Principal Enterprise Security Architect (Ref: 20694) in Edinburgh

This position is based Nationally.

We’re recruiting a Principal Enterprise Security Architect to join Justice Digital Data and Science within the Office of the Chief Technology Officer at the Ministry of Justice which is responsible for architecture and engineering across the MoJ. We work in collaboration with individual business units and Executive Agencies to align technology and operate platforms for the benefit of the products and teams dependent upon them. This role is responsible for setting and governing the enterprise‑wide technology direction for the department.

This role provides strategic ownership of core enterprise security architecture domains, including identity and access management, cloud security, network and boundary security, endpoint and device security, data protection, secure integration, security monitoring architecture, resilience, and zero trust patterns. You will focus on the cross-cutting security capabilities that underpin all digital services, ensuring they are secure, scalable, reusable and aligned to long-term departmental outcomes.

Reporting to the Chief Architect, you will lead and coordinate enterprise security architecture across the department, working closely with senior architects, cyber security leadership, platform teams and major delivery programmes. You will set clear security direction, guardrails and priorities, enabling domain architects and delivery teams to make consistent, risk-informed decisions across MoJ HQ and Executive Agencies.

This role operates at departmental scale and long-term horizon. You will balance immediate delivery needs with a 5–10 year security architecture intent, reducing fragmentation and security debt while maximising value from shared platforms, common controls and strategic investments.

You’ll receive a range of excellent benefits when you join our department, including:

• A generous employer pension contribution of 28.97% through the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
• 25 days of annual leave, (increasing to 30 days once you have reached 5 years of service), plus 8 bank holidays and a privilege day for the King’s birthday.
• Flexible working arrangements including hybrid working, working part time or compressed hours. Designed to support a positive work–life balance.

Set and own the enterprise cyber security architecture vision and strategy across core domains including identity, cloud security, endpoint security, network security, data protection, secure integration and resilience, aligned to the departmental enterprise target state.

Act as a senior security authority within the Office of the CTO, providing clear architectural direction and advice to senior leaders, major programmes and investment decisions.

Define and evolve enterprise-wide security target states, standards, principles, control patterns and reference architectures for shared platforms and services.

Establish clear secure-by-design guardrails that enable delivery teams to move faster while maintaining confidentiality, integrity, availability, resilience, interoperability and value for money.

Provide architectural oversight and assurance for high-risk or strategically significant initiatives, balancing short-term delivery with long-term security sustainability.

Lead on security architecture decisions for enterprise-scale transformation, including legacy modernisation, cloud adoption, shared platforms and cross-department integration.

Drive adoption of reusable security capabilities and common controls, reducing duplication, inconsistency, unmanaged risk and technical/security debt across the department.

Shape and mature security architecture governance, including contribution to architecture boards, technical design authorities, risk forums and the enterprise knowledge base.

Work with risk owners and senior stakeholders to enable and inform risk-based decisions, ensuring proportionate controls and pragmatic trade-offs.

Research, identify, validate and adopt new security technologies, patterns and methodologies, using innovation where it materially improves outcomes.

Build strong relationships across Digital, Technology, Data, Operations and Security leadership to ensure cyber security strategy is integrated with business outcomes and delivery priorities.

Employees are allocated 10% of their working time for personal and professional development. A £1,000 per person learning budget is in place to support all our people, with access to best-in-class conferences and seminars, accreditation with professional bodies, fully funded vocational programmes and e-learning platforms.

Compassionate maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave policies, with up to 26 weeks leave at full pay, 13 weeks with partial pay, and 13 weeks further leave. And maternity support/paternity leave at full pay for 2 weeks, too!

This role is for highly experienced security architects who want to operate at enterprise scale and shape the future security foundations of a complex organisation. You may come from an enterprise security, cyber security, technical security, cloud security or platform architecture background and enjoy setting direction, influencing senior leaders and enabling others rather than owning a single solution. You will be comfortable making decisions in ambiguity and acting as a trusted security advisor at the most senior levels.

This role aligns against the Principal Security Architect role in the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework. In that framework, principal security architects work on services of high complexity and risk, set long-term strategy, define vision and principles, influence important business and architectural decisions, and solve unprecedented security issues at organisational scale.

Key Responsibilities:

• Significant experience operating as a senior cyber security or security architect within a large, complex organisation, setting direction across enterprise-scale services, platforms or infrastructure.
• Deep expertise in one or more enterprise security domains such as identity and access management, cloud security, network security, endpoint security, data protection, security monitoring, or resilience, with sufficient breadth to lead across multiple domains.
• Proven experience defining enterprise security strategies, target states, standards or reference architectures that have been adopted across multiple teams or organisations.
• Strong systems-thinking skills, with the ability to understand and manage dependencies, threats, vulnerabilities, risks and trade-offs across complex technology estates.
• Experience designing secure systems and applying architecture patterns and principles to solve complex security challenges.
• Strong background in enabling and informing risk-based decisions, including advising senior risk owners on proportionality, tolerance and treatment options.
• Experience influencing senior stakeholders and decision-makers, acting as a trusted advisor on complex, high-risk security decisions.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to clearly explain security strategy, architecture and risk to both technical and non-technical audiences, including at senior levels.
• Deep and current understanding of security technology, attack paths, defensive controls and the security implications of digital transformation.
• Willingness to be assessed against the requirements for SC clearance.

We welcome the unique contribution diverse applicants bring and do not discriminate based on culture, ethnicity, race, nationality or national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability status, sexual orientation, educational or social background or any other factor. Our values are Purpose, Humanity Openness and Together.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found.