Director of Cyber Defence | Incident Response, SOC Strategy, Cyber Operations, Global Leadership | £130,000 - £160,000 + 40% bonus + 40% RSUs - hybrid in Leeds
A global digital gaming business is looking for a Director of Cyber Defence to shape and lead its cyber defence strategy across a large, complex international environment.
This is a newly created leadership role with responsibility for defining and driving a group wide cyber defence strategy, while improving security operations and incident response capability across a federated organisation.
The business operates across multiple international brands and high scale digital platforms, and is investing heavily in cyber maturity. They need someone who can combine deep technical cyber credibility with the strategic leadership to influence senior stakeholders across regions, functions and business units.
The Director of Cyber Defence role
* Reporting to the Group CISO, this role will lead a distributed cyber defence team and help shape the future operating model for cyber operations across the wider business.
* You will be responsible for strengthening incident response, helping define the future SOC strategy and improving collaboration across central and local cyber teams.
* This role needs someone who has grown up in cyber operations, has managed complex incidents directly and can now operate at director level in a global business.
* A big part of the challenge is influence. This is a federated environment, so success will come from working across brand and regional teams, building credibility and driving alignment without relying on direct authority.
Director of Cyber Defence | Key responsibilities
* Lead the global cyber defence strategy across a complex, multi-brand environment
* Shape and improve incident response capability and cyber operations maturity
* Define and help implement the future SOC strategy
* Lead a 15 person team across the UK, Ireland and Romania
* Partner with executive leadership on cyber priorities, investment and operational improvement
* Build strong relationships across regional and business aligned cyber teams
* Support a wider cyber maturity programme and strengthen collaboration across local and central functions
* Represent the function with regulators, auditors and third parties where needed
* Translate complex cyber risks and operational challenges into clear business language
* Drive consistency, visibility and alignment across cyber defence teams
Director of Cyber Defence | Requirements
* Strong background in cyber defence, cyber operations, incident response or security leadership
* Around 10 to 15 years of hands on experience in cyber, ideally as an operator, defender or incident responder earlier in your career
* Director level leadership experience, with the ability to lead strategy as well as execution
* Deep understanding of complex incidents, security operations and cyber defence programmes
* Experience working in large, complex global organisations
* Experience operating in a federated model would be helpful, but not essential
* Ability to influence without authority across multiple teams, business units and senior stakeholders
* Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, including executive level engagement
* A pragmatic approach to risk, with the ability to balance security priorities with commercial reality
* Relevant certifications such as CISSP, CISM or CISA would be beneficial
Why this role is interesting
* This is a rare opportunity to join a major international business in a newly created role with real scope to shape the direction of cyber defence.
* The environment is complex, global and highly visible, with significant scale and stakeholder exposure.
* You will be joining at a point where the business is investing in cyber maturity, evolving its operating model and looking for someone credible enough to lead that journey.
* It is a strong opportunity for someone who wants to move beyond purely operational leadership and have a broader strategic impact, while still drawing on deep technical expertise and frontline incident experience.
Director of Cyber Defence | Incident Response, SOC Strategy, Cyber Operations, Global Leadership | £130,000 - £160,000 + 40% bonus + 40% RSUs - hybrid in Leeds