Security Consultant in Newcastle upon Tyne

We are seeking a hands‐on Security Consultant who can combine deep technical delivery capability with strong client‐facing consulting skills. The ideal candidate will be comfortable assessing, designing, improving and governing security controls across cloud environments, applications, APIs, infrastructure and enterprise security domains. This role requires someone who can challenge customer security assumptions, influence stakeholders, and lead difficult but constructive conversations to drive secure outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Assess current‐state security maturity, identify control gaps, and define pragmatic remediation roadmaps aligned to business priorities.
• Lead and support security architecture reviews across cloud, applications, infrastructure, IAM, data protection and detection/response domains.
• Provide expert consulting to customers on security strategy, risk reduction, control design, and security operating model improvements.
• Challenge weak security assumptions with confidence, using evidence‐based recommendations and clear communication with technical and non‐technical stakeholders.
• Design and review secure cloud landing zones, network segmentation, identity models, logging/monitoring patterns, and guardrails.
• Partner with engineering, platform, DevOps and operations teams to embed security into delivery pipelines and infrastructure as code practices.
• Support threat detection, incident response readiness, use‐case tuning, and post‐incident improvement activities.
• Contribute to security standards, policies, patterns, reusable accelerators, and client‐facing deliverables including assessments, risk registers and executive summaries.

Required Skills

• Cloud Security (preferably AWS): Hands‐on experience securing cloud environments, preferably AWS, including core services, networking, identity, logging, encryption and security monitoring.
• Application / API Security: Experience identifying and mitigating application and API security risks across the software delivery lifecycle.
• SIEM Experience: Hands‐on experience with SIEM platforms for log onboarding, correlation rule creation, alert triage, dashboarding and use‐case tuning.
• Organisation / General Security: Broad understanding of enterprise security domains including policy, governance, risk, compliance, awareness, third‐party risk and operational security.
• Identity & Access Management (IAM): Hands‐on experience with identity and access management principles including RBAC, least privilege, privileged access, federation/SSO, MFA and access governance.
• Data Protection: Experience implementing or advising on data classification, encryption, key management, secrets handling, tokenisation/masking, backup security and data lifecycle protection.
• Infrastructure Security: Experience securing operating systems, virtual machines, containers/Kubernetes, networks and platform services using hardening, segmentation, vulnerability management and secure configuration practices.
• Threat Detection & Incident Response: Experience in threat detection engineering, incident triage, investigation support, response coordination and lessons‐learned improvement activities.
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Hands‐on experience with infrastructure as code and automation, including reviewing templates/modules for security risks and embedding policy/compliance checks into delivery pipelines.
• Strong Consulting Skills: Strong consulting and stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to challenge customer assumptions and lead difficult security conversations when needed.

Core Skills & Competencies

• Cloud security architecture and control design
• Security assessments, gap analysis and remediation planning
• Stakeholder engagement and client advisory
• Security architecture documentation and reporting
• Risk‐based decision making and prioritisation
• Cross‐functional collaboration with engineering, operations and leadership teams
• Strong analytical, investigative and problem‐solving capability

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in consulting, professional services, or customer‐facing transformation programmes.
• Relevant certifications in cloud, security, architecture or incident response are advantageous.
• Exposure to regulated environments and security frameworks is beneficial.
• Experience with DevSecOps, CI/CD security integration and security automation is desirable.

Benefits

• Share in our success with a Quarterly Performance‐Related Profit Share Scheme.
• Strong career progression & mentorship coaching through our Strength in Balance & Leadership schemes with a dedicated quarterly Pathways Career Development programme.
• Flexible/remote working and life‐events‐friendly flexibility.
• Financial wellbeing initiatives – Pension, private healthcare cover, life assurance, financial advice and an employee discount scheme.
• Employee wellbeing schemes – gym discounts, bike to work, fitness classes, mindfulness workshops, Employee Assistance Programme and holiday allowance.
• Enhanced maternity/paternity leave, marriage/civil partnership leave and special leave policies.
• Educational assistance, incentivised certifications and accreditations including AWS, Microsoft, Oracle and Red Hat.
• Reward schemes including Annual Excellence Awards & "Call-Out" platform.
• Environment, Social and Community First initiatives allowing local fundraising and development involvement.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Version 1 is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive and respectful workplace where everyone feels valued and able to thrive. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, identities and lived experiences, and we value the different perspectives people bring including those shaped by disability and neurodiversity. We want every candidate to have a positive and accessible recruitment experience. If you need reasonable adjustments at any stage of the process, please contact your recruiter at Version 1. We will consider all requests carefully, respectfully and confidentially.