Cyber Security Apprentice (Degree)

Summary

We have an exciting opportunity for a Level 6 (Degree) Digital & Technology Solutions Apprentice (Cyber Security pathway) to join the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC). The NQCC oversees diverse projects for classical and quantum technologies, aiding quantum computer development in our labs.

Annual wage: £23,186 a year
Minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)
Training course: Digital and technology solutions professional (level 6)
Hours: Typical working week is Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm with some flexibility.
37 hours a week
Possible start date: Monday 1 September
Duration: 4 years
Positions available: 1

Work

As an apprentice, you’ll work at a company and get hands-on experience. You’ll gain new skills and work alongside experienced staff.

What you’ll do at work

Communicate and work with fellow team members daily
Communicate with users, scientists, engineers and management to understand their requirements and translate these into a specification
Take an active role in both technical and non-technical meetings
Show initiative especially regarding learning new things
Work independently at times and ask questions if unsure
Take responsibility for ensuring your work does what is needed and meets the quality criteria specified
Write documentation for technical and non-technical users
Analyse evidence and data in order to solve problems
Help deploy solutions to production and help provide support after release
Use a variety of tools and technologies used by the teams to develop and run software and computer systems
Present a topic to a small group of people and answer questions
Participate in the wider department and STFC apprentice training programme
Partake in the promotion activities for NQCC, STFC and STEM

Where you’ll work

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

Harwell

Didcot

Oxfordshire

OX11 0QX

Training

An apprenticeship includes regular training with a college or other training organisation. At least 20% of your working hours will be spent training or studying.

College or training organisation

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE NEW UNIVERSITY

Your training course

Digital and technology solutions professional (level 6)

Equal to degree

Course contents

Analyse a business problem to identify the role of digital and technology solutions.
Identify risks, determine mitigation strategies and opportunities for improvement in a digital and technology solutions project.
Analyse a business problem in order to specify an appropriate digital and technology solution.
Initiate, design, code, test and debug a software component for a digital and technology solution.
Apply relevant standard processes, methods, techniques and tools. For example, ISO Standards, Waterfall, Agile in a digital and technology solution project.
Manage digital and technology solutions projects. For example, identifying and resolving deviations from specification, applying appropriate Project Management methodologies.
Work effectively within teams, leading on appropriate digital technology solution activities.
Apply relevant organisational theories. For example, change management principles, marketing approaches, strategic practice, and IT service management to a digital and technology solutions project.
Apply relevant security and resilience techniques to a digital and technology solution. For example, risk assessments, mitigation strategies.
Initiate, design, implement and debug a data product for a digital and technology solution.
Determine and use appropriate data analysis techniques. For example, Text, Statistical, Diagnostic or Predictive Analysis to assess a digital and technology solutions.
Plan, design and manage simple computer networks with an overall focus on the services and capabilities that network infrastructure solutions enable in an organisational context.
Report effectively to colleagues and stakeholders using the appropriate language and style, to meet the needs of the audience concerned.
Research, investigate, and evaluate innovative technologies or approaches in the development of a digital and technology solution.
Apply relevant legal, ethical, social and professional standards to a digital and technology solution.
Identify and define software engineering problems that are non-routine and incompletely specified.
Provide recommendations as to the most appropriate software engineering solution.
Use appropriate analysis methods, approaches and techniques in software engineering projects to deliver an outcome that meets requirements.
Implement software engineering projects using appropriate software engineering methods, approaches and techniques.
Respond to changing priorities and problems arising within software engineering projects by making revised recommendations, and adapting plans as necessary, to fit the scenario being investigated.
Determine, refine, adapt and use appropriate software engineering methods, approaches and techniques to evaluate software engineering project outcomes.
Evaluate learning points arising from software engineering work undertaken on a project including use of methods, analysis undertaken, selection of approach and the outcome achieved, in order to identify both lessons learnt and recommendations for improvements to future projects.
Extend and update software development knowledge with evidence from professional and academic sources by undertaking appropriate research to inform best practice and lead improvements in the organisation.
Analyse client needs and determine how to advise them strategically through improved business processes, new ideas, or technology solutions.
Effectively communicate value add to the client through a variety of media. For example, presentations, written reports, Storytelling in a professional setting through performing socio-technical process improvements in a range of environments.
Make evidence based recommendations taking into account risks, costs, and benefits.
Participate in walk-throughs for Information Technologies, to identify, document and evaluate key risks within a client’s organisation.
Perform stakeholder analysis to identify, determine and deepen understanding of system requirements and develop client relationships.
Effect change within an organisation through evaluation of a new system, process or initiative.
Ensure legal and ethical requirements are accommodated in the development of digital and technology solutions.
Evaluate the success of new systems, processes, or initiatives.
Use requirements elicitation, analysis and documentation to produce an acceptable solution for business problems or further opportunities.
Conduct Process Analysis, Definition, Mapping and Modelling within a business situation without supervision.
Produce Use Cases which are of value to all stakeholders of a system.
Use tools and benchmarking to support modelling and requirements gathering and recommend approaches to team members as required.
Produce a business case to scope a proposed project including business benefits and recommendations.
Use products of analysis in the design and development of a system.
Evaluate the impacts of model selection and how they inter-relate with each other when generating business analytics.
Recommend and use appropriate software tools to implement Business Analysis tasks and outcomes.
Discover, identify and analyse security threats, attack techniques and vulnerabilities and recommend mitigation and security controls.
Undertake security risk assessments for complex systems without direct supervision and propose a remediation strategy relevant to the context of the organisation.
Recommend improvements to the cyber security approaches of an organisation based on research into future potential cyber threats and considering threat trends.
Manage cyber security risk.
Use appropriate cyber security technology, tools and techniques in relation to the risks identified.
Lead cyber security awareness campaigns and evaluate their effectiveness.
Analyse cyber security requirements against other design requirements for systems or products, identify conflicting requirements and recommend appropriate solutions with clear explanation of costs and benefits.
Lead the design and build of systems in accordance with a security case to address organisational challenges.
Define Data Requirements and perform Data Collection, Data Processing and Data Cleansing.
Apply different types of Data Analysis, as appropriate, to drive improvements for specific business problems.
Find, present, communicate and disseminate data analysis outputs effectively and with high impact through creative storytelling, tailoring the message for the audience. Visualise data to tell compelling and actionable narratives by using the best medium for each audience, such as charts, graphs and dashboards.
Identify barriers to effective analysis encountered both by analysts and their stakeholders within data analysis projects.
Apply a range of techniques for analysing quantitative data such as data mining, time series forecasting, algorithms, statistics and modelling techniques to identify and predict trends and patterns in data.
Apply exploratory or confirmatory approaches to analysing data. Validate and and test stability of the results.
Extract data from a range of sources. For example, databases, web services, open data.
Analyse in detail large data sets, using a range of industry standard tools and data analysis methods.
Identify and collate stakeholder needs in relation to computer network requirements, plans and designs.
Plan, design, document, and develop the relevant elements of a computer network within an organisation or between organisations, taking into account customer requirements (performance, scale), constraints (budget, equipment availability), and define policies for their use.
Monitor performance and ensure networks are configured correctly and perform as expected by designers or architects. Undertake capacity management and audit of IP addressing and hosted devices.
Investigate, troubleshoot and resolve data network faults in local and wide area environments, using information from multiple sources, Physically or Remotely by console connection. Recommend and implement short term fixes to restore service and, or, quality of experience and recommend longer term changes to prevent recurrence or reduce impact of future occurrences.
Implement computer networks from a design including testing and validation. This includes populating variables in configurations, for example, IP addresses and subsequent application of configuration to equipment such as routers, switches, firewalls.
Secure network systems by establishing and enforcing policies, and defining and monitoring access. Support and administer firewall environments in line with IT security policy.
Research and evaluate emerging network technologies and assess relevance to current network requirements. Provide an objective opinion on how new features and technologies may be incorporated as required by the organisation.
Investigate security concerns or attacks. For example, Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS), port scanning, assessing key metrics and indicators, evidencing the chosen steps to mitigate.
Analyse a business problem to identify the role of digital and technology solutions.
Identify risks, determine mitigation strategies and opportunities for improvement in a digital and technology solutions project.
Analyse a business problem in order to specify an appropriate digital and technology solution.
Initiate, design, code, test and debug a software component for a digital and technology solution.
Apply relevant standard processes, methods, techniques and tools. For example, ISO Standards, Waterfall, Agile in a digital and technology solution project.
Manage digital and technology solutions projects. For example, identifying and resolving deviations from specification, applying appropriate Project Management methodologies.
Work effectively within teams, leading on appropriate digital technology solution activities.
Apply relevant organisational theories. For example, change management principles, marketing approaches, strategic practice, and IT service management to a digital and technology solutions project.
Apply relevant security and resilience techniques to a digital and technology solution. For example, risk assessments, mitigation strategies.
Initiate, design, implement and debug a data product for a digital and technology solution.
Determine and use appropriate data analysis techniques. For example, Text, Statistical, Diagnostic or Predictive Analysis to assess a digital and technology solutions.
Plan, design and manage simple computer networks with an overall focus on the services and capabilities that network infrastructure solutions enable in an organisational context.
Report effectively to colleagues and stakeholders using the appropriate language and style, to meet the needs of the audience concerned.
Research, investigate, and evaluate innovative technologies or approaches in the development of a digital and technology solution.
Apply relevant legal, ethical, social and professional standards to a digital and technology solution.

Your training plan

You will undertake professional development and training as part of a cohort of computing apprentices with Buckinghamshire New University completing the Digital Technology Solutions Professional Apprenticeship – Cyber Security Analyst pathway.

The qualifications you will achieve are:

BSc (Hons) in Digital & Technology Solutions
Level 6 Digital & Technology Solutions Professional

More training information

You will learn with a blend of self-directed study (using content provided by the university) and tutor-led sessions. Sessions are delivered by a mixture of online delivery and face-to-face sessions. Online sessions will be delivered once per week via a Virtual Learning Environment and will include a mix of group-based discussions, self-study, team activities, self-reflection and personal development. Face-to-face sessions are run throughout the year based on demand from learners.

In your final year, you will also complete your work-based project before undertaking your End Point Assessment. The End Point Assessment will include a presentation between the university and STFC, covering the work-based project, your approach, outcome and the skills, knowledge and behaviours demonstrated. This will be assessed as part of the overall project assessment.

You will be supported in developing a portfolio of work-based projects to build and demonstrate the required skills, behaviours and knowledge required for this apprenticeship.

Requirements

Essential qualifications

GCSE in:

English (grade 4/C or above)
Maths (grade 4/C or above)

A Level in:

2 x A levels or equivalent (grade C or above)

Desirable qualifications

A Level in:

Computer science (grade C or above)

Let the company know about other relevant qualifications and industry experience you have. They can adjust the apprenticeship to reflect what you already know.

Skills

Communication skills
IT skills
Attention to detail
Organisation skills
Customer care skills
Problem solving skills
Presentation skills
Administrative skills
Number skills
Analytical skills
Logical
Team working
Creative
Initiative

Other requirements

Due to the requirement of obtaining an enhanced security clearance for this role, we are only able to accept applications from persons who have been resident in the UK for the last 5 years. We cannot sponsor visa applications for this role.

About this company

UKRI is an organisation that brings together the seven disciplinary research councils, Research England and Innovate UK. Together, we build an independent organisation with a strong voice and vision ensuring the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation. Supporting some of the world’s most exciting and challenging research projects, we develop and operate some of the most remarkable scientific facilities in the world. We are pushing the frontiers of human knowledge through fundamental research and delivering benefits for UK society and the economy through world-class research, skills and business-led innovation.

https://www.ukri.org/councils/stfc/ (opens in new tab)

Company benefits

STFC offers a benefits package crafted to provide an excellent work/life balance including 30 days’ annual leave, an outstanding index linked pension scheme, 10.5 public and privilege days, Christmas closure and flexible working hours.

Disability Confident

A fair proportion of interviews for this apprenticeship will be offered to applicants with a disability or long-term health condition. This includes non-visible disabilities and conditions.

You can choose to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident scheme. You’ll need to meet the essential requirements to be considered for an interview.

After this apprenticeship

Employees can access additional training including upskill apprenticeships.

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

Science and Technology Facilities Council

Louisa Chipperfield

louisa.chipperfield@ukri.org

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC1000295497.

Apply now

Closes on Sunday 16 February

When you apply, you’ll be asked to sign in with a GOV.UK One Login. You can create one at the same time as applying for this apprenticeship.

After signing in, you’ll apply for this apprenticeship on the company's website.

Company’s application instructions

Online applications only preferred for this role. Please submit a CV and covering letter which clearly outlines how you fulfil the criteria specified along with your motivation for UKRI and the role. Note that failure to address the above criteria or submit an application without a covering letter may result in the application not being considered. Assessment will only be based upon the content of your submitted covering letter and CV and not the ‘experience’ section of the application.

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