Principal Enterprise Security Architect (Ref: 20694)

Job summary

Job description

Principal Enterprise Security Architect

Location: National*
Closing Date: 15th August
Interviews: w/c 1st September
Grade: 6

(MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain this grade on lateral transfer)

Salary (for more information, please see below):

London: £75,674 - £93,025 (may include an allowance of up to £17,351)
National: £71,381 - £88,900 (may include an allowance of up to £17,519)

Working pattern: Full-time, part-time, flexible working
Contract Type: Permanent

Number of vacancies: 1
Vacancy number: 20694

*We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your local office. Office locations can be found ON THIS MAP

Please note that unless you are an existing member of staff at Justice Digital, Data and Science, the only London location being recruited to is 10 South Colonnade, E14 4PU. We are no longer recruiting to 102 Petty France, SW1H 9AJ.

The Role

Please note this role requires you to pass Security Check clearance. Please click on the link for details.

We’re recruiting a Principal Enterprise Security Architect to join Justice Digital Data and Science within the Office of the Chief Technology Officer at the Ministry of Justice which is responsible for architecture and engineering across the MoJ. We work in collaboration with individual business units and Executive Agencies to align technology and operate platforms for the benefit of the products and teams dependent upon them. This role is responsible for setting and governing the enterprise‑wide technology direction for the department.

This role provides strategic ownership of core enterprise security architecture domains, including identity and access management, cloud security, network and boundary security, endpoint and device security, data protection, secure integration, security monitoring architecture, resilience, and zero trust patterns. You will focus on the cross-cutting security capabilities that underpin all digital services, ensuring they are secure, scalable, reusable and aligned to long-term departmental outcomes.

Reporting to the Chief Architect, you will lead and coordinate enterprise security architecture across the department, working closely with senior architects, cyber security leadership, platform teams and major delivery programmes. You will set clear security direction, guardrails and priorities, enabling domain architects and delivery teams to make consistent, risk-informed decisions across MoJ HQ and Executive Agencies.

This role operates at departmental scale and long-term horizon. You will balance immediate delivery needs with a 5–10 year security architecture intent, reducing fragmentation and security debt while maximising value from shared platforms, common controls and strategic investments.

You’ll receive a range of excellent benefits when you join our department, including:

• A generous employer pension contribution of 28.97%through the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
• 25 days of annual leave, (increasing to 30 days once you have reached 5 years of service),plus 8 bank holidays and a privilege day for the King’s birthday.
• Flexible working arrangementsincluding hybrid working, working part time or compressed hours. Designed to support a positive work–life balance.
• Set and own the enterprise cyber security architecture vision and strategyacross core domains including identity, cloud security, endpoint security, network security, data protection, secure integration and resilience, aligned to the departmental enterprise target state.
• Act as a senior security authoritywithin the Office of the CTO, providing clear architectural direction and advice to senior leaders, major programmes and investment decisions.
• Define and evolve enterprise-wide security target states, standards, principles, control patterns and reference architecturesfor shared platforms and services.
• Establish clear secure-by-design guardrailsthat enable delivery teams to move faster while maintaining confidentiality, integrity, availability, resilience, interoperability and value for money.
• Provide architectural oversight and assurance for high-risk or strategically significant initiatives, balancing short-term delivery with long-term security sustainability.
• Lead on security architecture decisions for enterprise-scale transformation, including legacy modernisation, cloud adoption, shared platforms and cross-department integration.
• Drive adoption of reusable security capabilities and common controls, reducing duplication, inconsistency, unmanaged risk and technical/security debt across the department.
• Shape and mature security architecture governance, including contribution to architecture boards, technical design authorities, risk forums and the enterprise knowledge base.
• Work with risk owners and senior stakeholders to enable and inform risk-based decisions, ensuring proportionate controls and pragmatic trade-offs.
• Research, identify, validate and adopt new security technologies, patterns and methodologies, using innovation where it materially improves outcomes.
• Build strong relationships across Digital, Technology, Data, Operations and Security leadership to ensure cyber security strategy is integrated with business outcomes and delivery priorities.
• Employees are allocated 10% of their working time for personal and professional development.
• A £1k per person learning budget is in place to support all our people, with access to best-in-class conferences and seminars, accreditation with professional bodies, fully funded vocational programmes and e-learning platforms.
• Compassionate maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave policies, with up to 26 weeks leave at full pay, 13 weeks with partial pay, and 13 weeks further leave. And maternity support/paternity leave at full pay for 2 weeks, too!

You can find more details of the Benefits we offer here. To help picture your life at MoJ Justice Digital, Data and Science please take a look at our blog.

Who this role is for

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