Security Operations Manager — Lead SecOps in Critical Infrastructure

United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory; Warrington; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Family‑focused policies

Pension plans

Annual leave 25.5 days + shutdown days

Health care benefits

Bonus potential

Job summary

UKNNL is seeking a Security Operations Manager to lead its end-to-end security operations, ensuring prevention, detection, response and resilience across the organisation. You will manage a SecOps team, coordinate with partners and regulators, and drive continuous improvement in governance, tooling and incident handling.

The role requires strong leadership, crisis management experience, and a deep understanding of threat intelligence, vulnerability management and audit practices within critical

Qualifications

• Experience in cyber security operations within regulated or critical infrastructure environments.
• Proven leadership of security operations teams and/or managed security services (SOC/MSOC).
• Experience managing security incidents and crisis-level response; able to operate under pressure.
• Strong understanding of incident response and digital forensics.
• Strong understanding of threat intelligence and threat hunting.
• Strong understanding of vulnerability management and security controls.
• Strong understanding security testing, assurance, and audit practices.
• Experience working with regulators, auditors, and compliance frameworks.
• Demonstrated ability to translate strategy into operational capability.
• Experience managing third-party suppliers and service providers.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop UKNNL’s end-to-end security operations capability.
• Prioritise SecOps activities aligned to risk appetite and CISO strategy.
• Represent SecOps in governance and security meetings with stakeholders.
• Maintain governance, reporting, and performance management frameworks.
• Oversee monitoring, detection, and response; optimise partners and tools.
• Lead incident response for major security events and post-incident learning.
• Define security testing and exercising programmes across people, process, and tech.
• Evolve SecOps capabilities with new processes, tooling and resources.
• Develop roadmaps aligned to threats and strategic objectives.
• Collaborate across cyber sections to manage risk and compliance.

Skills

Leadership

SecOps

Incident response

Threat intelligence

Vulnerability management

Regulatory compliance

Stakeholder management

Third-party management

SC clearance

Education

Degree or higher in a related subject

Job description

UKNNL is seeking a Security Operations Manager to lead its end-to-end security operations, ensuring prevention, detection, response and resilience across the organisation. You will manage a SecOps team, coordinate with partners and regulators, and drive continuous improvement in governance, tooling and incident handling.

The role requires strong leadership, crisis management experience, and a deep understanding of threat intelligence, vulnerability management and audit practices within critical