Trainee Cyber Security Analyst (Security Trainee) | NHS England

NHS England; Leeds, Exeter; On-site; GBP 44,000 - 53,000; Full time

Job summary

NHS England is seeking a Trainee Cyber Security Analyst to join the Cyber Operations team. The role focuses on first-line alert triage from monitoring tools, evaluating alerts, and escalating to appropriate internal or external stakeholders within the health system.

Training will cover toolsets, certifications, and progression through a structured development program. The position is based in Leeds with a 40% office expectation for on-site work.

Responsibilities

• Perform first-line alert triage from cybersecurity monitoring tooling.
• Evaluate and investigate alerts before escalation to external healthcare organisations or internal stakeholders.
• Assist in developing or refining detection rules and remediation workflows.

Job description

Trainee Cyber Security Analyst (Security Trainee) | NHS England

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.

The Cyber Operations sub-directorate consists of four operational areas:

• Cyber Security Operations Unit (CSOU & SIO)
• Chief Information Security Office Function (CISO)

You will join the Analyst Pool within the Protective Monitoring team in the CSOC and 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. 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.

The CSOC has an excellent training pathway for onwards development in our chosen toolsets, combining on the job training with industry recognised certifications and vendor qualifications which you will follow as part of a program of development and upskilling.

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 announcedthat 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.

We cannot offer visa sponsorship for any vacancies.

Please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification for more information about the role and responsibilities.

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 we’re looking for during the recruitment process.

Please ensure your supporting statement includes demonstratable evidence and specific examples on how you meet the criteria for each of the key skills specified. This will be used in both the shortlisting and interview processes.

Important: Please be aware there are residency requirements you need to meet:

All NHS England Cyber Security personnel must hold Security Clearance level as a minimum. 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 don’t 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#security-check-sc

Please be aware that should you be successful in this position, you will be hired to the job title of Security Trainee and this job title is advertised to attract the right skills needed for the role.

This advert closes on Sunday 11 Oct 2026

£59,264.40 - £67,818 per annum (this includes an RRP payment of 20%)

£43,954.90 - £52,928.70 per annum (this includes a RRP payment of 10%)

£59,264.40 - £67,818 Per annum (this includes an RRP payment of 20%)