As a leading UK life and pensions mutual insurer with a proud history dating back to 1843, we exist to help people live financially confident lives – protecting their income while they work and maximising it when they stop. Today, over one million members and customers trust us to look after their futures, families and finances.
Joining us means becoming part of a team that puts our members, customers and advisers at the heart of everything we do.
We’re committed to creating an inclusive culture where colleagues can thrive. We are proud to have built a workplace where our colleagues feel welcomed, respected, supported and valued – reflected in our recognition as one of the Financial Times UK’s Best Employers in 2025 and 2026.
We celebrate individuality and believe our differences make us stronger, so bring your true self and help shape the future of LV=.
We’re seeking a proactive, technical Principal Consultant/Security Architect for a 9-month contract to support business change. You’ll help teams understand and embed effective cyber security into design and delivery.
You will collaborate with project teams, architects, engineers and governance forums to define requirements, guide implementation and ensure decisions and evidence are captured through to go-live.
The role follows a hybrid working pattern, with attendance required at our Bournemouth office or other LV= locations.
Key Responsibilities
- Support business change initiatives, ensuring security requirements are considered early and throughout design, delivery, testing and deployment.
- Contribute to governance forums (Risk Forum, Architecture Board, Technical Design Authority), translating controls into practical requirements.
- Review technology changes, including AI solutions where relevant, against risk and control expectations.
- Clearly communicate security and technology risks, controls, design and decisions to stakeholders.
- Assist project teams to document requirements, decisions, exceptions and evidence to an audit-ready standard.
- Provide security input into architecture (HLDs, LLDs) and implementation guidance.
- Define and support security testing and resolution of findings pre go-live.
- Support service readiness and secure integration with existing services and target platforms (identity, access, encryption, logging, APIs).
- Share insights to continuously improve security standards and guidance.
- Provide pragmatic security advice to enable delivery at pace while maintaining controls.
What You’ll Bring
- Experience embedding security into projects with diverse stakeholders
- Clear, practical communication style
- Ability to translate policies into actionable requirements and evidence
- Pragmatic approach balancing risk, regulation and delivery goals
- Understanding of governance forums (e.g. LAB, TDA)
- Continuous improvement mindset and strong documentation skills
About You
- Comfortable working in structured, regulated environments
- Experience with modern technology and security controls (including AI where relevant)
- Familiar with frameworks (e.g. NIST) or regulated sectors such as financial services
- Confident engaging senior stakeholders and contributing to governance forums
Technical Expertise
- Strong cloud and application security across modern architectures (APIs, microservices, identity, encryption)
- Secure SDLC knowledge (OWASP-aligned)
- Experience across on-prem, cloud and hybrid environments
Qualifications (desirable)
- Certifications (e.g. CISSP, CISM, ISSAP, SABSA) are beneficial, or equivalent experience
Rewards & Benefits
This role is a Band C in the LV= Structure.
At LV= Savings and Retirement, you’ll go above and beyond to do the right thing for our customers. We’ll reward your hard work with an attractive, competitive salary and benefits package, which includes:
•30 days' holiday, with the option to buy up to 5 additional days
•Competitive pension scheme - LV= Life and Pensions will double-match the amount you pay, up to 14% (subject to National Minimum Wage requirements)
•An annual bonus scheme based on personal performance
•Single-cover private medical insurance (with the option for you to upgrade to family cover)
•Flexible benefits, including a cycle to work scheme, personal accident insurance, critical illness cover and dental insurance
•Up to 20% discount on our life products for you and your immediate family
•A group life assurance policy with 4 x your basic pay to go to your dependents (you’ll have the option to increase to 8 x cover)
•Group Income Protection (if you become a member of the Pension scheme and reach 5 years of service)
•Access to our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for support when you need it
•A virtual GP service
•Shared parental leave
Please note all salary sacrifice benefits are subject to National Minimum Wage requirements i.e. you are unable to select any benefits that would reduce your base pay below the minimum wage threshold.
We’re proud of our inclusive culture at LV= and, as an equal-opportunity employer, we continually work to remove unconscious bias from our recruitment process. We value our colleagues for what they bring to our team regardless of any protected status or characteristics they may have. Talk to us about flexible working as part of your application; if it’s right for you, our members and customers, and our business, then we’ll do everything we can to make it happen.
Please note that we are unable to offer Skilled Worker Visa Sponsorship for this role. Therefore, you must ensure that you are eligible to work in the UK without our sponsorship in order for your application to be considered.
Go on, bring your true self to LV=.
