Security First Priority Lead

Role Summary

The Security First Priority Lead is accountable for the successful end-to-end delivery of a Security First Priority, ensuring that delivery results in measurable security improvements in risk reduction, adoption, control effectiveness, and business value. The ideal candidate is a proven delivery leader with strong program and project management capabilities, excellent stakeholder engagement skills, and the ability to drive complex, cross-functional initiatives from inception through operational handover.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities

Planning and Delivery
• Define work packages, milestones, deliverables, and acceptance criteria.
• Lead the Priority through initiation, execution, and closure.
• Manage day-to-day delivery activities to ensure commitments are met.
• Coordinate resource planning, capacity management, and conflict resolution.
• Drive team performance and delivery effectiveness.

Governance and Controls
• Monitor performance against commitments and implement corrective actions where needed.
• Proactively manage risks, issues, dependencies, and escalations.
• Effectively drive resolution of Change Requests (CRs) and Help Requests (HRs).
• Ensure quality, completeness, and integrity of all deliverables.
• Ensure security controls are implemented, tested, and operating effectively.
• Maintain alignment with architecture standards, technology roadmaps, and security design principles.
• Adhere to PMO processes, governance requirements, and reporting standards.

Business Readiness and Adoption
• Lead change management, training, and adoption activities.
• Drive adoption of solutions, controls, or standards across sectors and functions. • Coordinate closely with SMEs, architects, IT teams, engineering teams, and business / sector representatives to ensure readiness and successful implementation.

Reporting and Decision Support
• Prepare initiatives for governance forums with clear recommendations, options, impact assessments, key risk triggers, leading indicators, and required decisions. • Maintain accurate project data, reporting, and proactive risk sensing through PMO tools.
• Ensure smooth transition to BAU ownership following delivery.

Accountabilities
The Security First Priority Lead is accountable for:
• End-to-end delivery of the assigned Security First Priority.
• Delivery of outcomes aligned to Security Value Delivery Targets (SVDT), including:

• Budget planning, spend management, forecast accuracy, and recovery actions.
• Ensuring investments translate into measurable outcomes within agreed risk appetite.
• Business readiness and adoption across impacted sectors and functions.
• Compliance with control requirements and maintenance of audit-ready evidence. • Data integrity and traceability from business case and planning through outcome realization.
• Sustainable handover to operational ownership.
• Creation and maintenance of the Priority dependency map.
• Communication of dependencies, impacts, risks, and key decisions to stakeholders.

Qualifications and Experience

• Experience leading cybersecurity, risk reduction, compliance, or control improvement programs.
• Experience working within regulated environments and governance frameworks. • Knowledge of security controls, architecture governance, audit requirements, and enterprise delivery methodologies
• Program or project management certifications (PMP, PgMP, PRINCE2, Agile, SAFe, or equivalent).
• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Cybersecurity, Business, Engineering, or related field.
• Proven experience leading complex, cross-functional technology, security, or transformation initiatives, with a strong focus on budget management, forecasting, risk management, and dependency management.
• Significant experience in program and project delivery within large enterprise environments, working across security, architecture, IT, operations, and business teams.
• Excellent executive communication, influencing, analytical, problem-solving, and decision-support skills.
• Demonstrated success driving organizational change and adoption.