand this job title is advertised to attract the right skills needed for the role.

Main duties of the job You will be performing first line alert triage from our cybersecurity monitoring tooling, evaluating and investigating the alert before reaching a conclusion to supply back to the relevant external healthcare organisations or internal stakeholders. You will have access to extensive technical monitoring tooling across networks, cloud environments, endpoint telemetry, collaboration and identity management services working to protect healthcare nationally. You will be empowered to develop or use knowledge of cybersecurity tooling to automate and refine our systems to improve detection rates by developing new detection rules, or alleviate pain points for the SOC by tuning or automating existing content. You may review or guide the B5 analysts within your work area, as well as create and update standard process documentation and triage guides. You will support other areas of the CSOC team in assessing alerts and ensuring they are escalated and handled with the correct level of technical understanding for successful remediation by the affected organisations. In the event of a major incident, depending on your experience, you may also support the incident response activities and onwards more detailed investigations.

As part of the shortlisting process you may be asked to complete an assessment via a third party platform called Immersive. Immersive is a gamified learning environment. We use their screening product to help assess whether our candidates meet the technical requirements were looking for during the recruitment process.

To meet National Security Vetting requirements, SC clearances require 5 years continuous UK residency. In certain cases, this can be reduced to three years continuous UK residency, with additional overseas checks for the previous two years, Candidates who were posted abroad for service with HM Government, Armed Forces or within a UK government role - will still be considered. Please make sure you meet these requirements before applying for this role. You dont need to have SC already, however, failure to achieve the requirements for SC after offer will result in the job offer being withdrawn. For further advice please check: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels/national-security-vetting-clearance-levels#securitycheck-sc

• Knowledge of concept, procedures and processes of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM); ability to utilise related applications to protect organisational networks from cyber risks.
• Knowledge of tools, techniques and processes of intrusion detection and prevention; ability to detect, resolve and prevent intrusion behaviours to protect organisational networks.
• Knowledge of techniques, approaches and processes of digital threats; ability to detect, monitor, analyse and prevent digital threats.
• Knowledge of technologies, methods and tools of forensics investigations for IT security violations or potential threats; ability to identify, uncover and evaluate violations, warning reports, suspected incidents and insidious events.
• Knowledge of modules, processes and technologies of Information Security Operation Centre (ISOC); ability to detect, response and utilise related platform and applications to perform cyber security initiatives.
• Knowledge of methods and processes to monitor, analyse and respond to network attacks, intrusions or any unauthorised actions; ability to use techniques and tools to perform network defence.
• Post-graduate level degree in Cyber Security or relevant subject, or equivalent level of experience.
• Post-graduate level degree in Cyber Security or relevant subject, or equivalent level of experience.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

NHS England has a wide range of statutory functions, responsibilities and regulatory powers. These are focused on supporting the wider NHS to deliver high quality care, as well as doing those things that are best done once for the whole NHS. Our staff bring expertise across clinical, operational, commissioning, technology, data science, cyber security, software engineering, education, and commercial specialisms -- enabling us to design and deliver high-quality NHS services. In March 2025, the Government announced that NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care will increasingly merge functions, ultimately leading to NHS England being fully integrated into the department. If you currently work within the NHS and if successful at interview, we will initiate an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR).This retrieves key data from your current or previous NHS employer to support onboarding, including competency status, Continuous Service Dates (CSD), and annual leave entitlement. You may opt out at any stage of the process. Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in our offices. Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.