Manager - Cyber Defence Strategy

About the role

GHD is seeking a senior leader to own its enterprise cyber‑defence strategy and day‑to‑day operational resilience. Reporting to the CTO and with direct Board Risk Committee visibility, you will shape security architecture, drive specialist teams and represent the organisation’s cyber risk posture.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and own a multi‑year cybersecurity strategy and target‑state architecture.
• Represent GHD’s cyber risk posture to the CTO, IS Leadership Team and Board Risk Committee.
• Build specialist sub‑teams (security architecture, vulnerability management, cyber GRC) to extend SOC coverage.
• Own the enterprise vulnerability‑management programme and drive remediation cadence.
• Command incident response for significant events, coordinating IT, Legal, HR and Communications.
• Define and govern the Zero Trust programme across Azure, identity and endpoint estates.
• Own GHD’s AI security posture, including agentic systems and shadow AI.
• Govern CMMC Level 2 and FedRAMP readiness to enable US Federal client work.

Required profile

• 12+ years of experience in cyber security, including building and leading specialist sub‑functions in a large or global organisation.
• Deep expertise across security strategy, operations, threat intelligence, vulnerability management and architecture spanning cloud (Azure), endpoint, network, identity, application and data.
• Strong Zero Trust and Microsoft security stack knowledge (Defender, Sentinel, Entra ID, Purview).
• Hands‑on experience with regulatory frameworks such as CMMC Level 2, FedRAMP, ASD Essential Eight, ISO 27001 and NIST CSF.
• Proven track record presenting cyber risk to executive or board audiences and leading incident command.
• Required certifications: CISSP or CISM; highly desirable: CMMC Registered Practitioner, Microsoft SC‑100 or AZ‑500.

Required skills

• Microsoft Azure security services
• Microsoft Defender, Sentinel, Entra ID, Purview
• Zero Trust architecture
• Vulnerability management
• Security architecture and threat intelligence
• Incident response coordination

What we offer

• Enterprise cyber leadership reporting directly to the CTO with Board visibility.
• A build mandate to shape strategy, architecture and a specialist team, not just maintain existing services.
• Security as a growth lever, with CMMC and FedRAMP readiness opening US Federal client opportunities.
• Opportunity to define GHD’s AI security posture at a pivotal moment for the threat landscape.
• Global remit central to GHD’s Strategy 2035, “We Master Technology.”