Head of Cyber Resilience and Assurance in Hampshire, West End

Protect the vital systems that keep our borough running and build a safe, resilient digital future for our community. As our Head of Cyber Assurance, you'll lead on ensuring the cyber resilience of Kensington and Chelsea. It's a role with genuine, council-wide impact - a chance to look across the entire council, challenge how we manage risk and ensure the systems and data that support our local services remain secure.

What you'll be doing

Your focus will be making sure cyber risk is governed and managed effectively right across the Council, in line with public sector expectations. You'll act as a vital check and balance - while technical controls sit within the ICT team, your role is to assure those controls, evaluate our third-party supply chain and keep our overall risk posture secure. This means working closely with senior leaders, elected members and partners to provide clear, practical advice on governance, compliance and resilience arrangements. A typical day will involve balancing strategic oversight with real relationship management, meeting with audit, procurement and service leads to discuss emerging threats and control effectiveness. You'll also lead and support a small, dedicated Cyber Assurance team, driving a positive, organisation-wide security culture and making sure everyone understands their role in staying safe. Additionally, you will act as the lead adviser for major cyber incidents, ensuring our response and disaster recovery plans are robustly aligned and tested.

What you'll bring

You'll bring a strong understanding of cyber security assurance, with proven experience leading these efforts within a large, complex organisation. You hold a degree in Computer Science or Cybersecurity, or have comparable hands-on experience in the security field, alongside professional certificates such as CISSP or CISM. You're deeply familiar with National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) best practice, the Cyber Assessment Framework for local government and modern risk management processes. You also have a track record of managing third-party cyber assurance and know how to successfully influence senior leaders and suppliers to drive informed decision-making. You're an excellent communicator - someone who knows how to translate complex technical issues into clear, practical advice for non-technical audiences. Most importantly, you're someone who remains calm and credible under pressure, collaborative in your approach to embedding vigilance and deeply committed to integrity, public service values and equality.

Why join us

At RBKC, we're all in - investing in our people, our communities and our future. This is a role with huge strategic potential. Following our cyber-attack in November 2025, you'll be leading a critical piece of work with clear backing from senior leaders and excellent upward support. As part of a wider organisational ICT and security restructure, it's a chance to step into a space where your impact is highly valued and your leadership can drive genuine change. We will invest in your professional development, offering continuous learning and training to help you lead with confidence. You'll also receive a competitive salary and the support of a collaborative, dedicated team that takes pride in delivering safe, resilient services for our residents.

About us

Kensington and Chelsea is home to diverse communities, thriving businesses and unique local places. Everything we do is focused on supporting our residents, strengthening our approach and creating a fairer borough. As a competent and caring Council, we take pride in our work every day, ensuring our services are delivered with care and competence. We listen to our residents, act with integrity and work together to build a borough that is greener, safer and fairer for all. In this role, you'll be a vital protector - bringing a dedicated mindset to rebuilding and strengthening our security posture following our recent challenges. Navigating a shifting threat landscape and complex legacy systems means it won't always be smooth sailing, but your efforts will play a defining part in keeping our entire community safe and resilient.

Working Style:

You'll be based in the Borough for three days a week, playing a key role in serving the local community. Whether you're advising senior leaders or collaborating across departments, you'll be part of a dedicated team making a real difference to residents' lives.

Interview Details

Interviews will take place in person on 12th and 13th August 2026. Ready to join us? We're all in - are you? If you share our values and have the skills to contribute, we'd love to hear from you. Please apply online explaining how you meet the requirements set out in the person specification and job description. We reserve the right to extend or close this vacancy early without warning subject to the volume of suitable applicants. We are committed to promoting equality and respecting diversity and welcome applications from all sections of the community. We are a Disability Confident Employer - committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection process is inclusive and accessible. New hires will normally start at the minimum of the pay scale. However, a higher starting salary may be negotiated where a candidate demonstrates exceptional skills, knowledge, or experience. Employees receive annual salary increments until they reach the top of the pay scale, as well as any agreed cost of living pay awards.