Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Assistant Private Secretary to the Government Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
Get notified of more jobs like this · No spam, ever
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Edinburgh, London, Manchester
Job Summary
At DSIT we’re all about improving people’s lives by maximising the potential of science & technology.
- We accelerate innovation, investment and productivity through world-class science, research and development.
- We use technology for good by ensuring new and existing technologies are safely developed and deployed across the UK, with the benefits more widely shared.
- We are driving forward a modern digital government which gives citizens a more satisfying experience and their time back.
We do all this to enable the Government’s 5 national missions: kickstarting economic growth, making Britain a clean energy superpower, taking back our streets, breaking down barriers to opportunity and building an NHS fit for the future.
Above all, we focus on improving people’s lives. Whether it’s researching new treatments for disease, developing better batteries, reducing burdens through better public services, keeping children safe online, and much more, outcomes for citizens are at the heart of what we do.
Our Inclusive Environment
- We offer flexible working benefits, employee well-being support and a great pension.
- We are enormously proud to be a Disability Confident Leader employer.
- We support candidates with adjustments throughout our recruitment process.
Information about disability confidence and just some examples of the adjustments that you can request can be found in the reasonable adjustment section below.
Please note
Former DSIT recruitment campaigns are continuing as usual, but candidates should be aware that following the Government’s announcement on the changes to some civil service departments, roles will be subject to the machinery of government moves and will ultimately be in one of the new departments. We will provide more information if you are selected for a role. This work remains of high importance to the civil service, and we thank you for your continued interest.
Job Description
The Government Cyber Unit's mission is to protect public services from cyber threats and digital resilience failures. We are working to achieve a step change in our cyber and digital resilience across government, through delivery of the Government Cyber Action Plan, and working closely with departments and national technical authorities including the National Cyber Security Centre to deliver. This is a challenging time to be working in cyber security and digital resilience, but we have an incredible opportunity to make a difference to people’s lives and promote national security by protecting the public services and national infrastructure they rely on. We work at the forefront of shaping the UK’s national response to emerging cyber and technology issues - from the increasingly complex range of state-sponsored cyber-attacks and supply chain compromises, through to the transformational benefits and security challenges of frontier AI and quantum computing.
This role is an exciting opportunity to work at the centre of the Government Cyber Unit. As the Assistant Private Secretary to the Government CISO you will work with the policy leads, Executive Assistants, Private Secretary and Chief of Staff to provide high-quality support to the leadership. You will have ownership of key responsibilities including the management of the Government CISO’s briefings as well as working collaboratively with colleagues to deliver our combined objectives. You will help manage the time and briefings for the Government CISO and the Directorate’s Senior Leadership Team, and be privy to key areas such as how we shape cyber policy, deliver the Government Cyber Action Plan and respond to cyber attacks.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Person specification
Cyber Private Office is a busy team so you will be exposed to a broad portfolio of work. We work to improve processes and ways of working across PO.
As APS you will be responsible for (but not limited to):
- Overseeing the diary and schedule of the Government CISO to ensure most effective use of their time.
- Compiling briefing and information packs for the Government CISO to ensure they are well-informed of their engagements and movements.
- Alongside the other members of PO, be the front door to the Government CISO – providing support in organising the Government CISO’s attendance at key events and regular meetings with stakeholders
- Manage Government CISO-led external engagements and events; supporting logistics and administration to ensure a seamless experience
- Leading and line managing a team of four Executive Assistants to provide effective time management and coordination support to their Deputy Directors
- Continuously improving the processes of the Cyber Private Office to coordinate and support the directorate; responding effectively to change.
- Supporting the Private Secretary in providing the Government CISO with cross cutting policy advice.
As a line manager, you will be responsible for working with your members of staff to define their objectives, as well as managing their development and performance.
The post holder may be required to support out-of-hours on-call rotas for responding to cyber and digital resilience incidents, for which remuneration and/or flexible working arrangements will be available.
Essential Criteria
We welcome applications from anyone with Private Office or transferable skills and experience. Please do not rule yourself out if you have not worked in Cyber or Private Office before: passion to learn, adapt and work well at pace as a team under pressure is more important. The following are also beneficial:
- Strong organisational and time management skills
- Strong communication skills with an ability to build and maintain working relationships
- Task/line management experience
- Sound judgement and initiative - i.e. taking the lead on improving process and/or ways of working
- Motivation to help and support colleagues, work through problems and be flexible to changing priorities/requirements
- Interest in working with/in Cyber and motivation to develop your skills and knowledge of our department areas
- Good IT skills and/or a motivation to learn new IT skills
Desirable Criteria
Working with and/or in a Private Office and task/line management experience will be an advantage but are not essential
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Leadership
- Delivering at Pace
- Communicating and Influencing
- Making Effective Decisions
Alongside your salary of £36,735, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes £10,642 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology offers a competitive mix of benefits including:
- A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
- Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
- A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
- An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
- Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.
- A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a norm of 40-60% of their time in the office (minimum of 40%) over a month with flex dependent on balancing business and individual need.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
Office attendance
The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.
Artificial intelligence
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 see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.
As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and Behaviour statements. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Applications will be sifted on behavioural statements.
Please note - the CV incorporated into the application form is for information purposes only and will not be scored.
In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the lead behaviour statement (Leadership) only. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.
The interview will consist of behaviour and strength-based questions.
Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.
Further Information
Former DSIT recruitment campaigns are continuing as usual, but candidates should be aware that following the Government’s announcement on the changes to some civil service departments, roles will be subject to the machinery of government moves and will ultimately be in one of the new departments. We will provide more information if you are selected for a role. This work remains of high importance to the civil service, and we thank you for your continued interest.
Reasonable Adjustment
We are proud to be a disability confident leader and we welcome applications from disabled candidates and candidates with long-term conditions.
Information about the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) and some examples of adjustments that we offer to disabled candidates and candidates with long-term health conditions during our recruitment process can be found in our DSIT Candidate Guidance. A DSIT Plain Text Version of the guidance is also available.
We encourage candidates to discuss their adjustment needs by emailing the job contact which can be found under the contact point for applicants section.
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.
New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.
A location based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Location