Lead Security Architect DDaT Enablers - HO - G7

The Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) profession enable the Home Office to keep the UK safe and secure. They do this by designing, building, and running the services that help people apply for visas or passports, support policing and counter-terrorism operations, and protect the UK’s borders. 

Team members have specialised knowledge and a calling to build on it. We want the best people to come to the Home Office and work in the diverse roles and communities they’re passionate about. This is how we produce exceptional outcomes.

Metis is the Home Office’s implementation of Oracle Fusion Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. The Lead Technical Architect will provide governance to ensuring that design standards are adhered to.  

Due to business requirements this post is available on a Full Time/Job Share/Flexible Working basis. Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. Where this is the case, employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in the office. Queries can be raised to the address at the bottom of the advert. 

We value diversity and inclusion and welcome applications from the widest diversity of backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. We encourage applications from women, people with disabilities and LGBT+ as they are currently under-represented in the Home Office at this grade level. Appointments will be made on merit based on fair and open competition.

Job description

A Lead Security Architect is responsible for driving the secure design and development of solutions for one or more major business sectors within the department. They lead the security engagement for all projects within their portfolio ensuring that the department’s security design standards are adhered to.

As a Lead Security Architect, you will provide an ‘out-reach’ service to your business areas to advise on security requirements and solutions to enable technical teams to make security decisions, ensuring the effective use of common tools and products.

You will collaborate with peers both within and outside of your Portfolios to identify new opportunities for exploiting emerging technologies and support the development of architectures, patterns and approaches to support their safe use in accordance with the department’s risk appetites.

At all times your goal is to help ensure delivery of systems that meet the desired business outcomes with security decisions and controls being proportionate to the risk.

You will build effective partnerships with diverse teams across multiple locations and technologies, and effectively communicate security and risk implications across technical and non-technical stakeholders.

You will manage other Security Architects, covering critical review architecture referencing National Cyber Security Centre NCSC guidelines. You will also be responsible for their training and development.

Person specification

Your main day to day responsibilities will be:

• Contributing to the vision, principles and strategy set down by the Principal Security Architect ensuring it reflects the needs of your portfolio as well as the wider department.
• Overseeing the security engagement for projects within your business sphere and cooperating with colleagues to find common solutions to similar challenges across all business lines.
• Driving ‘secure by design’ by promoting security as an aspect of quality, ensuring that program, project and service managers own this responsibility.
• Following developments in the security and technology industry to ensure that the technology landscape is kept secure in line with industry standard.
• Recommending security controls and identifying solutions that support a business objective, working out subtle security needs and understanding the impact of decisions, balancing requirements and deciding between approaches.
• Providing specialist advice and recommending approaches, interacting with senior stakeholders across departments and influencing a wide range of people across larger teams and communities to execute security standards, policies and principles. This will include advising on key security related technologies and assessing the risk associated with proposed changes.

Essential skills:

You’ll have a demonstrable passion for Security Architecture, with the following skills or strong experience in:

• Leading and evaluating the secure design of major products, services and input to complex solutions, challenging outmoded concepts and driving improvements with innovative, creating precedents and setting direction.
• Making and guiding effective decisions on risks, based on information assurance risk assessment methodology, explaining clearly how the decision has been reached.
• Applying security concepts to a technical level across multiple projects, working with security tools, network security infrastructure technologies, and information security management frameworks (e.g. ISO 27001, NIST).
• Working with penetration testing and effectively translating cyber risk analysis into standards, patterns and approaches to enable the safe exploitation of current and emerging technologies.
• Understanding NCSC information security guidance and architecture patterns.
• Understanding architecture methodology e.g. SABSA, TOGAF.

SFIA capability framework 

Skills for the Information Age (SFIA) is the technical framework that sets the standard capability and development of all levels in the Home Office. This is a link to the capability framework:  All skills A - Z English (sfia-online.org) 

We use set SFIA technical skills to form our interview questions and we will assess you against these technical skills during the selection process. 

SFIA levels of responsibility – Use the SFIA Levels of responsibility to understand what would be expected for each Technical Skill listed below. 

SFIA Technical skills 

Strategy & Architecture:

• Strategy and Planning
  • Strategic Planning (ITSP) – Level 3
  • Solution Architecture (ARCH)– Level 5
  • Innovation (INOV) – Level 3
  • Enterprise and Business Architecture (STPL) – Level 3
• Advice & Guidance
  • Consultancy (CNSL) – Level 4
  • Specialist Advice (TECH) – Level 4

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Strategic Planning (ITSP) – Level 3
• Solution Architecture (ARCH)– Level 5
• Innovation (INOV) – Level 3
• Enterprise and Business Architecture (STPL) – Level 3
• Consultancy (CNSL) – Level 4
• Specialist Advice (TECH) – Level 4