Protective Security Advisor

Job summary

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime and migration.

The last few years has seen an extensive overhaul of security and information management to meet the challenges of corporate and statistics transformation in technology, methods and practice, the Digital Economy Act and organisational risk appetite. The capability is evolving and expanding to address changes in threat and business direction.

Security and Information Management Directorate (SaIM) operates six key services across ONS: security risk advice and management; knowledge and information management (KIM); protective security and business resilience operations; security compliance and audit; cyber security; and Security Culture.

Job description

This Protective Security Advisor role forms part of the ONS Security Advisory Team within the Security and Information Management Division. It reports Primarily to the Protective Security Lead who report to the Protective Security & Business Resilience operations Principal. The Protective Security Officer plays a front line role in safeguarding ONS people, sites and information through the delivery of high quality protective security support. The role focuses primarily on Protective security, including risk assessments, site assurance, access control measures, search and screening support, and organisational security culture improvements.

Alongside this primary function, they will contribute to integrated Business Continuity and Crisis Management activity when required, recognising the interconnected nature of physical threats, operational resilience, and ONS’s readiness for major programmes such as the 2031 Census.

Responsibilities

• Support the delivery of physical security threat and risk assessments (SRAs) across the ONS estate, including new and expanding sites.
• Support the delivery of travel risk assessments across the ONS estate.
• Assist in the delivery, management and maintenance of the physical and personal security training and briefings, both physical and personal, of ONS colleagues.
• Assist in Effectively managing all site/off site security incidents.
• Support delivery and audit of physical penetration testing cycles and improvement actions.
• Conduct floor walking, routine checks, and engagement activity to identify poor security behaviours and reinforce positive practice. Provide tailored advice to staff on protective security measures and secure use of physical assets.
• Contribute to Census 2031 physical security requirements, including: site readiness and resilience for 2027 Test and 2029 Rehearsal, ensuring secure environments for staff processing and operational hubs, supporting field force protective measures (e.g., entry protocols, lone-working escalation, ID checks).

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

• Self-directing and proactive to ensure work is progressed.
• Strong understanding of protective security principles and risk management.
• Ability to identify, assess, report and, where appropriate, treat physical vulnerabilities and behavioural security concerns.
• Effective communication and confidence engaging staff across all levels to reinforce physical security expectations.
• Good organisational skills and ability to support record keeping, audits, and assurance activity in a high demand environment.

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £28,138, Office for National Statistics contributes £8,151 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 Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.

Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.

Inclusion & Accessibility

At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.

As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.

If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.

Things you need to know

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 and Experience.

Security Clearance

For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.

If you are unsure that you meet the eligibility above, please read the information available on Gov.uk on this link or contact the recruitment email on the advert before applying to discuss, as failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected and any offer of employment being withdrawn.

At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:

• Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff repor