Security Assurance Lead - 7476

Job Title:

Security Assurance Lead

Salary: £54,800 - £73,250

Location:

Cambridge/ Hybrid with 2 days a week minimum in the office

Contract:

Permanent

Hours:

35 hours per week

Join our organisation as a Security Assurance Lead. Utilise your expertise and drive to safeguard operations in this impactful role.

We are Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a world-leading academic publisher and assessment organisation and a proud part of the University of Cambridge.

As Security Assurance Lead, you will play a key role in protecting Cambridge University Press & Assessment's information assets and strengthening our security posture. You will lead assurance activity across security testing, risk management, governance and compliance, working closely with technology, security and business teams to identify risks, improve controls and support secure ways of working.

This is a varied and influential role where you will help us understand and reduce our exposure to cyber threats, shape practical security guidance, and ensure assurance activities are embedded across our technology environment.

• Lead security assurance activity across areas such as attack surface management, vulnerability management, penetration testing and security posture improvement.
• Work with technology and security teams to identify, assess and remediate vulnerabilities across systems, applications, cloud services and infrastructure.
• Develop and maintain security policies, standards and guidance that support effective assurance testing and secure delivery.
• Support risk assessments, supplier security reviews and risk register management, ensuring risks are clearly understood, tracked and reported.
• Contribute to security governance, compliance activities and external assessments, including alignment with frameworks such as ISO 27001 and NIST.
• Use threat intelligence, testing outcomes and assurance data to help shape priorities, improve resilience and inform senior stakeholders.
• Support incident preparedness, including investigations and exercises that test our ability to respond effectively.
• Help shape our security strategy, monitor emerging threats and intelligence, identifying opportunities to strengthen our approach through security automation.

This position has been classified as a hybrid role, requiring the selected candidate to typically spend 40-60% of their time collaborating and connecting face-to-face at their dedicated location. Aside from our hybrid principles, other flexible working requests will be considered from the first day of employment, including other work arrangements should you require adjustments due to a disability or long-term health condition.

We are looking for someone with extensive knowledge of 5+ year experience in security testing and assurance and a strong understanding of information security principles, emerging threats, best practices, compliance frameworks and (e.g. ISO 27001, NIST) and risk management practices.

You should hold a degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience, with relevant professional qualifications including CISSP and accredited security testing.

You should have proven experience in developing and managing security risks and mitigations within medium to large organisations with strong experience in stakeholder management.

You should have excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to influence at all levels of the organisation, analytical skills to measure the effectiveness of vulnerability management plans, and be very self-motivated, proactive, and able to manage multiple projects simultaneously.

• Development and maintained a supply chain risk register within a similar sized organisation
• Have hands on experience of the use of various AI applications and tooling, including, for example, Microsoft CoPilot, Claude etc
• Have experience using and deploying Pen Testing and Vulnerability Management Tools such as Tenable within complex infrastructure
• Experience of reporting risks to senior leadership

We are a Disability Confident (DC) employer that is committed to equality and inclusion ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to all. The DC scheme's Offer of an Interview commitment applies to applicants who opt in, and disclose a disability or a long-term health condition, and best meet the minimum criteria for the role. In instances where interviewing all qualifying candidates is not practicable, we prioritise those who best meet the minimum criteria, as we would for applicants who do not have a disability or long-term health condition.

Cambridge University Press & Assessment is an approved UK employer for the sponsorship of eligible roles and applicants under the Skilled Worker visa route. Please refer to the  website for guidance to understand your own eligibility based on the role you are applying for.

We will support you to be at your best in work and to live well outside of it. In addition to competitive salaries, we offer a world-class, flexible…