Stage 1: Application
Your application will consist of three parts:
1. A Personal Details application form.
2. Employment history - for each employment this should specify your position or role within the organisation, dates held, and any relevant qualifications.
3. Personal statement - up to 1250 words. Use your personal statement to provide examples of how you meet the experience essential criteria below:
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Expert Security Architecture Design & Modelling: Proven ability to lead the design of secure, scalable architectures using recognised modelling techniques, tools and standards. You consistently embed security controls from the outset and produce clear, high-quality architecture artefacts that support governance and delivery.
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Strong Application & Cloud Security Expertise: Deep understanding of securing modern applications and cloud-native environments, including hands-on knowledge of platforms and tooling such as Docker, Kubernetes, Istio, and CI/CD pipelines (e.g. Jenkins, GitLab), alongside cloud posture management and vulnerability assessment.
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Enterprise-Scale Architecture Experience: Demonstrable experience operating as a Security Architect within a complex, large-scale, national or multinational organisation. You are confident working across enterprise architectures, aligning solutions with strategic roadmaps and Digital Blueprint standards.
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Advanced Network & Infrastructure Security Knowledge: Strong knowledge of network protocols (e.g. TCP/IP, BGP, OSPF) and their secure implementation, with experience securing infrastructure components including firewalls, load balancers, routers, and switches within highly available environments.
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Threat Analysis, Risk Management & Cryptography Expertise: Ability to identify, assess and mitigate sophisticated cyber threats using tools such as SIEM, IDS/IPS, and endpoint detection platforms. Strong understanding of risk assessment practices, encryption and cryptographic standards (e.g. TLS, IPsec, PKI, VPNs) to protect data in transit and at rest.
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Identity, Access Management & Security Leadership: Deep knowledge of authentication and authorisation protocols (e.g. OAuth2, OIDC, SAML, JWT) and their application in identity and trust platforms. Proven ability to communicate security solutions, influence stakeholders, and build capability through collaboration, mentoring and leadership within architecture communities.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Ensure that all examples provided in your statement are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. If you choose to use gen-AI to support your statement, you must follow the guidelines outlined in the Artificial intelligence and recruitment guide.
The sift panel will use the information in your employment history, personal statement and technical statement to assess your experience, skills and knowledge.
If you do progress to a full sift, you will be provided with one combined overall assessment score for both your employment history and Personal Statement.
For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital.
Applications will be sifted at regular intervals from the date the posts are advertised. Please apply as soon as you can, do not wait until the end of the campaign.
Important Information
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You will be asked to complete your employment history. Any information that you would customarily share on a CV should therefore be entered onto the application form.
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Personal details that could be used to identify you including your name, contact details and address must be removed for your application to be considered.
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If your employment history/personal statement contains any personal details your application will be withdrawn.
Stage 2: Interview 1
If you're successful at sift stage you will be invited to a video interview via Microsoft Teams.
You will be asked to do a 10-minute presentation to further assess your experience and to assess the technical skill of Communication (Security Architect). There will be a further 10 minutes for questions.
"Architecture Communication (Expert)". Your presentation should focus on the following:
Present an example of a security architecture design that youve worked with external suppliers to define and deliver, explaining how you translated business requirements into secure technical solutions including your key decisions, applied architectural standards, patterns and modelling techniques, and worked with delivery teams through the full lifecycle.
The use of visual aids such as PowerPoint is allowed.
Stage 3: Interview 2
If you are successful at Stage 2 (interview 1) you will be invited to a video interview via Microsoft Teams. There, you will be assessed against the following Behaviours and Technical Skills:
Behaviours:
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Communicating and Influencing
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Leadership
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Working Together
Technical Skills:
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Analysis (Practitioner)
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Designing secure systems (Practitioner)
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Enabling and informing risk-based decisions (Practitioner)
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Security technology (Expert)
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Understanding security implications of transformation (Practitioner)
Interviews will take place from late June 2026. Sift and Interview dates to be confirmed.
Further Information
Find out more about Working for DWP
A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.
Reserve list candidates will be posted in merit order by location.
The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. Applications will be screened and if evidence of plagiarism or copying examples/answers from other sources is found, your application will be withdrawn. Internal DWP candidates may also face disciplinary action.
Security Clearance Requirement
You must meet the security requirements before you can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check.
For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.
You must have resided continuously in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years, 2 of which must have been the immediately preceding years from the point of applying for this job.
Reasonable Adjustment
At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce.
We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact Government Recruitment Service via [email protected] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
Complete the Reasonable Adjustments section in the Additional requirements page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if youre deaf, a Language Service Professional.
For further information on reasonable adjustments, terms and conditions and how we recruit visit the How We Recruit, page
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
