Digital and Cyber Assurance Partner in Dorchester

This role offers an opportunity to help ensure digital services are secure, compliant, and resilient across the cluster Integrated Care Board (ICB). As Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire, Dorset and Somerset ICBs come together to form a single organisation, you will lead the development of governance frameworks, cyber security risk and digital assurance arrangements that enable safe digital transformation.

Working closely with colleagues across the cluster and wider Integrated Care Systems (ICS), you will provide expert advice on cyber security, digital risk and regulatory compliance, supporting informed decision-making and effective risk management. The role is central to promoting best practice, building organisational awareness, and embedding secure-by-design principles across digital services.

You will help ensure new technologies and digital transformation programmes align with organisational and regulatory requirements, including the Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) and Cyber Essentials Plus, while strengthening confidence in the organisation's digital and cyber resilience.

Main duties of the job:

• As the Digital & Cyber Assurance Partner, you will help shape a safe, secure and resilient digital environment across the organisation and wider health and care system.
• You will work with a diverse range of stakeholders to provide assurance, challenge, and expert advice, ensuring digital initiatives are delivered with appropriate consideration of risk, governance, and organisational priorities.
• The role acts as a bridge between technical teams, governance functions, programme delivery teams, and external partners, helping the organisation make informed decisions about digital risk and assurance.
• You will be responsible for influencing the development of a strong risk-aware culture that enables innovation.
• Providing independent assurance and constructive challenge to programmes, projects and operational teams.
• You will also offer subject matter expertise, coaching, and guidance to colleagues to strengthen governance and assurance capability across the organisation.
• You will build effective relationships with stakeholders to support a consistent and collaborative approach to governance and assurance across the health and care system.
• The postholder will strengthen organisational resilience by helping services anticipate, prepare for, and respond to digital and cyber-related threats and disruptions.

About us:

Under the Model ICB Blueprint and the 10 Year Health Plan, ICBs will adopt a more strategic commissioning role, focusing on population needs, reducing inequalities, and delivering the three shifts as defined in the 10 year health plan, all while operating within strict financial limits.

The new organisation will operate on a larger scale with a revised vision and purpose, managing a commissioning budget of around 8 billion. Our role as a strategic commissioner is to transform our local NHS through exceptional commissioning and build an innovative health system fit for the 21st century that truly meets our communities' needs.

Informed by high quality data and insights, we will radically re-imagine how we operate, making sure that every pound in our system delivers the best possible value for everyone we serve.

We will encourage and support our people to grow and develop new skills and embrace new agile ways of working. Everyone is encouraged to contribute ideas, seek feedback, and take part in creating a listening and learning culture where insight leads to improvement.

We will work as a team of teams, collaborating across services and professions to deliver the best outcomes for our communities. You will be encouraged, and expected to model inclusive behaviours, valuing diverse perspectives and helping to create a workplace where everyone feels respected, supported, and able to thrive.

Details:

• Date posted: 19 August 2026
• Pay scheme: Agenda for change
• Band: Band 7
• Salary: 49,387 to 56,515 a year
• Contract: Permanent
• Working pattern: Full-time, Flexible working
• Reference number: D
• Job locations: NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board, NHS Dorset - County Hall, Colliton Park, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1XJ, United Kingdom; NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board, Wynford House, Yeovil, Somerset, BA22 8HR, United Kingdom; NHS Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon, and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board, Jenner House, Avon Way, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 1GG, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities:

The Digital & Cyber Assurance Partner is responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining governance, assurance, and risk management frameworks that ensure digital, cyber, and data environments across the ICB and wider ICS are safe, secure, compliant, and resilient. The post holder will act as a subject matter expert in both digital governance and cyber assurance, embedding a privacy-first and security-by-design culture. The role supports safe digital transformation, ensuring compliance with cyber security standards, data protection requirements, clinical safety principles, and national NHS policies.

The role works closely with DDaT teams, IT Infrastructure & Cyber Operations, Information Governance (IG), Clinical Safety Officers, programme teams, suppliers, ICS partners, and national bodies to ensure digital services are delivered safely, securely, and in alignment with regulatory and organisational standards.

Person Specification:

Qualifications:

• Degree-level education or equivalent experience in cyber security, information security, IT, or related field.
• Evidence of continued professional development.
• Demonstrated experience of co-ordinating projects in complex and challenging environments.
• Understanding of the public sector.
• Demonstrated experience in a Healthcare environment.
• Comprehensive knowledge of project principles, techniques and tools, such as Prince 2 Foundation and Microsoft Project.
• Working towards or willingness to obtain security/privacy certifications (e.g., CISM, CISSP, CIPP).

Skills, abilities and Knowledge:

• Ability to prepare and produce concise yet insightful communications for dissemination to senior stakeholders and a broad range of stakeholders as required.
• Ability to analyse very complex issues where material is conflicting and drawn from multiple sources.
• Demonstrated capability to act upon incomplete information, using experience to make inferences and decision making.
• Numerate and able to understand complex financial issues combined with deep analytical skills.
• Knowledge of Financial Systems e.g. monitoring budget management, processing invoices and procurement.
• Demonstrated capability to plan over short, medium and long-term timeframes and adjust plans and resource requirements accordingly.
• Demonstrated capabilities to manage own workload and make informed decisions in the absence of required information, working to tight and often changing timescales.

Experience:

• Significant experience of successfully operating in a politically sensitive environment.
• Experience of creating and giving presentations to a varied group of internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience of setting up and implementing internal processes and procedures.
• Experience of managing a team without direct line management.
• Experience of managing risks and reporting.
• Experience of drafting briefing papers and correspondence at SMT level.
• Experience of monitoring budgets and business planning processes.

Certificate of Sponsorship:

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications.

For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement.

Employer details:

Employer name: NHS Dorset

Address: NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board, NHS Dorset - County Hall, Colliton Park, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1XJ, United Kingdom