Head of Physical & Personnel Security

We are looking for an enthusiastic, experienced, and qualified Head of Physical and Personnel Security, with strong leadership skills, excellent experience and knowledge with a drive to deliver a high-quality service.

You will be responsible for leading all Physical and Personnel Security matters within Companies House. Reporting to the Companies House Chief Security Officer you will ensure Companies House meets the UK Government Physical and Personnel Security standards for all three sites, our remote workers and our community of partners, staff, contractors, consultants, agency workers and contracted third parties.

We are looking for an excellent communicator who is comfortable motivating collaborative teams whilst being able engage, influence, and collaborate with both internal users and external suppliers to deliver successful outcomes for the organisation and our partners. Joining Companies House's wider security team during their transformation programme, you will be a subject matter expert in physical and personnel security standards and frameworks. You will have the ability to brief clearly and concisely to all audiences from the Executive Board to new day one professionals. You will be comfortable being the SRO for high value programmes of work, thriving on delivering positive change with a customer focus.

This is an exciting opportunity where you will be shaping how we provide a safe working environment for everyone in Companies House and help us to meet the wider Government Security Standards.

As part of your role: 

• You will lead all Physical and Personnel Security matter for Companies House. You will work with the appropriate teams and individuals from all areas up to executive level across the organisation and with wider Government leaders.
• You will be the Principle Subject Matter Expert (SME) within Companies House Physical and Personnel Security.
• You will provide the leadership and will have the communication skills to ensure Physical and Personnel Security is understood across the organisation and integrated into our culture, people, systems, and data.
• You will report to Companies House's Chief Security Officer and Executive Directors as required.
• You will work closely with HR, Estates, Digital and Technology, CDO and colleagues within the Companies House Security team to deliver compliance with the Government Functional Standards and other relevant Government policy.
• You will use your expertise to optimise and automate processes wherever possible utilising modern methods and technologies.
• You will coordinate internal and external resources as and when needed to investigate problems, implement solutions, and take preventative measures to ensure service continuity.
• You will work with the Commercial team to ensure that Physical and Personnel Security requirements are embedded in procurement processes as necessary and act as the escalation point for any required risk management.
• You will be the security principle responsible for providing Companies House with a safe working environment for our staff and those who work with us or use our sites.
• You will oversee the work of the Personnel Security Manager, supporting them to deliver the best service to Companies House staff.

About the Team: 

Companies House Security team are a holistic security function that cover Physical, Personnel, Cyber, Technical, Data, Partner, and Supply Chain security as well as Incident Management, Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery and Crisis Management.

As part of our team, we ensure the security of our 6 million+ customers, 1400+ staff and contractors, our partners, supply chain and three physical sites in Cardiff, Edinburgh, and Belfast. We are a digital first team with most of the team working in a hybrid routine. As the security team is centralised, there is plenty of opportunity to gain exposure to new skills and cross train in new security disciplines. It also means you will be supported by colleague subject matter experts for all security disciplines day to day within a friendly and collaborative environment.

Companies House in the wider context is at a pivotal moment with the biggest legislative changes in its history recently granted. Through working within the security team, you will be involved with all parts of the office and these historic changes to secure a better future.  

We are looking for someone with the following: 

• You will have the ability to brief clearly and concisely, presenting technical materials in an understandable and relatable way to all audiences from the executive to new day one professionals.
• You will have demonstrable leadership and management skills, capable of driving change across the business through the effective management of programmes and projects.
• Working with third parties in and out of government you will be able to translate audit findings into tangible changes in strategy and/or policy, and in turn generate the required changes in our policies, processes, contractual arrangements and estates.
• You are an expert in Physical and Personnel Security.
• You are experienced in meeting government Physical and Personnel Security standards.
• You can deal with ever changing priorities by assessing the risk and impact associated with each request and provide clear leadership as the Principal SME.
• You are commercially aware and have experience of contract management.
• You are motivated to continually develop your own skills and lead the development of others.
• You can engage, influence, and collaborate with both internal users and external suppliers to deliver successful outcomes for the organisation and our partners.
• You are an excellent communicator both verbally and written who can present complex matters in a compelling way that all can understand.
• You are willing to travel regularly to each of Companies House sites (Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast) and have suitable auditing knowledge and experience.
• You can demonstrate the ability to confidently deliver presentations to small and large groups of people inclusive top-level executives.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Effective programme and project management with excellent organisational and communication skills

Benefits

Join us at Companies House and experience the difference of working within a culture that values you, not only as an employee, but as an integral part of our Companies House team. 

We believe that our success is driven by the well-being and satisfaction of our team members at all levels of the organisation. At Companies House we're committed to providing a comprehensive benefits package that goes beyond the ordinary, ensuring your career journey with us is not only fulfilling, but also rewarding. We pride ourselves on offering a quality work-life balance with our employee wellbeing being central to our working practices. 

We celebrate diversity... 

As an equal opportunity employer, we celebrate diversity, being committed to ensuring we're representative of the citizens we serve and creating an inclusive environment. Everyone in Companies House brings something different, and so will you. To fulfil our commitment to recruiting and attracting diverse talent we welcome applications from underrepresented groups. We also welcome applications from Welsh speakers. 

We are proud to be a disability confident leader.? Our recruitment process is fully inclusive and we can make adjustments as needed through our process. These could include having an interview buddy, extra time at interviews/assessments and receiving interview questions in advance, to name a few. We will be happy to discuss any person-centred adjustments, please contact us.

Where will you be working? 

For this role, you will aligned to our Cardiff office but will be expected to visit our regional offices in Edinburgh & Belfast once a month.

We're currently exploring options for new office space in the Cardiff and surrounding areas as we're due to be moving from our current building - join us on this journey where we can support you in your career and professional growth. Details are still being confirmed about our new building and we're keeping all our colleagues updated.