Director of Security and Resilience

Salary: 94931- 117800 per annum (dependent on skills and experience)

Hours: Full Time or Part Time (Minimum 0.8 FTE)

Contract Type: Open Ended secondees and transfers welcome.

Location: Polaris House Swindon Wiltshire. Hybrid working available with regular office attendance and travel across UKRI offices.

Grade: UKRI X

Closing Date: Sunday February 8th 2026

Proposed Interview Date: W/c 9th March 2026 in person. Please note this date may be subject to change.

About the Role

You will report to the Chief of Operational Delivery and provide senior organisation-wide leadership on security and resilience for UKRI. You will shape how the organisation protects its people research infrastructure and reputation.

Working at the centre of an organisation that supports research and innovation across the UK and internationally you will set the strategic direction for embedding security and resilience across all councils and major programmes. You will bring clear authoritative insight in a complex and evolving risk environment enabling informed decision-making across UKRI.

You will anticipate emerging challenges and strengthen organisational preparedness helping UKRI prevent withstand and respond effectively to incidents. Through this you will safeguard the continuity and credibility of the UKs research and innovation mission.

Key Responsibilities

The Director Security and Resilience is accountable for:

• defining and owning UKRIs security and resilience strategy policies and standards

• acting as principal advisor to the CEO Board and senior leadership delivering timely threat-informed guidance

• building strong relationships across government the UK intelligence community and the research sector to position UKRI as a trusted partner and thought leader

• directing delivery of UKRIs security and resilience programme including the Security and Resilience Operating Centre (SROC)

• overseeing budgets (circa 1.4 million annually plus 4 million change programme) and advising on wider organisational security spend

• leading and developing the UKRI Security and Resilience profession managing a central team of 13 staff and a wider community of practice

• ensuring effective incident management continuous professional development and alignment with cross-government security guidance

Strategic leadership and governance

• leading UKRIs security and resilience strategy aligning with national priorities and influencing government policy

• acting as principal advisor to the CEO Board and senior leadership on threat informed risk-balanced guidance

• chairing the Security and Resilience Committee and assuring governance across UKRI including sub-domain groups and council-level processes

• developing and embedding a pan-UKRI maturity framework annual reporting and peer reviews

• delivering a vibrant professional and impactful UKRI security and resilience profession by setting standards and delivering inspirational leadership across the entirety of UKRIs security and resilience profession

Operational delivery

• overseeing major programmes including the 4 million Security and Resilience Operating Centre (SROC) and UKRI-wide security initiatives

• ensuring secure by design principles in all programmes and projects

• directing personnel security vetting supply chain assurance and sensitive information systems for example Realistic Open Security Architecture (ROSA)

• maintaining organisational security policies and delivering a coherent training pathway for security professionals

Risk and assurance

• proactively managing UKRIs principal strategic level security and resilience risk

• defining UKRIs risk appetite and ensuring effective management of security and resilience risks across all domains

• providing second-line assurance through audits maturity assessments and governance reporting

Culture and engagement

• driving a positive security and resilience culture through KPIs forums and leadership of the Security and Resilience community of practice

• positioning UKRI as a trusted partner and thought leader across government and the research community

• Incident management

• implementing and maintaining a pan-UKRI incident management system

• leading incident response lessons learned processes and reporting to governance bodies and government security groups.

If you would like to request a copy of the candidate pack or require any further information please contact the Senior Recruitment Team at

Person Specification

You will have significant and demonstrable experience of:

• developing and delivering an impactful strategy that meets UK government requirements and is practical and achievable within the organisation

• operational delivery across all security domains

• leading in a complex and federated organisation

• managing complex risks and issues in the context of security and resilience

• directing and responding to complex security and resilience incidents

• directing security and resilience within a large public sector organisation (ideally previous experience of being a senior security adviser (SSA) or equivalent)

• engaging and influencing senior colleagues across a federated organisation and wider UK government

• engaging with national technical authorities (NTA) Government Security Secretariat (GSecS) and UK intelligence community (UKIC) to achieve positive support and effective communication

Qualifications:

• Hold a Masters Degree or equivalent experience in a security and resilience related discipline

• Hold relevant professional recognition such as being a Chartered Security

• Professional (CSyP) or equivalent experience

Security

Due to the nature of this role candidates must be eligible for UK security clearance and willing to undergo the vetting process prior to starting the role. The required level is Developed Vetting (DV). If you do not currently hold DV clearance please ensure you meet the eligibility criteria as set out in the UK Government guidance before applying: National Security Vetting

Application Guidance

As part of your application you will need to submit:

• A Curriculum Vitae (CV)

• A Supporting Statement

Your CV and supporting statement should each be no more than two to three pages in length.

Supporting Statement Guidance

Your supporting statement is a key part of your application. It should clearly explain why you are suitable for this role providing specific evidence of how you meet the requirements outlined in the person specification.

To help structure your statement we encourage you to address each criterion in the person specification using the STAR method (Situation Task Action Result). This will help you present your experience in a clear and consistent way. Further guidance on the STAR method is available from the National Careers Service.

Please note failure to provide a supporting statement/CV or failure to address the above points may result in your application not being considered further.

You will only be assessed on the content of your CV and supporting statement and not the experience section of the application on the Careers Portal.

If you experience any issues applying online please contact

Important Information about the Assessment Process

The selection process will include a panel interview and a presentation. Candidates will also be required to complete psychometric testing and there may be additional fireside discussions. Interviews will be held in person in London. Please note that dates and details are subject to change.

Benefits

We recognise and value our employees as individuals and aim to provide a favourable pay and rewards package. We are committed to supporting employees development and promote a culture of continuous learning. A list of benefits included below;

• An outstanding defined benefit pension scheme

• 30 days annual leave in addition to 10.5 public and privilege days (full time equivalent)

• Employee discounts and offers on retail and leisure activities

• Employee assistance programme providing confidential help and advice

• Flexible working options

Visit our dedicated benefits page for more info: Benefits of working at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Benefits of working at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)