GCHQ looking for a CISO, chief data scientist and deputy CTO

Spy agency announces a spate of new technology leadership roles, with post-holders earning up to £90,000

GCHQ, the UK's intelligence agency, is on the hunt for several new IT leaders to join its senior technology leadership team.

The organisation has announced a spate of new technology leadership posts, including a chief information security officer (CISO), a chief data scientist, a deputy CTO and a chief systems engineer.

The CISO will be accountable for providing assurance that the risks to all GCHQ's IT and electronic-based systems are effectively managed. He or she will report directly to the deputy senior information risk owner, and through to the senior information risk owner.

According to the job advert, the CISO will "need to understand both the business imperatives as well as having a good appreciation of the vulnerabilities inherent in the technologies used across the department".

"They will need to be able to translate between the technical and information risk view (and language); ensuring that key decision makers are fully aware of the implications of any business decisions they need to make," the ad states.

GCHQ says that the CISO will work closely with the departmental security officer, who is responsible for personnel and physical security. The successful candidate will also need to work with colleagues from across the community in order to ensure GCHQ's information is properly protected.

Meanwhile, the chief data scientist will be responsible for ensuring GCHQ extracts the maximum benefit from the data it holds. He or she will help to develop data science skills within GCHQ and improve the way the organisation uses business intelligence to run its business.

As part of the job, the post-holder will ensure that GCHQ has the right number of data models to allow GCHQ data to be understood and used in an agile way.

The deputy CTO will be accountable for GCHQ's technology strategy, technical architecture and engineering tradecraft. The deputy CTO will be technically credible, GCHQ says, and will maintain at least 20 per cent of their time doing hands-on technical work.

And finally, the chief systems engineer will be responsible for GCHQ's current and future systems engineering capabilities. They will be expected to take an active role in the delivery of some of the more complex and demanding systems engineering problems, GCHQ says.

GCHQ adds that the post requires a high level of skill in the systems engineering discipline and experience of problem solving and leadership at an enterprise level. The post will include line management of the systems engineering leadership community, the job ad states.

All four roles are for a fixed-term of three years, and are offering a salary of between £65,000 and £90,000. The closing date for all applications is 14 February.

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