Job: Head of Security Engineering in London

Job Description

Head of Security Engineering | Health Data & Life Sciences | London (Hybrid)

The opportunity

A well-funded, data-driven life sciences organisation is hiring a senior engineering leader to own its security engineering function. This is a player-coach role: you’ll set the direction for security platforms and automation, and stay close enough to the work to build alongside your team.

The organisation runs a modern, cloud-first estate and handles large volumes of sensitive data. Your job is to make sure the security tooling underneath it is dependable, scalable and built as code.

Your remit

• Lead and grow a team of security engineers, setting priorities and managing the delivery backlog


• Drive an automation-first culture, with Infrastructure as Code, policy-as-code and CI/CD as the default


• Stay hands-on in design and delivery of key security solutions


• Keep core security platforms reliable, secure and fit for purpose


• Connect security tools and workflows into a coherent, integrated whole


• Build self-service capabilities that make secure choices easy for engineering teams


• Use threat intelligence, risk insight and service metrics to decide what to improve next


• Advise senior leaders on technology direction and investment


• Support compliance activity, including ISO 27001

Your Profile:

• A security engineering leader with a strong technical background and a record of developing engineers


• Deep experience securing cloud-native environments, ideally Azure


• Strong Terraform and Infrastructure as Code skills, plus CI/CD and secure development practice


• Solid grounding in IAM, vulnerability management and defensive security controls


• Experience building and running security platforms, and working in Agile, product-led teams


• Clear communication with both technical and non-technical stakeholders

Helpful extras

• Microsoft security stack experience (Defender, Sentinel, Entra)


• Secure-by-design and security architecture knowledge


• Regulated-sector experience


• Certifications such as CISSP, CCSP, GIAC or an Azure security qualification

Package

• Salary of £110,000+, depending on experience


• Strong pension contribution


• Generous holiday allowance


• Family-friendly leave and wellbeing support


• A range of salary-sacrifice benefits


• Hybrid working with a London office


• An inclusive hiring process, with adjustments available on request