The klaxons have been sounded and purse strings loosened: The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is looking for a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and has set a healthy salary upper bound for HMG of £205,000.
The role is, as NCSC puts it: “A uniquely influential, career-defining role of national significance for someone recognised to be a genuine cyber security expert.” We’re making it The Stack’s latest Job of the Week.
The NCSC CTO will act as the “the ‘team captain’ for the UK’s cyber security as a whole” the job description says. “You will be the public face of NCSC’s technical advice and guidance as part of our portfolio of services. You will set direction for our research portfolio and quality assure our technical and public advice…”
Among some of the responsibilities:
- "Set the research direction for NCSC’s core research functions to ensure NCSC remains at the forefront of innovation in cyber security.
- "Foster a culture of driving innovation and using data that sustains our ‘edge’.
- "Be responsible for the arbitration of NCSC technical guidance and ultimate quality assurance of that advice.
- "Lead on the NCSC’s technical ‘truth’, the evidenced rationale developed by testing multiple options and evidencing why a particular rationale has been adopted which enables key stakeholders, including Ministers, to make informed risk-based decisions which would stand up to legal challenge.
Applications close on May 2. Applicants do not need to be from the intelligence community but do need to be recognised as an authoritative cybersecurity expert with deep leadership experience as well. The job is across London and Cheltenham and NCSC’s expectation is that applicants can commit to a minimum of two years.
The vacancy comes after the departure of NCSC Technical Director Dr Ian Levy, who spent 22 years with GCHQ and then the NCSC from 2016 until early this year, when he took on a distinguished engineer role at Amazon.
The notably improved salary also follows much public hand-wringing over pay for cybersecurity experts in His Majesty’s Government (HMG) including Head of Cyber Security role at the Treasury, capped at £57,500.
The NCSC sits under GCHQ as “the UK’s lead operational body for cyber security.”
We will not rehash the full job description, which can be found here.
Capable CTOs: Throw your hat into the ring. This is an important role with NCSC making the right noises about letting the successful applicant shape how they work with a team of approximately 100 specialists.
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