About the job

Summary

It's an exciting time to join government cyber security. Our unique apprenticeships will give you lots of new opportunities. You'll get to develop your skills whilst playing an important role in ensuring security across government.

What is Government Security

We are the largest security operation in the UK. Our mission is to defend the British government from a full range of security threats whilst protecting 67 million citizens. We provide vital public services by understanding and managing security risks to government departments, agencies and arm’s length bodies. We protect them from a range of threats and vulnerabilities. We do this by applying the four dimensions of security: Cyber, Physical, Personnel and Technical.

We face a range of challenges. From organised crime to hacktivists. Terrorists to foreign intelligence services. Even rogue individuals. These attacks attempt to cause economic damage and erode public trust in online services. They aim to cause real harm to our citizens, their property and their privacy.

With these ever-changing challenges comes a whole world of opportunities. Opportunities to grow and develop as a security professional. To throw yourself into countless experiences. And enjoy a fulfilling career. Here you’ll find every challenge and every opportunity

We are aiming to recruit people from diverse backgrounds. We want to make sure we have a wide range of skills to strengthen our security capability across the government. We value the fact that our different backgrounds, cultures, genders, experiences and ways of working produces a more effective team. Each one of us has a part to play in helping the government to keep the UK secure.

Please see our new Government Security Cyber talent schemes pages here on the Civil Service Careers Website for further information.

Job description

We are looking for dynamic and motivated people to join the rapidly-growing Government Security sector. Here, they will develop their skills to become a cyber-professional of tomorrow!

The Government Security Cyber Apprenticeship (Level 4) is an excellent entry route into the Government Security Profession. It is for those who are interested in the realm of cyber and are leaving studies or looking for a career change.

These are exciting, challenging and stimulating jobs working across government departments and agencies. You'll be managing digital networks and information security risks on high-profile projects. All of which can have an impact on all aspects of life in the UK.

You will have a significant role in identifying, managing and mitigating risk and threats to national security. On-the-job experience and training will help you to develop advanced technical skills and behaviours. These are needed to prevent cybercrime and decrypt data. Including clarifying and resolving malware issues in government.

This is a two year programme which will not only see you complete a Level 4 Cyber Security Technologist Higher Apprenticeship but will also enable you to:

• Learn the fundamental skills you need to begin your career as a security professional.

• Develop the knowledge and skills required to equip you to be a future Cyber Security specialist. This includes incident response, risk management and digital forensics.

• Tackle topics such as ethical hacking, cyber security fundamentals, threats and vulnerabilities.

• Gain invaluable experience by learning challenging theory and immediately applying this on-the-job.

• Be supported by experienced mentors and managers who will guide you through your apprenticeship.

To support your development, the programme takes a work-related approach. In this, you will develop in-depth knowledge and understanding. You will be able to apply technical skills and behaviours in cyber security within government. Your learning, personal and professional development will be facilitated through a structured programme. This will be supported by a range of learning, classroom and work based learning experiences.

The apprenticeship will also help you build a foundation level of knowledge in critical areas of Cyber Security. Setting you up for a successful and rewarding career.

Responsibilities

During the apprenticeship some of the responsibilities you may have will be to:

• Contribute towards the team identifying any risks associated with taking specific technical actions.

• Provide security risk advice, guidance and support to the business.

• Provide Technical Security input into business projects and programmes. This is to ensure early understanding of security assurance processes and obligations.

• Provide technical input into business change documentation and processes

• Contribute technical input. Part of the organisations security monitoring and detection analysis regime.

• Lead small monitoring teams in the design, development and enablement of automated monitoring processes.

• Provide support to the team in dealing with organisations' response to an incident. This includes liaising with operational teams and applying security policies.

• Carry out digital forensics.

• Carry out open source intelligence and contribute work investigating cyber security intelligence. This includes collaborative working with the Security Operations Centre.

• Support the business to deliver cryptography and encryption. Look to expand knowledge of emerging concepts and trends. And using this knowledge to ensure appropriate management systems are applied.

• Support the creation and delivery of documentation required to support Cyber Security activities applying the ISO27001 Information Security Standard wherever appropriate.

• Assist with department security education and awareness.

Technical skills

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

• What interests you about the Government Security Cyber Apprenticeship?
• How will you deal with competing priorities to ensure both your work and your learning are kept on track?