We are looking for an experienced incident management professional to coordinate the cross-government response to significant cyber security and digital resilience incidents, drive resilience through exercising and lessons learned, and lead a high-performing joint team. This role reports to the Deputy Director for Government Cyber Operations. 

In this role, you can expect to:

• work closely with GC3 Policy teams to ensure the national and government policies (including the Government Cyber Incident Response Plan) aligned with GC3 Incident Management requirements
• establish and deliver a cross-government cyber and digital resilience exercising programme, including delivering sector-level exercising, providing sector-wide support such as templates and guidance, and supporting exercising within departments through training and hands-on support
• lead the operational cross-government response to critical and cross-cutting threats, vulnerabilities and incidents, enabling a rapid understanding of risk, clear communications to decision makers, and a coordinated and informed response across government
• work closely with the Government Cyber Unit’s accountability team to establish and operate governance, policy, assurance and risk/performance reporting structures for cyber and digital resilience incident management across government
• advise ministers, senior officials, and IT and cyber security leadership across government on the effective response to cyber and digital resilience incidents
• establish and operate the structures to enable the effective identification, documentation, sharing and implementation of lessons from cyber and digital resilience incidents across government and within departments
• build, implement and continually improve processes and technology across GC3 Incident Management, and the structures to ensure staff are suitably knowledgeable and experienced
• engage closely with stakeholders and customers across government, including wider DCMS, the NCSC, and departmental IT and cyber security teams
• line manage lead analysts in the incident management team, and provide coaching and support to staff across the GC3 

The post holder may be required to support out of hours on call rotas for responding to cyber and digital resilience incidents, for which remuneration and/or flexible working arrangements will be available. 

Person specification

We’re looking for someone with: 

• significant experience leading the response to cyber and/or digital resilience incidents within large, complex organisations, or at a sectoral or national level
• significant experience building and embedding incident response capabilities within large, complex organisations or at a sectoral or national level, for example, incident response planning and documentation, incident exercising, crisis simulation, post-incident reviews, and lessons management
• high levels of personal resilience, with the ability to make effective decisions despite ambiguity and uncertainty, provide clear direction, and adapt to rapidly changing circumstances
• strong stakeholder engagement and influencing skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships, manage competing priorities, and achieve consensus
• the ability to provide clear and highly credible advice to senior decision makers, including translating complex cybersecurity incident detail for a non-technical audience
• the ability to balance strategic objectives, operational risks, and competing stakeholder requirements 

Benefits

There are many benefits of working at DSIT, including:

• flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work condensed hours
• a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days
• an extra day off for the King’s birthday
• an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
• career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
• a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
• job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
• advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
• death in service benefits
• cycle to work scheme and facilities
• access to an employee discounts scheme
• 10 learning days per year
• volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
• access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning

Any move to Government Digital Service from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk  

Office attendance
The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The expectation for this role is 60% office attendance.

DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home). 

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

The standard selection process for roles at DSIT consists of:

• a simple application screening process - We only ask for you to submit a CV. Your CV will be assessed against the following criteria - 
• significant experience leading the response to cyber and/or digital resilience incidents within large, complex organisations, or at a sectoral or national level 
• significant experience building and embedding incident response capabilities within large, complex organisations or at a sectoral or national level, for example, incident response planning and documentation, incident exercising, crisis simulation, post-incident reviews, and lessons management 
• A 20 minute phone screen
• a 60 minute video interview

In the event we receive a high volume of applications, we will conduct the initial sift against the lead criteria which is: significant experience leading the response to cyber and/or digital resilience incidents within large, complex organisations, or at a sectoral or national level 

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours:

• Leadership
• Delivering at pace
• Making effective decisions
• Communicating and influencing 

We’ll also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the Government Cyber Framework for the Incident Response - Principal role:

• Incident management, incident investigation and response - Expert
• Intrusion detection and analysis – Expert 
• Threat intelligence and threat assessment - Practitioner
• Applied security capability - Working 

Recruitment Timeline

Sift completion: Week Commencing 24th August 2026

Phone Screens: Starting from 1st September 2026

Panel interviews: Starting from 8th September 2026

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.

Sponsorship

DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

Security

Please note, this role requires Developed Vetting level of clearance (DV). 

DV is required when an individual has long term, frequent and uncontrolled access to ‘Top Secret’ (Information that could directly threaten the national security of the UK, cause long-term damage to our economy or lead to widespread loss of life) information. 
To gain DV clearance an applicant will normally need to have been a UK resident for a minimum of 10 years. There are several stages to the vetting process which usually takes 6 month +:-

• SC Level Clearance
• Completion of a DV supplementary questionnaire
• Completion of a financial questionnaire
• A review of the candidate’s personal finances
• A medical and psychological assessment
• Interviews with the candidates referees
• A detailed interview with the candidate

More information on DV clearance is linked here

Nationality Requirements - Further Information for Candidates  

1. This post is classed as ‘Reserved’ as per Civil Service Nationality Rules Section 3. In accordance with these rules, ‘only UK nationals may be employed in reserved posts in the Civil Service’1 (Paragraph. 3.1).  

UK National Definition  

2. The definition of a ‘UK National’ can be found at Paragraphs. 1.4-1.8 of the Civil Service Nationality Rules.  

Dual Nationals  

3. As per Paragraph. 1.41 of the Civil Service Nationality Rules:  

4. ‘Candidates with dual nationality are in principle eligible for employment in the Civil Service provided that they meet the requirements in relation to one of their nationalities [i.e. UK National]. They may not be eligible, however, for employment in certain reserved posts where additional nationality requirements are imposed.’  

Additional Restrictions for Reserved Posts  

5. As per Paragraphs. 3.10-3.11 of the Civil Service Nationality Rules:  

6. ‘…departments and agencies are entitled to impose additional requirements in reserved posts if this is considered necessary. This could include, for example, requirements as to the residency of the applicant or the nationality of one or both parents of the applicant.’  

7. If you are a Dual National who possesses UK Nationality and wish to check your eligibility for the post, please contact our recruiting team at the details below. Please be advised that we will not be able to provide a justification for our decision for security reasons. 

8. Irish nationals and Commonwealth citizens are also eligible for employment in reserved posts if they were in the Civil Service at 31 May 1996 or before, or were appointed from a recruitment scheme with a closing date for receipt of applications before 1 June 1996. (Paragraph. 3.1)   

Please note offers of employment are subject to achieving satisfactory pre-employment and security checks. These include an Occupational Health Assessment and a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). As part of this you will need to confirm your identity, employment/education history, nationality and any criminal record (unspent convictions only).

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

Name: gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk 

Email: gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk 

Recruitment team

Email: gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk 

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact gds-complaints@dsit.gov.uk  in the first instance.

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission by email: info@csc.gov.uk  or in writing: Civil Service Commission, Room G/8 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ.

Apply now