Senior Cyber Security Analyst (Threat Hunting)
Cyber Operations purpose is to support safe care and build public trust by building NHS England's cyber resilience and enabling the wider health system to be cyber resilient, supporting Transformation Directorate's purpose of delivering the best care and outcomes for the NHS.
The Senior Security Analyst - Threat Hunting will proactively and iteratively search and analyse for specific TTPs, IOCs or evidence in the NHS England infrastructure in order to detect and respond to unknown threats that are not identified by traditional rule or signature-based security controls or even by use cases or for suspicious scenarios notified by qualified sources (e.g. CERT, Security Threat Monitoring, Threat Intelligence, etc.).
This role is within the Cyber Security - Threat Hunting team which is one of three core pillars of the Threat Operations pod within NHS England CSOC. The Threat Hunting team is responsible for a number of key functions:
* Multi-Platform Threat Hunting at Scale - Run hunting queries and analytics across large datasets using a variety of cloud-based and hybrid security solutions.
* Custom Analytic and Detection Development - Writing and reviewing custom rules to deploy against national monitoring solutions to provide specialised monitoring to NHS bodies against common threat actor tactics and techniques.
* Specialist Incident Support - Providing technical support to CSOC IM function and NHS organisations where appropriate during high complexity incidents.
Main duties of the job
* Act as an Extended Detection & Response & Cloud specialist for the threat hunting team and act as an escalation point for all threat hunting activities in the topic.
* Deputise for the Cyber Security Lead Analyst (Threat Hunting) in their absence.
* Develop capability in support of Threat Operations requirements, including coding and technology development.
* Act as a technical specialist in advanced forensic investigations in support of Security Operations function.
* Simulate adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures in support of detection development.
* Act as an escalation point for junior threat hunters for incidents and investigations.
* Offer mentorship and guidance to junior threat hunters to support others and their own growth and development.
* Perform dynamic & static analysis of malicious programs and tools where relevant in support of detection development.
* Development of automation workflows and playbooks to support threat hunting team workload.
* Management of staff, resource allocation, and workload in regard to hunting activities.
About us
NHS England has a wide range of statutory functions, responsibilities and regulatory powers. These are focused on supporting the wider NHS to deliver high quality care, as well as doing those things that are best done once for the whole NHS.
Our staff bring expertise across clinical, operational, commissioning, technology, data science, cyber security, software engineering, education, and commercial specialisms -- enabling us to design and deliver high-quality NHS services.
In March 2025, the Government announced that NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care will increasingly merge functions, ultimately leading to NHS England being fully integrated into the department.
If you currently work within the NHS and if successful at interview, we will initiate an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). This retrieves key data from your current or previous NHS employer to support onboarding, including competency status, Continuous Service Dates (CSD), and annual leave entitlement. You may opt out at any stage of the process.
Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in our offices.
Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.
Key requirements for applicants
All NHS England Cyber Security personnel must hold Security Clearance level as a minimum. To meet National Security Vetting requirements, SC clearances require 5 years continuous UK residency. In certain cases, this can be reduced to three years continuous UK residency, with additional overseas checks for the previous two years. Candidates who were posted abroad for service with HM Government, Armed Forces or within a UK government role - will still be considered.
Failure to achieve the requirements for SC after offer will result in the job offer being withdrawn.
Person Specification
Knowledge
* Demonstrate knowledge of proactively detecting cyber threats, techniques, and the processes of identifying adversaries through the analyses of machine data.
* Working knowledge of technologies, methods and tools of forensics investigations for IT security violations or potential threats; ability to identify, uncover and evaluate violations, warning reports, suspected incidents and insidious events.
* Extensive knowledge of techniques, approaches and processes of digital threats; ability to detect, monitor, analyse and prevent digital threats.
Skills and Experience
* Demonstrable knowledge of the approaches, tools, and techniques for promoting creative, original thinking and ability to apply it to a variety of business situations.
* Expert knowledge of concept, procedures and processes of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM); ability to utilise related applications to protect organisational networks from cyber risks.
Qualifications
* Masters level degree in Cyber Security or relevant subject, or equivalent level of experience.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Employer name
NHS England
Address
£69,033.60 to £77,700 a year (this includes a RRP payment of 20%)
Contract
Permanent
Working pattern
Full-time
Reference number
990-TDD-CY-EC2745-E
Job locations
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