The Government Security Group is recruiting for a vacant role for a senior tech representative to help create and implement a new regime for officials working with highly sensitive information

The Cabinet Office is seeking a senior technologist to create the future cross-government environment to allow officials to work at Secret-classified level.

Secret is the middle of government’s three tiers of security classification – above Official and below Top Secret. According to government guidance, this classification is applied to “very sensitive information that requires enhanced protective controls, including the use of secure networks on secured dedicated physical infrastructure”.

The role as head of future working at Secret – a position which sits within the Cabinet Office-based Government Security Group (GSG) – is advertised at a time when “leadership of the civil service expects more work to be done at [Secret] level in future”.

To support this, government requires “the next generation of capabilities for that [work] to be developed in concert by civil government, defence and law enforcement, and coordinated by GSG to drive maximum utility, interoperability, efficiency and effectiveness, and of course the appropriate level of security”.

The successful candidate for the future working position will take on responsibility for leading this coordinated effort, which will involve “building on, but not being constrained by, today’s foundational services”.

“This is a leadership role with real strategic import as we seek to protect UK information assets and capabilities from capable hostile actors and enhance UK prosperity by enabling the UK’s cyber industry to blossom,” the job advert says. “There will also be an international dimension, benchmarking and aligning our approaches with our Five Eyes partners [in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand] and other allies.”

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It adds: “The ideal candidate will have presence, drive, empathy and determination. It is not a technical role per se, but the successful candidate should be comfortable drawing on expert advice, and have a keen interest in how technology can enable business outcomes. They will lead a small team within GSG to develop and deliver the required strategy and programme of work, and be supported by experts, including the UK’s national technical authorities. They will collaborate extensively with colleagues elsewhere within Cabinet Office and across defence, national security, civil government and law enforcement. Indeed, critical to success will be the postholder’s ability to create close working relationships across departments and the wider stakeholder network to ensure our overall approach to future working at Secret accurately reflects the need and is consistently agreed and adopted.”

The chosen applicant will be based in one or more of the Cabinet Office’s locations Bristol, Glasgow, London, York. Travel across the UK will be required and the position comes with an expectation of spending the equivalent of three days each week working from a government office.

The role comes with a salary of between £64,700 and £75,000, depending on location, as well as annual pension contributions of almost £17,500.

To apply for the role, candidates have until 11.55pm on 21 June to submit a CV and a personal statement of up to 750 words.