Deputy Director National Security and Response (NSR) & Deputy Director Energy Resilience (ER)
The Energy Security and Response Directorate ensures energy security in the short- to medium-term, driving cross‑Government efforts to maintain a resilient energy system. As part of this multi‑disciplinary team, you will lead policy to ensure gas, electricity, and fuel reach where they are needed and shape the resilience of future energy systems as part of Net Zero.
The teams' work is high‑profile, with significant senior and ministerial interest. They handle some of the UK's most significant risks, as outlined in the National Security Risk Assessment. You will collaborate with industry, regulators, leading practitioners, and governments across the UK and internationally.
Both the NSR and ER teams ensures energy (gas, electricity, and fuel) reaches customers and manages emergencies. They work with stakeholders to ensure the future energy transition as part of Net Zero is secure and resilient. The team is a Centre of Excellence for National Security and Crisis Management, driving cyber security in the energy sector, coordinating threats from hostile states, and assuring our ability to respond to crises affecting the energy and civil nuclear sectors.
Occasionally, emergencies within the energy sector occur – both these roles will provide leadership during responses as a senior leader on risk and crisis management within DESNZ. Training is available. In exceptional circumstances, there may be a requirement to work outside normal hours during emergencies.
Job description for Deputy Director National Security and Response
The National Security & Response Team safeguards the energy sector by addressing critical threats, ensuring coherence on our national security policy and readiness as a Lead Government Department during emergencies. The Cyber Policy Team is responsible for setting and enforcing cyber security policy for the GB gas, electricity and oil subsectors. They work with industry and Government Departments to understand the cyber threat and work to build resilience to cyber‑attacks, strengthen response and recovery measures and regulate critical operators. The Emergency Response: Capabilities and Operations (ERCO) team lead an integrated and coordinated response to emergencies on behalf of DESNZ, supporting our sector teams to fulfil our responsibilities as a Lead Government Department. The State Threats Team work to protect the energy sector against threats from hostile states and to ensure capabilities to allow DESNZ operates as an effective national security department.
We seek an exceptional leader to join the team as Deputy Director National Security & Response. The ideal candidate will use their leadership, relationship‑building, communication, and strategic thinking skills to address energy resilience and security challenges. As a key member of the senior leadership team, this role will contribute to making our teams and Directorate a brilliant, welcoming, inclusive, and fulfilling place to work. In energy sector emergencies, this role will provide leadership as a key member of the Energy Security and Resilience Directorate. There are excellent learning and development opportunities across crisis management, national security, and energy resilience teams, as well as through our Departmental Academy and cross‑government programmes, to help you further develop your skills and experience.
As Deputy Director National Security and Response, your responsibilities include:
* National Security strategy – shaping and delivering a new National Security Strategic Framework for energy which provides the strategic direction for how the country will protect the energy system from evolving national security threats.
* National Security co‑ordination – acting as the lead for the department in overall co‑ordination of national security activities and interests through the National Security Hub, as DESNZ account manager for the UK Intelligence Community and National Security Secretariat and NSC.
* National Security capability – continuing to drive forward the National Security Network in the department, to drive up participation, capability, and identity for those across DESNZ working on security matters, including running seminars.
* Cyber strategy and regulation – delivering on the Energy Cyber Strategy jointly with Ofgem, NESO and the National Cyber Security Centre, and being responsible for the department’s role as Competent Authority for the energy sector to drive up cyber resilience standards across the energy industry.
* Sub‑sea infrastructure protection – contributing to wider government efforts and strategy to protect our critical subsea infrastructure from external interference and accidental damage, including our major gas pipelines, electricity sables, and interconnectors.
* Sabotage – ensuring the energy industry continues to be cognisant of and works to secure from the threat of sabotage to infrastructure, including low level, unsophisticated and deniable threats.
* Investment security and cases – providing assurance and scrutiny of major investment cases and transactions under the National Security and Investment Act, and providing National Security advice to the Secretary of State on the risk to key energy infrastructure investments and projects in the UK.
* Crisis response and emergencies – responsibility for the department’s emergency response function and capability, and operation of the energy Emergency Operations Centre, ensuring that the department remains best in class in crisis and emergency response (whether national security related or otherwise).
Job description for Deputy Director, Deputy Director Energy Response
The Energy Resilience Team monitors risks to gas, electricity, and oil supplies. They understand the risk to Critical National Infrastructure from hazards and threats now and through to 2050. The team maintains the National Emergency Plans for Fuel and for Gas and Electricity, ensuring ongoing operational readiness. They are developing a Catastrophic Risk Programme to deal with energy‑driven system‑wide risks, including a National Power Outage. The team responds to energy incidents or emergencies and develops risk‑specific plans and operational readiness for specific circumstances.
We seek an exceptional leader to join the team as Deputy Director Energy Resilience. The ideal candidate will use their leadership, relationship‑building, communication, and strategic thinking skills to address energy resilience and security challenges. As a key member of the senior leadership team, this role will contribute to making our teams and Directorate a brilliant, welcoming, inclusive, and fulfilling place to work. In energy sector emergencies, this role will provide leadership as a key member of the Energy Security and Resilience Directorate. There are excellent learning and development opportunities across crisis management, national security, and energy resilience teams, as well as through our Departmental Academy and cross‑government programmes, to help you further develop your skills and experience.
As Deputy Director Energy Resilience, your responsibilities include:
* Energy resilience strategy – developing and delivering a new strategy for energy resilience, working with Ofgem, the National Energy System Operator, National Gas Transmission, and industry to set a clear ambition for the resilience of the nation’s energy sector both today and in the clean energy future, underpinned by clear standards, and consideration of the energy resilience of wider Critical National Infrastructure (CNI).
* Energy resilience legislation – pursue legislative changes and a legislative vehicle required to implement the new energy resilience strategy, covering standards for energy sector, energy resilience of wider CNI sectors, and energy emergency co‑ordination.
* Energy resilience planning – ensuring ongoing planning for the hazards and threats to energy set out in the National Security Risks Assessment, to understand the risk, work to prevent it happening, and preparation of contingency plans. This includes maintaining and updating the two National Emergency Plans (gas and electricity; and fuel), taking part in major exercising of plans annually.
* Physical and personnel security – delivery of measures to ensure physical security standards and personnel vetting requirements in the energy industry, across electricity, gas and fuel, and particularly so for Critical National Infrastructure, including oversight of armed policing at critical energy sites.
* Energy incident and crisis response – responding as necessary to incidents, emergencies or crises that relate to electricity, gas or fuel, including deployment of the National Emergency Plans, and the tools within it including the emergency powers in Energy Act, the Electricity Supply Emergency Code, Operation ESCALIN (military drivers to support fuel distribution) and the Reserve Tanker Fleet (80 tankers for moving fuel). This involves very close work with COBR.
* Catastrophic risk management – developing the best possible plans to minimise the risk of and response to the catastrophic risks held by DESNZ, including a National Power Outage and National Gas Supply Emergency, driving the level of ambition and big choices needed for both energy‑specific plans but also plans for handling the cascading society‑wide secondary impacts of such scenarios.
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