The Ministry of Defence is seeking to recruit a senior official to serve a dedicated unit within the UK’s Strategic Command that delivers ‘protect and respond’ services across the military

The Ministry of Defence is seeking to appoint a senior leader to oversee the cyber defences that help protect and respond to threats across the UK’s military operations.

The post as service owner for Defensive Cyber Operations (DCO) sits within the Defence Digital unit that forms part of Strategic Command – the MoD unit that manages joint resources across all three Armed Forces: the Army; Navy; and Royal Air Force.

The successful candidate, who will earn £67,820, will be tasked with “providing leadership and direction to [a] programme of complex change” currently being undertaken at DCO. The postholder will also be responsible for oversight of “the running of the [unit’s] live services, providing detect and respond capabilities to protect MoD core networks used 24/7/365 by cyber defenders across all military commands”, according to the job advert.

A key objective of the role will be “balancing the demand with the evolving cyber risk, threat, and user readiness”.

“The work is diverse, and you will be accountable for the delivery of DCO complex products which have high technical and political risk,” the advert adds. “In addition, the DCO service owner will lead the achievement of the programme mandate and key outcomes including the pan-defence adoption and exploitation of the services, products and processes delivered by the programme.”

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The chosen applicant will be expected to “accelerate the adoption and exploitation of DCO capabilities including data, tooling and services”, and duties will also include “ownership and management of the budget and allocation of funding to areas of the service based on agreed priorities”.

The new defensive cyber chief will also be charged with “keeping ahead of the development curve by knowing industry best practice”.

Applications are open until 11.55pm on 10 November, and only British nationals will be considered for the role – which is also not available on a job-share basis. The position will require the appointee to work at the MoD’s facility in Corsham at least three days a week.

The ministry hopes to attract candidates “with strong agile programme delivery expertise, cyber domain experience and who is comfortable dealing with the financial and commercial aspects of service delivery”.

The advert adds: “Defence Digital ensures our Armed Forces remain among the most technologically advanced in the world. We do this by putting innovative and effective technology into the hands of over 200,000 users, from the boardroom to the front line. We lead on cutting-edge data science, automation, and cybersecurity at scale. Our mission goes beyond the battlefield by leading humanitarian efforts and driving digital innovation that impacts lives across the globe.”