IT Security Lead

WPP is the transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients, and communities.

Working at WPP means being part of a global network of more than 100,000 accomplished people in 110 countries. We create transformative ideas and outcomes for its clients through an integrated offer of communications, experience, commerce, and technology. WPP and our award-winning agencies work with most of the world's biggest companies and organisations – from Ford, Unilever and P&G to Google, HSBC, and the UN. Our clients include 61 of the FTSE 100, 325 of the Fortune Global 500, all 30 of the Dow Jones 30 and 62 of the NASDAQ 100.

WPP has headquarters in New York, London and Singapore and a corporate presence in major markets worldwide. We are quoted on the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. Key performance indicators for WPP (2020) include Billings of £46.9bn and Revenue of £12bn.

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Why we're hiring:

WPP IT provides IT services for WPP, group owned operating companies and agencies. The WPP group is the world’s largest communications services group, and as a creative transformation company, WPP is helping its clients transform the future through extraordinary work.  WPP IT is an integral part of that journey, and we are proud to provide technology for some of the world’s most creative brands.

As part of the organisational design initiative at WPP the Group CIO has created a new Target Operating Model (T.O.M), which consist of 4 distinct businesses in the group. These are: Integrated Creative, Media, Production, PR and Specialist – commonly termed as archetypes. S&H is one of these  new archetypes in the WPP group with a mandate for providing common solutions, platforms and services for Production, PR & Specialist Agencies and WPP Corporate Functions. 

Specialist & Hogarth (S&H) Archetype

The S&H archetype together with WPP IT are the technology solutions partner for WPP Corporate Functions, Production, PR & Specialist Agencies and are accountable for co-ordinating and assuring end-to-end change delivery, managing the IT technology life-cycle and innovation pipeline.

Operation Assurance

The Operation Assurance (OA) team in the S&H archetype is responsible for ensuring safe and secure IT operations, protecting our customers, employees, and shareholders, whilst making sure we remain compliant with our legal, regulatory, and contractual obligations.  As an IT Security Lead, you will play a critical role in developing and implementing a world class IT security programme to protect operating companies and agencies in the S&H archetype from cyber threats. Working closely with the WPP CSO organisation, WPP IT Security, and the OA department head you will assist in setting the vision and strategy for the OA function and be responsible for escalations relating to IT security operations, security assessments, incident response, and security advisory in all aspect information technology (i.e., hardware, software, compute, storage, network, DB, virtualisation, on-prem & cloud technologies, project work, new business partnerships and M&A). As a subject-matter-expert you will be responsible for managing and developing a highly effective security function that strengthens our defences and creates a proactive and collaborative approach to IT Security and IT Security risk management.

You will operate in a highly complex environment with multiple risk categories, including IT operations, information security, legal, regulatory, financial and commercial with broad impacts spanning both the S&H Archetype and the WPP Group.

You’ll have a deep understanding of the information security standards, frameworks, and methodologies we can use to strengthen our security posture.  You will work across all OpCo’s and agencies part of the S&H archetype to implement agreed processes and practices mandated by WPP CSO organisation and WPP IT Security function.

You will have good understanding of managing security engineering lifecycles (from requirements analysis through to acceptance and early life support, and disposal.) Understanding of different lifecycles/methodologies (waterfall, incremental, agile, DevOps) would be beneficial, as embedding security from inception in all aspect of information technology will prevent security afterthoughts in designing and developing business critical IT solutions and services.  

You’ll be able to actively manage live security risk issues from an issue resolution and communication standpoint and be able to prioritise remediation to minimise impact to the S&H archetype and the WPP group.

What you'll be doing:

• Work closely with and assist OA department head in developing an IT Security strategy for the S&H archetype that is aligned to WPP CSO and WPP IT strategies.
• Establish IT security community across the range of S&H agencies to drive the implementation and standardisation of agreed security governance and controls 
• Support IT security operations and design, providing critical Specialist and Hogarth Archetype context support and input to security assessments – including the consumption of security architecture, addressing security vulnerabilities, penetration testing and internal ethical hacking services
• Work closely with the IT Ops and CSO security teams to deal with security issues in the S&H archetype
• Ensure the knowledge, capability, capacity and readiness across the Specialist and Hogarth Archetype to identify the security requirements, to apply the appropriate security activities within their ‘patch’ and to respond/ escalate security threats and vulnerabilities.
• Drive the archetype’s IT security strategy and approach, by working with S&H Archetype’s Operations Assurance Lead, Strategy & Architecture and other IT stakeholders in the WPP Group
• Actively support archetype’s BCP, DR and Resiliency planning initiatives and assist Rick & Compliance Lead with technical security operations knowledge
• Provide technical subject-matter-expertise in internal and external security assessments of BAU activities, projects, vendors, business partners and client contracts
• Be S&H point of contact for relevant business stakeholder escalations relating to IT security operations. Lead and oversee resolution of the most complex, critical, and impactful security events and incidents in relation to information security
• Work across the S&H Archetype teams like Risk & Compliance, Global Technology Services, Digital Workplace and Strategy and Architecture to design controls, deliver management information (KPIs) and security oversight using intelligent tools and dashboards   
• Drive engagement, comms and adoption for all IT security initiatives to ensure the rationale for task is understood, the mandate is embedded, and colleagues and partners are trained and can perform effectively and efficiently.
• Build strong relationships with the external stakeholders (customer, suppliers, other major bodies) as well as build a network of peers to bring innovation and insights on industry best practice, standards, frameworks, and processes to deliver a future-fit capability
• Ensure that S&H archetype remains safe and secure by advising all stakeholders to engineer services and solutions that are in line with WPP Security Charter and industry best practice
• Support OpCo’s and Agencies in the S&H Archetype during client pitch for winning new work by providing a compelling narrative to our prospective clients around the strength of our security posture
• Be responsible more managing a team of security analyst to support business functions in EMEA, AMER & APAC regions.

What you'll need:

• Security Management Certifications (i.e., CISSP, CISM, ITIL) desirable but not essential
• Technical Security Certifications (MSCE/MCTS, Azure & O365 Security Certification, AWS Security Certification, CCNA, VMWare-VCP, CEH, CCSK, Security+, GSEC, Firewall Certification) desirable but not essential
• Degree or equivalent (i.e. BSc, BEng, MSc) desirable but not essential
• Comprehensive knowledge about Information Security standards, frameworks and best practices (i.e., ISO27K1, NIST, SANS, CIS, TOGAF, OWASP, Cyber Essentials)
• Excellent understanding of Windows, Linux & Mac systems, VMware, SANs, Networks, and Perimeter Security solutions (i.e., firewalls, mail gateways, load balancers, AV/MDR/XDR, IPS/IDS, SAML, LDAP, PKI, DNS, DHCP, PAM)
• Good understand of embedding security in SDLC and DevOps functions
• Strong and deep background in cyber / information security in complex global organisations
• Track record of building / leading diverse, high performing, operations teams from the ground up and comfortable working with autonomy
• Ability to provide leadership on complex and unfamiliar situations, often involving risk and emotion
• Expert communicator with a track record of operating, partnering with and influencing up to and including exec-level stakeholders
• Able to lead highly complex programmes across multiple units and geographies with high-pressure deliverable
• Information Security subject-matter-expert with in-depth knowledge of security solutions in the cloud and on-prem IT infrastructure
• Ability to operate and lead in a fast-paced organizational transformation and able to navigate and champion change across organisational / geographical complexity
• A genuine desire to lead, develop, coach and mentor direct reports/team members.

Who you are:

You're open: We are inclusive and collaborative; we encourage the free exchange of ideas; we respect and celebrate diverse views. We are accepting: of new ideas, new partnerships, new ways of working.

You're optimistic: We believe in the power of creativity, technology and talent to create brighter futures or our people, our clients and our communities. We approach all that we do with conviction: to try the new and to seek the unexpected.

You're extraordinary: we are stronger together: through collaboration we achieve the amazing. We are creative leaders and pioneers of our industry; we provide extraordinary every day.

What we'll give you:

Passionate, inspired people – We promote a culture of people that do extraordinary work.

Scale and opportunity – We offer the opportunity to create, influence and complete projects at a scale that is unparalleled in the industry.

Challenging and stimulating work – Unique work and the opportunity to join a group of creative problem solvers. Are you up for the challenge?

WPP is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, religion or belief, sex, age, national origin, citizenship status, marital status, military/veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental disability. We believe in creating a dynamic work environment that values diversity and inclusion and strives to recruit a diverse slate of candidates to help us achieve that goal.

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