Director of Security Design Engineering Assurance

Reading, England, United Kingdom

11/28/2024

About Us

We’re building Tomorrow’s Connections Today, bringing people together through the power of our technology.

Liberty Global is a world leader in converged broadband, video and mobile communications and an active investor in cutting-edge infrastructure, content and technology ventures.

With our investments in fibre-based and 5G networks we play a vital role in society, currently providing over 85 million fixed and mobile connections and rolling out the next generation of products and services, while readying our networks for 10 Gbps and beyond.

We’re creating national champions, combining the best broadband and mobile networks under brands such as Virgin Media-02 in the UK, VodafoneZiggo in The Netherlands, Telenet in Belgium, Sunrise in Switzerland, Virgin Media in Ireland and UPC in Slovakia.

Liberty Global Ventures, our global investment arm, has a portfolio of more than 75 companies and funds across content, technology and infrastructure, including strategic stakes in ITV, Univision, Plume, Lionsgate and the Formula E racing series.

Our scale enables us to transfer knowledge and expertise across our operations and investments, creating a dynamic family of brands united in the pursuit of innovation and excellence.

And we’re prioritising diversity, equity and inclusion in our workplace and communities, while reducing our impact on the environment. We are using technology as a force for good; for our people, our partners and the planet.

Job Purpose

The Director of Security Design Engineering Assurance will oversee and manage security design project assurance activities across all product and technology stacks at Liberty Global and its respective operating companies. This role ensures that all new products and service solutions, including changes to the existing portfolio, are designed, implemented, and tested with robust security controls from the inception phase.

The position involves managing multi-functional teams, driving security design review initiatives (including project risk assessments, control design reviews, and penetration testing), and ensuring adherence to security standards in various development environments.

The ideal candidate must demonstrate exceptional business insight, stakeholder management skills, and the ability to deploy consulting and influencing skills effectively. This is a critical role for us and requires a strong, experienced, highly motivated, and knowledgeable individual with extensive leadership skills and experience operating in a complex, global matrix organization.

Key Accountabilities

Leadership and Management:

• Lead and manage a team of experienced security design assurance professionals.
• Provide coaching and direction to senior managers and team members throughout the lifecycle, including risk mitigation discussions and service portfolio improvements.
• Build relationships and collaborate with senior leaders and professionals across the group and in operating companies to provide quality security services.
• Collaborate with other security leadership teams on strategy, architectures, security operations, and the information security group to integrate and deliver quality services across the business.
• Act as the service owner with end-to-end responsibility for provisioning, delivery, and ongoing improvements to services.
  
  

Security Design Assurance

• Oversee the end-to-end security project assurance lifecycle, covering security design reviews across the design, build, and test lifecycle for all aspects of product and technology solutions. This includes corporate networks, access/core networks, data centers, business applications, mobile platforms, multi-cloud environments (AWS/GCP/Azure), continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD), and data platforms.
• Ensure all proposed solutions meet security standards, baselines, and architecture patterns, and follow relevant regulations.
• Identify control gaps and facilitate discussions with product/business owners to implement interim compensatory measures and risk management processes.
• Manage DevSecOps pipelines, including risk assessments, triaging, tool onboarding, developer feedback, and ongoing service management to ensure continuous delivery.
• Oversee multi-cloud build-out/operations, control codifications, cloud posture management, and ongoing operations support to ensure proper implementation of cloud architectural baseline controls.
• Coordinate regular and annual penetration testing projects as per the agreed scope with business and information security teams.
• Support process improvements across the lifecycle, from engagement registration to risk assessments, control selection, and testing.
• Participate in special projects related to M&A on a need-to-know basis.
  
  

Service Delivery And Improvements

• Deliver security project design assurance across various development methodologies.
• Coordinate with project managers and technical teams to ensure timely and secure project delivery, providing feedback on review outcomes and themes.
• Collaborate with the security engagement director and business product owners to understand business product roadmaps. Prepare a service improvement plan, including resource and capacity management, to effectively deliver security services.
• Develop service reporting metrics, key performance indicators and SLAs, and produce ongoing reports on the performance of each service for the business.
• Foster a culture of security awareness and continuous improvement in risk assessment, triaging, and delivery processes.
  
  

Collaboration And Communication

• Work closely with Corporate IT, entertainment and connectivity platforms, Core network teams and operations teams to represent the function and embed security into the design and architecture of new solutions.
• Represent group security in various steercos and governance forums and demand planning activities.
  
  

Compliance And Standards

• Ensure compliance with industry standards and regulatory requirements.
• Support development of security policies, procedures, and standards across group security.
• Stay updated with the latest security threats, technologies, and regulatory changes.
  
  

Knowledge & Experience

• Extensive experience in information security or security assurance or security engineering and design, or security architecture with at demonstrable experience in a leadership role.
• Proven experience in security reviews across networks, applications, mobile, and cloud environments.
• Strong background in implementing security controls in both agile/DevOps and waterfall frameworks. For Agile/DevOps methodology its important to have prior implementation and delivery of security scanning service using tools like SAST/DAST/SCA etc.
• In-depth knowledge of security frameworks, standards, and best practices (e.g., ISO 27001, NIST, OWASP).
• Prior experience with penetration testing and vulnerability management.
• Demonstrable security risk management knowledge and experience.
• Experience as acting as a change agent, driving continuous improvement and excellence.
• Ability to operate at multi leadership levels and with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience in operating as a service provider to multiple global enterprise organisations including highly regulated organisations.
• A deep and fundamental knowledge of information security management that will ensure immediate respect among multiple internal and external partners.
• Demonstrable experience of working in a team-oriented, collaborative environment, with a strong focus customer service. Solid team player and able to work with indirect and direct diverse teams.
  
  

Essential Skills & Abilities

• Highly self-motivated and directed with an ability to make sound and logical judgments.
• Demonstrable leadership and personnel/project management skills.
• Ability to prioritize and complete tasks in a high-pressure environment and make sound decisions in emergency situations.
• Proven analytical and problem-solving abilities, able to conduct research into issues and products as required.
• Outstanding oral and written communication skills and leadership qualities in order to ensure agreement across the organisation, especially on difficult/contentious issues.
  
  

Preferred Education/ Qualifications

• Degree in computer science, Information Security, or a related field or equivalent experience
• Relevant certifications such as CISSP, CISM are highly desirable.
  
  

Benefits

• Competitive salary + Eligibility for our Bonus Plan
• 25 days annual leave with the option to purchase 5 more
• 3 Days of Volunteering Time Off
• Free access to LinkedIn Learning & Coursera to continue to develop and grow your career with us
• Free premium subscription to Calm
• Company Laptop, Mobile and Phone Subscription
• Company Pension Contributions
• Access to our car benefit scheme
• Access to personal medical and dental insurance
• Access to discounts on superfast fibre broadband subscriptions
  
  

Liberty Global is an equal opportunity employer. We embrace diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for our people. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process. We’re 100% committed to having a workforce that represents every part of our society. So we’re keen to hear from candidates of all background and circumstances.