The posting
Company Description
We believe in the power of ingenuity to build a positive human future.
As strategies, technologies, and innovation collide, we create opportunity from complexity.
Our teams of interdisciplinary experts combine innovative thinking and breakthrough technologies to progress further, faster. Our clients adapt and transform, and together we achieve enduring results.
We are over 4,000 strategists, innovators, designers, consultants, digital experts, scientists, engineers, and technologists. And we have deep expertise in consumer and manufacturing, defence and security, energy and utilities, financial services, government and public services, health and life sciences, and transport.
Our teams operate globally from offices across the UK, Ireland, US, Nordics, and Netherlands.
PA. Bringing Ingenuity to Life.
Job Description
We’re looking for experienced cyber security consultants who can bring clear thinking, practical advice and strong cyber expertise to help strengthen security across complex, high-impact IT and OT environments. You’ll work closely with client security leadership (BISOs and CISOs), assurance specialists, architects, engineers, product owners and delivery teams, acting as the cyber security authority / SME across projects, technology releases, and product implementations.
Why consider joining our Digital & Data community? 🤔
- Join our Digital & Data team working alongside product, design and a wide range of other experts and cross-disciplinary teams to bring ideas to life through innovative software solutions.
- Grow a flexible and unique career within a trust-based, inclusive environment that values excellence, innovation, and curiosity. You have the option to progress with us on a technical career track. No need to go onto the Partner career track if this doesn’t align with what you want to do.
- Hybrid working - our approach is to be in the office or on client site a minimum of 2 days per week.
- Work on a broad variety of projects and tech stacks for clients across seven sectors - no project is ever the same
- Join other experts within our supportive and collaborative tech community through knowledge-sharing and peer-level support, coaching and mentoring
- Deepen your expertise through our culture of learning and growth – you’ll have budget to take courses (technical and non-technical training), plus gain certifications
Why this could be a great role
- You’ll work on meaningful cyber security challenges across critical national infrastructure and regulated sectors.
- You’ll have room to shape your career around areas such as OT, cloud, assurance, architecture or secure by design.
- You’ll join a supportive cyber consulting community where people share knowledge, back each other and keep learning.
- You’ll have access to training and support for relevant professional certifications.
- You’ll work in a hybrid way, with time split between client site, office and home depending on the assignment.
What you can expect 🌱
- Work to agile best practices and cross-functionally with multiple teams and stakeholders. You’ll be using your technical skills to problem solve with our clients, as well as working on internal projects
- Live in-person whiteboarding sessions to problem solve as a team, alongside asynchronous communication on Teams
- This is a hands-on delivery role. You’ll be helping clients understand their risks, make proportionate and cost-effective security decisions and help put the right controls in place.
- Embed into interdisciplinary client teams as a cyber security SME, providing authoritative advice and guidance on the design, application/implementation and operation of security controls of all types of security controls and technologies.
- Act as a trusted cyber security specialist within client delivery teams.
- Support secure-by-design activity across projects, products and technology change.
- Turn frameworks such as NCSC CAF, NIST CSF, ISO 27001 and IEC 62443 into clear, practical requirements.
- Support security assurance, risk assessment and control implementation across client programmes.
- Enable compliance with applicable regulation and guidance (e.g. NIS/NIS2, NCSC CAF) through pragmatic interpretation and implementation.
- Build strong working relationships with senior stakeholders, programme teams and suppliers.
- Help develop reusable tools, playbooks and guidance that make delivery more consistent.
- Share knowledge, coach others and contribute to the growth of the wider cyber community.
- Own an assigned business area / product / technology as a “trusted partner”, managing the relationship between the managed service and internal stakeholders.
- Capture lessons learned and codify good practice into guidance, patterns, and exemplars to reduce delivery time and improve outcomes for clients.
- Contribute to capability building through coaching, knowledge sharing, running internal sessions, and mentoring consultants within the cyber community.
- An environment that deeply cares about its values Values | PA Consulting
Qualifications
What we’re looking for
You don’t need to tick every box to apply. If you bring strong cyber security consulting experience, enjoy working with clients and have keen willingness to keep developing learning, we’d like to hear from you.
- Experience delivering cyber security assurance or secure-by-design work across IT and/or OT environments.
- Confidence managing more than one engagement at a time while keeping quality high.
- Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to work well with senior security leaders, technical teams and third parties.
- Experience with threat and risk assessments, practical controls and recognised frameworks such as NIST CSF, ISO 27001, IEC 62443, NCSC CAF, GDPR, PCI DSS or NIS.
- Knowledge in one or more areas such as cloud security, OT/IoT security, network security, infrastructure security, security architecture or digital security.
- A consultative approach: able to communicate complex topics across the organisation at senior levels, lead by example and align stakeholder groups around a common vision to influence decision making
Helpful, but not essential. Nice to have
- Relevant certifications such as CISSP, CISM, ISO 27001, IEC 62443, SABSA, CEng or ChSP, or a willingness to work towards them.
- Experience in agile delivery environments in regulated sectors.
- Background in critical national infrastructure, including energy, water, transport, civil nuclear, oil and gas, or smart infrastructure.
- Experience interpreting and applying cyber requirements in regulated industries
- Experience helping shape propositions, services or operating models.
If you want to apply your cyber security experience and expertise on work that matters, while developing your career in a collaborative consulting environment, we would love to hear from you.
Please be aware that some of our UK roles at PA Consulting require a UK security clearance.
All PA people are required to undergo background checks and to achieve the Baseline Personnel Security Standard however, some UK roles also require higher levels of National Security Vetting, where applicants must have at least 5 years of continuous residency in the UK.
We therefore ask that you only apply if you meet the residency requirements (i.e. you are a British citizen or have been resident in the UK for the past 5 years), as this is the prerequisite for a security clearance. If you're unsure about your eligibility, we encourage you to review the UK Government’s guidance on security vetting before applying.
Additional Information
Assessment process ⚖️
Please note that the interview stages may be subject to change based on the specific requirements of the role.
- Quick call with one of our Tech Recruiters – to discuss your application, the role and PA
- Round 1: Either a competency or technical interview (60 mins)
- Round 2: Either a competency or technical interview, whichever you didn’t do at first round (60 mins)
- Final round 🎉: Meeting with a PA leader - a mini case study and discussion around your client-centricity (60 mins)
Life At PA encompasses our peoples' experience at PA. It's about how we enrich peoples’ working lives by giving them access to unique people and growth opportunities and purpose led meaningful work.
Our purpose guides how we work with our clients and our teams, and support our communities, to deliver insight and impact, solving the world’s most complex challenges. We're focused on building a workplace that values human difference and diverse mindsets, and a culture of inclusion and equality that unlocks the potential in our people so everyone can be their best self.
Find out more about Life at PA here.
We are dedicated to supporting the physical, emotional, social and financial well-being of our people. Check out some of our extensive benefits:
- Health and lifestyle perks accompanying private healthcare for you and your family
- 25 days annual leave (plus a bonus half day on Christmas Eve) with the opportunity to buy 5 additional days
- Generous company pension scheme
- Opportunity to get involved with community and charity-based initiatives
- Annual performance-based bonus
- PA share ownership
- Tax efficient benefits (cycle to work, give as you earn)
We’re committed to advancing equality. We recruit, retain, reward and develop our people based solely on their abilities and contributions and without reference to their age, background, disability, genetic information, parental or family status, religion or belief, race, ethnicity, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity (or expression), political belief, veteran status, any other range of human difference brought about by identity and experience. We welcome applications from underrepresented groups.
Adjustments or accommodations - Should you need any adjustments or accommodations to the recruitment process, at either application or interview, please contact us on [email protected]
