At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead security risk analysis and produce insights for senior decision-makers.
- Company: Join the Department for Work and Pensions, a leader in public service.
- Benefits: Enjoy a competitive salary, generous leave, and flexible working options.
- Why this job: Make a real impact on national security while developing your career.
- Qualifications: Experience in risk assessment and strong analytical skills required.
- Other info: Be part of a diverse team with excellent growth opportunities.
The Enterprise Security Risk Analyst is a senior analytical and leadership role within DWP's Enterprise Security Risk Management (ESRM) function. The postholder leads one of the department's four security risk domains: Cyber & Information Security, Personnel Security, Physical Security, or Supply Chain Security, and is responsible for producing high-quality enterprise-level security risk assessments that inform decision-making at the highest levels including Director General Finance, the Executive Team, and Departmental Audit & Risk Assurance Committee (DARAC).
This role has evolved in recent years from traditional, system-based assessments to true enterprise security risk analysis, understanding the big picture, synthesising information, and articulating how security risks could impact the department's ability to operate, deliver services, maintain resilience, and protect staff, data, and assets.
The postholder leads a small team, orchestrating complex analytical work across multi-layered risk scenarios, and works extensively with senior stakeholders across Digital, Estates, People Safety, Commercial, Risk & Resilience, and wider security stakeholders. Their work directly shapes DWP's security posture, prioritisation, and investment decisions.
Key Responsibilities- Lead an Enterprise Security Risk Domain: Hold responsibility for one of four domains (Cyber, Physical, Personnel, Supply Chain).
- Develop, maintain and lead the production of quarterly Enterprise Security Risk Products for senior leaders.
- Oversee multi-layered risk analysis covering threat scenarios, impacts, controls, and residual risk.
- Deliver Complex Security Risk Analysis: Break down large, ambiguous or abstract security problems into structured analytical components.
- Gather, evaluate and synthesise information from diverse sources, including digital risk data, system-level risk assessments, threat intelligence, estate vulnerabilities, resilience data and people safety insights.
- Apply structured analytical methods to generate robust findings, uncertainty judgements, and evidence-based conclusions.
- Influence Decision Makers: Produce clear, actionable insights to inform DG-level decision-making, risk appetite setting, and departmental prioritisation.
- Articulate business impacts: how risks could affect operations, resilience, service delivery, customer experience, staff safety or data protection.
- Support senior leaders (e.g., Director General for Finance) by outlining options, consequences and recommended mitigations.
- Stakeholder Leadership and Engagement: Build strong relationships with senior stakeholders across Digital, Estates, People Safety, Risk & Resilience, Commercial and wider security teams.
- Coordinate and convene stakeholders to gather evidence, test assumptions and validate analysis.
- Ensure alignment across functions and build consensus around risk understanding, mitigations and priorities.
- Team Leadership and Delivery Management: Lead, mentor and quality-assure the work of a small team of colleagues.
- Task and oversee scenario-level analysis (e.g., physical estate failure scenarios, cyber resilience scenarios).
- Shape team capability, drive continuous improvement and support professionalisation of ESRM's analytical approach.
- Strategic and Tactical Risk Support: Lead thematic/strategic risk assessments for priority business areas (e.g., arms length bodies).
- Deliver tactical assessments when the business requests security input on emerging issues (e.g., reviewing mail-screening contracts, new operating models, or outreach activities).
- Provide options and recommendations while enabling the business to understand and own its risk decisions.
- Experience providing analysis, risk assessment, or decision support within complex, multi-team environments ideally in large organisations with distributed accountabilities alongside a strong understanding of security or risk principles. Transferable experience (such as threat analysis, operational risk, resilience, or intelligence) is equally valuable. No mandatory qualifications required.
- Exceptional analytical skills able to break down complex or ambiguous security or operational problems into structured components, make evidence-based judgements, and articulate uncertainty clearly.
- Leadership experience: Experienced in driving change and enhancing the professionalism of a team or function, while also providing guidance and quality assurance to colleagues.
- Ability to understand and communicate business impact translating security, technical or operational issues into clear consequences for service delivery, resilience, staff safety or organisational performance.
- Strong stakeholder engagement and influencing capability able to identify the right stakeholders, gather insight, test assumptions and build shared understanding, including with senior leaders.
Alongside your salary of £64,946, the Department for Work and Pensions contributes £16,786 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. DWP have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:
- Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
- Generous annual leave - at least 26 days on entry, increasing up to 31 days over time (pro-rata for part-time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
- Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
- Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA, a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
- Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year's continuous service.
- Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
- An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women's Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.
We know your time is valuable, so our application and selection process is just two stages:
- Apply: complete your application on Civil Service Jobs. There'll be full instructions when you click through.
- Interview: a single stage face-to-face interview.
CLICK APPLY for more information and to start your application.
Enterprise Security Risk Manager employer: DWP
Contact Detail:
DWP Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Enterprise Security Risk Manager
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to people in your field on LinkedIn or at industry events. A friendly chat can lead to opportunities that aren’t even advertised yet.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for the interview by researching the company and its security risk management strategies. Show them you’re not just another candidate; you’re genuinely interested in their mission and how you can contribute.
✨Tip Number 3
Practice your storytelling skills. Be ready to share specific examples of how you've tackled complex security challenges in the past. This will help you stand out and demonstrate your analytical prowess.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to follow up after your interview! A quick thank-you email can keep you fresh in their minds and show your enthusiasm for the role. Plus, it’s a great chance to reiterate why you’re the perfect fit.
We think you need these skills to ace Enterprise Security Risk Manager
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your Application: Make sure to customise your application to highlight how your experience aligns with the specific requirements of the Enterprise Security Risk Manager role. Use keywords from the job description to show that you understand what we're looking for.
Showcase Your Analytical Skills: Since this role involves complex analytical work, be sure to provide examples of how you've tackled similar challenges in the past. We want to see how you break down problems and come up with actionable insights.
Highlight Leadership Experience: As a senior role, we’re keen on seeing your leadership capabilities. Share instances where you've led a team or influenced decision-making, especially in multi-team environments. This will help us gauge your fit for the position.
Keep It Clear and Concise: When writing your application, clarity is key. Avoid jargon and ensure your points are easy to understand. A well-structured application will make it easier for us to see your potential and fit for the role.
How to prepare for a job interview at DWP
✨Know Your Security Domains
Familiarise yourself with the four security risk domains: Cyber, Personnel, Physical, and Supply Chain. Be ready to discuss how your experience aligns with one of these areas and how you can lead a team in producing high-quality risk assessments.
✨Master Analytical Skills
Prepare to showcase your exceptional analytical skills by breaking down complex security problems into structured components. Think of examples from your past work where you successfully synthesised information and made evidence-based decisions.
✨Engage Stakeholders Effectively
Demonstrate your ability to build strong relationships with senior stakeholders. Have specific examples ready that illustrate how you've influenced decision-making and gathered insights from diverse teams to validate your analysis.
✨Articulate Business Impact
Be prepared to explain how security risks can affect operations and service delivery. Practice articulating the business impacts of security issues clearly, so you can effectively communicate the consequences to senior leaders during the interview.