NCSC Resilience Policy Officer Ref. 2844

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Information Assurance and Specialists
Cheltenham, London, Manchester
Permanent
Starting salary of £45,676 plus an annual National Security Payment of £2428, subject to mandatory training. A London Allowance of £6,250 is applicable for London contracted employees.

At GCHQ, we unlock the complex world of data and communications to keep the UK and its citizens safe, both in the real world and online. Working closely with our British Intelligence partners in MI5 and MI6, we protect the UK from threats including serious organised crime, terrorism, and cyber-attacks. A role in GCHQ means you’ll have varied and fascinating work in a supportive and encouraging environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of GCHQ, is the UK Government’s lead authority on cyber security. The organisation is at the heart of the Government’s cyber security strategy and has the aim of making the UK the safest place to live and work online.   

The Economy and Society (E&S) Resilience team is one of four Resilience teams in the NCSC. Directly contributing towards the delivery of HMG’s National Cyber Strategy, the team provides cyber security support, guidance, products and services to a wide range of sectors including businesses, educational organisations and charities. It also helps prevent attacks from reaching citizens and empowers them to secure themselves online. The team prides itself on being diverse, friendly and supportive, and is regularly one of the highest scoring teams for “engagement” in GCHQ’s staff survey. We are currently recruiting a Policy Lead to join the team.

This role will sit within the recently formed Market Incentives Team, which seeks to understand the barriers to organisations developing better cyber resilience; find innovative solutions to incentive cyber resilience; and support boards and other governance mechanisms find the assurance they need in their organisations’ cyber resilience.


Job Description

What will the successful candidate be doing?

As Policy Lead, your role will be to cohere and lead strands of work across the Economy and Society Team, spotting opportunities where we can have an impact across multiple sectors and working with lead government departments and industry stakeholders to deliver an impact on cyber resilience from their policy initiatives. A key part of that will be acting as a hinge between the work of the NCSC’s overarching Cyber Policy team and the specific policy work undertaken within the Economy and Society Resilience team. An example of one of those initiatives will be to lead aspects of NCSC’s input into the Home Office’s Cyber Duty to Protect programme for online service providers. 

The post may also take on some work looking at future technology and policy challenges that may be encountered by the Economy and Society Resilience team as we seek to build greater cyber resilience in our sectors over the next 5-10 years.

Person Specification

The postholder will need to coordinate and deconflict across multiple NCSC teams and directorates and as such the successful candidate should be comfortable operating independently and taking responsibility for delivering against specific objectives and key results within the Economy and Society Business Plan.   

We are looking for candidates who are enthusiastic, proactive, organised team players who can comfortably engage with a wide variety of external and internal stakeholders. We are looking for candidates with experience of policy development or delivery and must be comfortable managing relationships both internally and externally. The applicant should be willing to represent NCSC externally, including attending meetings with industry stakeholders.

The role is not technical and previous cyber security experience is not essential, however there may be an opportunity to use relevant technical skills and knowledge in the role and to more broadly support the NCSC’s objectives. The NCSC’s Cyber Security Development Framework is available to support colleagues’ development and informal learning via colleagues also provides a proven route to cyber literacy.

The successful applicant will need to have:

The responsibilities of the role will include:

•    Ensuring the principles of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion are included in every action undertaken.
•    Delivering against the NCSC business plan and taking ownership of a number of key activities related to cross-government initiatives to enhance the cyber resilience of the UK’s economy and society.  
•    Measuring and reporting progress against qualitative and quantitative key results to demonstrate the impact of the team’s work. 
•    Working closely with other colleagues from across NCSC to ensure your work maximizes impact and efficiency across the department. 
•    Writing and delivering presentations, reports and briefings as required. 
•    Efficiently recording external engagements in the NCSC’s Customer Relationship Management System and Internal systems. 
•    Representing the NCSC externally at a range of different meetings and events.
•    Assisting the wider team as appropriate depending on priorities.
•    Working with colleagues in E&S, across the wider Resilience Directorate and across the NCSC to develop cyber security guidance, products and services and promote them through partners as appropriate.

The scope of these responsibilities may be subject to change as the work of the team evolves to meet the requirements of HMG’s National Cyber Strategy and the NCSC’s Business Plan.


GCHQ Competency Requirements

•    Communication and Knowledge sharing - Intermediate
•    Corporate Vision and Efficiency - Intermediate
•    Change and Innovation - Intermediate
•    Analysis and Decision Making - Higher
•    Contribution to Delivery - Higher
•    Managing the Customer Relationship - Higher
•    Working with and Leading Others - Higher

You can familiarise yourself with the general competencies we use to assess the aptitude of candidates here - Recruitment Process


Benefits we offer

At NCSC and GCHQ, we are proud of our inclusive and supportive working environment that’s designed to encourage open minds and attitudes. As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we are committed to helping you fulfil your potential. With comprehensive training and development opportunities, tailored to your needs and the requirements of your work, we will enable you to flourish in your role and perform to the very best of your abilities.

You’ll receive a starting salary of £45,676 plus an annual National Security Payment of £2428, subject to mandatory training. A London Allowance of £6,250 is applicable for London contracted employees. 

Other benefits:

•    25 Days Annual Leave automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years' service, and an additional 10.5 days public and privilege holidays
•    An environment with flexible working options
•    Opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme.
•    Interest-free season ticket loan
•    Cycle to work scheme
•    Facilities such as a gym, restaurant and on-site coffee bars (at some locations)
•    Paid parental and adoption leave.
•    A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Selection Process

Before You Apply

To work at GCHQ, you need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. You can read our full eligibility criteria here.

This role requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes. You can find out more about the vetting process here

Please note we have a strict drugs policy, so once you start your application, you can’t take any recreational drugs and you’ll need to declare your previous drug usage at the relevant stage.

The role is based in London, Cheltenham or Manchester, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application, as we do not offer relocation costs.

Please note, you should only launch your application from within the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you visit the UK to launch an application. Applying from outside the UK will impact on our ability to progress your application. You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member.

What to Expect

Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:

•    Application sift
•    Interview
•    If successful, you will receive a conditional offer of employment, subject to vetting.

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process to progress to the next. Your application may take around 6 - 9 months to process including vetting, so we advise you to continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer.

We’re Disability Confident

GCHQ are proud to have achieved Leader status within the DWP’s Disability Confident scheme. This is aimed at encouraging employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people. Being Disability Confident, we aim to offer a person-to-person interview to any candidate who self-identifies as disabled and meets the essential criteria for the role. This is our ‘Offer of Interview’ (OOI). To secure an interview for this vacancy, the essential criteria (in order of application process) are:

MINIMUM CRITERIA FOR OOI

-    Experience of policy design or delivery
-    Meeting the threshold on the priority competencies for this role: 
o    Analysis and Decision Making - Higher
o    Contribution to Delivery - Higher
o    Managing the Customer Relationship - Higher
o    Working with and Leading Others - Higher

 

Equal Opportunities

At GCHQ diversity and inclusion are critical to our mission. To protect the UK, we need a truly diverse workforce that reflects the society we serve. This includes diversity in every sense of the word: those with different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, ways of thinking and those with disabilities or neurodivergent conditions. We therefore welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including those from groups that are under-represented in our workforce such as women, those from an ethnic minority background, people with disabilities and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Find out more about our culture, working environment and diversity on our here:

Our Vetting

To work in this role, you will need the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community must go through and it can take some time. As part of the DV process you will be asked to fill in a detailed questionnaire and attend an interview with a vetting officer. In your interview the vetting officer will have a thorough, compassionate, and honest discussion with you about you as a person and your life experiences, to ensure holding a DV clearance is right for you. You don’t need to do any preparation for your vetting interview, just be honest and be yourself. All applicants for DV are treated impartially and consistently, irrespective of gender, race, disability, religion, age, sexual orientation, and other protected characteristics.


The closing date for this role is: 20/04/2023

Right to Withdraw Statement: 

Please be aware that we withhold the right to bring forward the closing date for this role from the original closing date once a certain number of applications have been received. Please be mindful of this and submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.

This Program / Vacancy is closed to applications.