Met Office seeks chief information security officer

The Met Office is looking to recruit a chief information security officer (CISO) to lead a cyber security enhancement programme.

Responsible for a team of 20 staff and all aspects of cyber security and business continuity, the new security chief will be based in Exeter and will report to the national weather service’s associate director of operational technology.

Requirements for the CISO role include a leadership track record, as well as experience of the Cabinet Office cyber security and incident management standards and CISSP or CISM certification. Applications are open until 8 April.

“We are committed to exploiting the benefits of emerging technologies to help the Met Office remain at the forefront of weather and climate science. Technology has increased our ability to innovate, collaborate, improve productivity and gain a competitive edge by engaging with our customers in an innovative way,” the Met Office said.

“However, the benefits from today’s connected world come with evolving risk. We believe that good cyber security and business continuity is essential to support our ability to continue to deliver world-class services and maintain our world-leading science and capability,” it added.

The Met Office has been pioneering partnerships to help ensure information is passed securely to key projects. The Met Office was one of the first organisations in the UK to use Amazon Direct Connect. The service provides a high-security, high-capacity and low-latency link between his datacentres and Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud.