As the living, growing home of our national story, The National Archives is already a special place to work. We’re an institution nearly 200 years old with a collection spanning 1,000 years of history. But it’s where we go next that makes things really interesting .
In our strategic vision: Archives for Everyone, we set ourselves the challenge of becoming the 21st Century national archive - a different kind of cultural and heritage institution: Inclusive, Entrepreneurial, Disruptive. We won’t become this overnight. It will take time, focus, effort and daring.
That’s where you come in. Because we can’t do this without you.
Job Overview
Salary: £44,000 - £47,500 per annum
Contract type: Permanent
Band: F / Senior Executive Officer
Closing date: Wednesday 1st July 2026 at midnight
We are looking for a Cyber Security Officer to join our Technology Strategy team at The National Archives.
This is an exciting opportunity for a skilled cybersecurity professional to shape and strengthen our security posture, ensure ongoing accreditation, and help embed best practice across the organisation. This is a pivotal role in protecting our digital assets, information systems and cloud environments from ongoing and evolving cyber threats.
In this role, you will act as a subject matter expert, helping to identify vulnerabilities across our networks, platforms and hardware, and guiding the organisation on how best to remediate them. You will oversee our compliance with key security frameworks, including ISO27001, Cyber Essentials Plus, GovAssure and the emerging ISO/IEC 42001 and 42005 standards for AI governance. You will ensure systems at The National Archives are assessed, secure, well governed and aligned with best practice.
Delivery of this role will involve close collaboration with colleagues across the organisation, helping to embed strong security practices into everyday operations. You will develop and maintain incident response plans, monitor compliance alerts such as those from our ERP Smart Audit , and work with external assessors and auditors to ensure we meet industry and government standards. A key part of your role will be helping to build a security culture by raising awareness and building capability across the organisation by delivering training and guidance on cybersecurity and safe digital practices.
Reporting to the IT Security and Information Assurance manager you will own the delivery of accreditation, of cybersecurity awareness and the delivery of security policies across The National Archives. You will work closely with third parties and assessors to conduct regular security audits to ensure compliance with industry standards and regulations.
This role is likely to appeal to a proactive and collaborative cyber security professional who enjoys combining technical expertise with influencing and enabling others. If you are motivated by making a visible impact, thrive in a complex environment, and want to help shape security culture as well as controls, this is an excellent opportunity to apply your skills in a meaningful organisation with a unique digital mission.
A combination of onsite and home working is available and applicants should be able to regularly travel to our Kew site for a minimum of 60% of their work time.
SC clearance/willingness to obtain SC clearance will be required for this role. This requires candidates to have been resident in the UK for at least the past three years. Please do not apply if you have been resident in the UK for less than three years as your application will be rejected
We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.
Application Process
Interviews: Interviews will be on site at The National Archives in Kew. Part of the interview will require you to deliver a 5 minute presentation on how you would train new starters in a key element of information security. Further details and instructions will be provided in the interview invitation.
Please submit your work history and a supporting statement. The information you provide must evidence how you meet all the essential criteria listed below and should include:
- Roles where you have worked with infrastructure operations, support or delivery
- Include the technologies and environments you have worked with (e.g. cloud, networking, Microsoft platforms, enterprise systems)
- Show the scale and complexity of the environments you have supported
- Identify any experience of:
o Incident and problem management
o Leading or implementing infrastructure change
o Improving reliability, performance or security
Essential Criteria:
- Strong knowledge and understanding of cyber security frameworks and standards (including good cyber practices, especially in the UK Government / Public sector
- Demonstrable experience of working in a cyber security role preferably within a government or large organization.
- Ability to work under pressure, prioritise and manage your workload
- Excellent problem-solving skills for routine and complex problems and attention to detail.
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to deliver training to a wide audience
Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please visit the Civil Service Careers website where you can find further information on the use of AI in the application guidance section.
Sponsorship: We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.
Job Description
Roles and Responsibilities:
- Identify and assess security risks across network systems, cloud platforms, software, and hardware and advise on their remediation.
- Remain aware of, and monitor cybersecurity measures (including ISO27001, Cyber Essentials Plus, GovAssure and ISO42001 / 42005) to protect against unauthorized access, data breaches, use of AI and other cyber threats.
- Monitoring of the ERP Smart Audit for compliance alerts and any issues which can then be highlighted to the product owners accordingly
- Work with third party providers and assessors to conduct regular security audits and assessments to ensure compliance with industry standards and regulations.
- Collaborate across The National Archives to assure incident response plans and procedures are up to date and robust, tested and uniformed with alignment across the organisation.
- Collaborate across The National Archives to ensure robust security practices are integrated into all aspects of the organisation’s work.
- Provide training and awareness programs to staff on cybersecurity best practices.
- Stay updated with the latest cybersecurity trends, threats, intelligence and technologies.
- Provide backup to the Cyber and Information Management team including the Cyber Security Engineer
- Normal office environment
- A combination of onsite and home working is available. Applicants must be able to work from our Kew site at least 60% of their time, possibly more when new to the role
Person Specification
Essential
- Strong knowledge and understanding of cyber security frameworks and standards (including and good cyber practices, especially in the UK Government / Public sector
- Demonstrable experience of working in a cyber security role preferably within a government or large organization.
- Ability to work under pressure, prioritise and manage your workload
- Excellent problem-solving skills for routine and complex problems and attention to detail.
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to deliver training to a wide audience.
Desirable
- Professional certifications such as CISSP, CISM, ComptTIA Security+, CEH, OSCP, CISA, CCSP or equivalent.
- Degree or equivalent in Cybersecurity or another relevant subject.
SC clearance is required for this role. This requires candidates to have been resident in the UK for at least the past three years.
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is
found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service
D&I Strategy .
Benefits
Generous benefits package, including pension, sports and social club facilities, onsite gym, discounted rates at our on-site cafe and opportunities for training and development. Annual leave entitlement of 22 days per calendar year (rising to 25 after the first year, and incrementally to 30 days after six years) and 10½ days public and privilege holidays per annum.
Any move to The National Archives from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/ ( opens in new window)
Reasonable adjustments
If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
Contact The National Archives via [email protected] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs
Complete the ‘Reasonable Adjustments’ section 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 you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.
People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks (opens in new window)
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
UK nationals
nationals of the Republic of Ireland
nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in new window)
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles . (opens in new window)
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative . (opens in new window)
Contact point for applicants:
Further information
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact The National Archives via email: [email protected] If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/recruitment-complaints/ (opens in new window)
