Cyber Security Consultant - Operational Technology (OT)

Introduction At IBM CIC, we provide technical and industry expertise to a wide range of public and private sector clients in the UK.

A career in IBM CIC means you’ll have the opportunity to work with leading professionals across multiple industries to improve the hybrid cloud and AI journey for the most innovative and valuable companies in the world. You will get the chance to deliver effective solutions, driving meaningful business change for our clients, using some of the latest technology platforms.

Curiosity and a constant quest for knowledge serve as the foundation to success here. You’ll be encouraged and supported to constantly reinvent yourself, focusing on skills in demand in an ever changing market. You’ll be working with diverse teams, coming up with creative solutions which impact a wide network of clients, who may be at their site or one of our CIC or IBM locations. Our culture of evolution centres on long-term career growth and development opportunities in an environment that embraces your unique skills and experience.

We Offer

• Many training opportunities from classroom to e-learning, mentoring and coaching programs and the chance to gain industry recognized certifications
• Regular and frequent promotion opportunities to ensure you can drive and develop your career with us
• Feedback and checkpoints throughout the year
• Diversity & Inclusion as an essential and authentic component of our culture through our policies and process as well as our Employee Champion teams and support networks
• A culture where your ideas for growth and innovation are always welcome
• Internal recognition programs for peer-to-peer appreciation as well as from manager to employees
• Tools and policies to support your work-life balance from flexible working approaches, sabbatical programs, paid paternity leave, maternity leave and an innovative maternity returners scheme
• More traditional benefits, such as 25 days holiday (in addition to public holidays), private medical, dental & optical cover, online shopping discounts, an Employee Assistance Program, life assurance and a group personal pension plan of an additional 5% of your base salary paid by us monthly to save for your future.

Your Role And Responsibilities As a Senior Security Consultant specialising in Operational Technology (OT) & Industrial Security, you will help clients protect critical national infrastructure, industrial control systems, and safety‑critical operational environments.

You will assess and secure OT/ICS estates — including SCADA, PLCs, DCS, HMIs and industrial networks — by applying security controls, segmentation patterns, and risk‑based mitigation strategies that strengthen resilience without disrupting operations.

Where relevant, you may also support industrial IoT (IIoT) and connected operational platforms, applying the same safety‑aware, risk‑based principles.

This is a highly technical, client-facing consulting role that requires balancing operational constraints with modern security practices to support secure digital transformation across energy, utilities, manufacturing, transport, and other regulated sectors.

Key Responsibilities

• Assess OT/ICS security posture, including network architecture, access pathways, remote access, asset visibility, and control system exposures.
• Design and implement secure architectures for industrial networks, including segmentation, zoning/conduits, DMZ patterns, and secure access to SCADA, PLC, and DCS environments.
• Conduct risk assessments and threat modelling tailored to OT environments, ensuring alignment with NIS/NIS2, IEC 62443, NCSC CAF, and other industry frameworks.
• Integrate and uplift monitoring and logging across OT/ICS systems, supporting improved event visibility, anomaly detection, and incident response readiness.
• Support incident response for OT environments, including containment strategies, recovery planning, and coordination across operations, engineering, and security teams.
• Collaborate with engineering, plant operations, and vendor teams to embed secure-by-design principles into industrial systems, upgrades, and transformation programmes.
• Advise on OT-specific vulnerabilities, patch management constraints, compensating controls, and risk-based prioritisation suited to safety-critical environments.
• Design secure remote access and vendor connectivity models, balancing operational requirements with robust authentication and segmentation controls.
• Guide clients through regulatory alignment, including NIS/NIS2, CAF assessments, audit preparation, and sector-specific compliance expectations.
• Deliver workshops and technical briefings, translating complex OT security risks into clear, actionable, business-aligned recommendations.

Preferred Education Bachelor's Degree

Required Technical And Professional Expertise

• Hands-on experience securing OT/ICS environments, including SCADA, PLCs, DCS, HMIs, and industrial networking components.
• Understanding of industrial protocols, such as Modbus, DNP3, OPC, Profinet, BACnet, or equivalent.
• Strong knowledge of OT network architecture, including zoning, conduits, segmentation, DMZ patterns, firewalling, and secure remote access.
• Experience with industrial security frameworks, such as IEC 62443, NIS/NIS2, NCSC CAF, NIST 800-82, or sector-specific regulatory guidance.
• Ability to perform OT-specific risk assessments, threat modelling, and safety-aligned security reviews.
• Exposure to OT-friendly logging, monitoring, and anomaly detection approaches, including integration into SIEM/SOC ecosystems.
• Experience collaborating with OT engineers, plant operators, safety teams, and vendors, understanding both operational and technological constraints.
• Knowledge of compensating controls for unpatched or legacy OT assets, and practical approaches for risk reduction without system downtime.
• Understanding of OT remote access patterns, vendor maintenance pathways, MFA enforcement, and secure jump-host/terminal server models.
• Consulting experience, including stakeholder engagement, requirements gathering, documentation delivery, and presenting risk-based recommendations.

This role requires eligibility for UK Government security clearance. Candidates who already hold clearance (SC or DV) are encouraged to apply, but we will fully consider applicants who meet the eligibility criteria and can obtain clearance.

Preferred Technical And Professional Experience

• Experience securing OT systems in energy, utilities, transport, chemicals, manufacturing, or CNI sectors.
• Hands-on exposure to OT monitoring tools or industrial detection platforms (e.g., Nozomi, Dragos, Claroty, Tenable.ot).
• Experience supporting CAF or NIS/NIS2 assessments, or leading remediation programmes against these frameworks.
• Knowledge of industrial wireless, safety systems (SIS), or building management systems (BMS) security considerations.
• Certifications such as GICSP, GRID, IEC 62443 qualifications, or vendor-specific OT security training.
• Experience integrating OT telemetry into SOC/SIEM environments, with an understanding of constraints around logging, latency, and data sensitivity.
• Exposure to IoT and IIoT security, including device onboarding, identity, firmware assurance, and edge gateway security.
• Experience delivering secure-by-design guidance during ICS upgrades, modernisation, or cloud-connected industrial programmes.