Security Operations Analyst in Milton Keynes

Salary: £55,000–£65,000 per annum + £5,000 on-call allowance + benefits

Location: Milton Keynes (Hybrid – 2 days per week in the office)

About the Opportunity

We're recruiting a Security Operations Analyst to join the Information Security function of an established not-for-profit organisation operating within the UK insurance sector.

This is not a traditional SOC Analyst position focused solely on monitoring and responding to alerts. The role offers a broader mix of hands-on security operations, incident investigation, threat detection, vulnerability management and security improvement activities.

You'll join a collaborative security function, working alongside Security Engineering, Architecture and Governance, Risk & Compliance teams to help protect a predominantly Microsoft Azure-based environment. Approximately 30–40% of the role involves security monitoring, with the remainder focused on investigating threats, improving detection capabilities, reviewing security controls and supporting technical security initiatives.

It's an opportunity for someone with a solid foundation in security operations who wants greater exposure to engineering, detection improvement and the ongoing development of enterprise security capabilities.

What You'll Be Doing

• Monitor, investigate and respond to security alerts, incidents and potential threats.
• Work with internal security teams to investigate incidents, identify root causes, contain threats and coordinate remediation.
• Use SIEM, EDR/XDR and other security technologies to identify suspicious activity and assess potential security risks.
• Review existing detection capabilities, identify gaps and contribute to improvements in security monitoring and alerting.
• Support threat intelligence activities, vulnerability scanning and the assessment of emerging threats.
• Work alongside Security Engineering colleagues to improve security controls, tooling configurations and defensive capabilities.
• Contribute to threat hunting, detection engineering and security automation initiatives where appropriate.
• Review security baselines and support improvements across cloud, endpoint, network and email security.
• Collaborate with GRC, Infrastructure and other technical teams to support risk reduction and vulnerability remediation.
• Maintain incident documentation, operational procedures and security reporting.
• Participate in an on-call rota, supporting the response to incidents escalated by the external SOC outside normal working hours.

The organisation operates a predominantly Microsoft Azure-based environment, supported by a range of enterprise security technologies:

• Microsoft Sentinel
• Zscaler
• Proofpoint
• Check Point
• Tenable

Experience with these technologies would be beneficial, although candidates with relevant experience using comparable security platforms will also be considered.

What We're Looking For

We're interested in speaking with security professionals who have practical, hands-on experience in security operations, ideally within a reasonably complex organisational environment. You'll ideally bring:

• Experience investigating and responding to cyber security incidents.
• Hands-on experience using SIEM and EDR/XDR technologies.
• A good understanding of security monitoring, alert investigation, threat detection and incident response processes.
• Experience working with security tools across areas such as endpoint, cloud, network or email security.
• An understanding of vulnerabilities, threat intelligence and security risk.
• The ability to investigate technical security issues and work with other teams to resolve them.
• An interest in improving security controls and detection capabilities rather than focusing exclusively on alert monitoring.
• A collaborative approach and the ability to work across different technical security disciplines.
• Experience working within an internal Security Operations team or a managed security service provider could be relevant.
• Microsoft Sentinel and Defender XDR.
• Threat hunting and security automation.
• Vulnerability scanning and management.
• Azure security monitoring.
• Experience supporting security improvements within evolving or modernising technology environments.
• Exposure to AI-assisted security detection or defensive automation.

Working Arrangements

The role is based in Milton Keynes, with hybrid working requiring two days per week in the office.

You'll work within an internal Security Operations function, supported by an external SOC providing out-of-hours monitoring. The position includes participation in a shared on-call rota (4 on 4) with a £5,000 annual allowance.

Why Consider This Opportunity?

This position offers a balance of operational security responsibilities and involvement in improving an established security environment.

Rather than spending the majority of your time monitoring alerts, you'll have the opportunity to work across different security technologies, collaborate with dedicated engineering specialists and contribute to developing detection and response capabilities.

The organisation is also at an early stage of exploring further security automation and AI-assisted defensive capabilities, creating opportunities to contribute to future improvements.

If you enjoy hands-on security operations but want a role with broader technical variety, this could be an interesting next step.

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