Information Security Lead - Vulnerability Management

Starling is the UK’s first and leading digital bank on a mission to fix banking! We built a new kind of bank because we knew technology had the power to help people save, spend and manage their money in a new and transformative way. Read more about Our Story here.

We’re a fully licensed UK bank with the culture and spirit of a fast-moving, disruptive tech company. We’re a bank, but better: fairer, easier to use and designed to demystify money for everyone. We employ more than 3,000 people across our London, Southampton, Cardiff and Manchester offices.

Our technologists are at the very heart of Starling and enjoy working in a fast-paced environment that is all about building things, creating new stuff, and disruptive technology that keeps us on the cutting edge of fintech. We operate a flat structure to empower you to make decisions regardless of what your primary responsibilities may be, innovation and collaboration will be at the core of everything you do. Help is never far away in our open culture, you will find support in your team and from across the business, we are in this together!

The way to thrive and shine within Starling is to be a self-driven individual and be able to take full ownership of everything around you: From building things, designing, discovering, to sharing knowledge with your colleagues and making sure all processes are efficient and productive to deliver the best possible results for our customers. Our purpose is underpinned by five Starling values: Listen, Keep It Simple, Do The Right Thing, Own It, and Aim For Greatness.

Hybrid working

We have a  Hybrid  approach to working here at Starling - our preference is that you're located within a commutable distance of one of our offices so that we're able to interact and collaborate in person. In Technology, we're asking that you attend the office a  minimum of 1 day per week .

About the role

We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Vulnerability Manager to lead a vulnerability management team. 

A successful candidate will work with the team to analyse emerging vulnerabilities provided by threat intelligence sources and penetration testing. 

The vulnerability manager will collaborate with various technology and engineering teams to share vulnerability findings, provide guidance, and assist through the remediation process. 

This person will help present this information in a simple digestible format, and coordinate remediation and mitigation efforts with teams across remote and office locations. There will be opportunities to guide continual improvement of the vulnerability management process.

Responsibilities

As the leader of the vulnerability management team, your responsibilities will include:

• Assessing and investigating emerging vulnerabilities, drawing from threat intelligence sources and internal software and infrastructure scans, providing comprehensive guidance based on findings.
• Collaborating with relevant technology teams, including security, engineering, workplace technology, data, and infrastructure, to ensure the timely resolution of identified issues.
• Tracking and reporting on the progress of mitigation efforts and resolutions to pertinent audiences.
• Overseeing the vulnerability management and policy compliance lifecycle, which encompasses scanning, prioritisation, reporting, and remediation governance.
• Promote vulnerability management standards, procedures & guidelines, and best practices outside the security functions
• Identify trends and themes in issues which occur and work collaboratively with wider teams to develop process and procedure improvements
• Conducting hands on vulnerability analysis across infrastructure, cloud environments, and applications.
• Ensuring compliance with internal security policies and regulatory requirements.
• Providing reporting, key performance indicators (KPIs), and executive visibility on the organisation's vulnerability posture.
• Supporting audits, risk assessments, and responses to emerging vulnerabilities.
• Active involvement in internal and external audits, along with experience in managing audit relationships.

Requirements

• Proven experience in a similar leadership role, guiding and motivating a team of subject matter experts.
• Strong understanding of Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE), Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS), threat intelligence, and remediation workflows.
• Knowledge of common vulnerabilities, attack vectors, and mitigation techniques.
• Familiarity with application development platforms.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for effective collaboration with cross functional teams and stakeholders.
• Ability to understand the larger context while effectively managing complex details.
• Willingness and capability to learn new technologies and adapt to evolving security landscapes.
• Practical experience in the following fields of vulnerability management:
  Endpoint Vulnerability Scanning
  Vulnerability Intelligence
  Application Security (AppSec) Vulnerability Management
  Vulnerability Management for cloud native workloads
• Desirable technical knowledge includes:
  Cloud services (AWS, GCP)
  Containers
  MacOS and Windows environments
  Data analysis and SQL

Interview process

Interviewing is a two way process and we want you to have the time and opportunity to get to know us, as much as we are getting to know you! Our interviews are conversational and we want to get the best from you, so come with questions and be curious. In general you can expect the below, following a chat with one of our Talent Team:

• First stage with the Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Management Lead
• Second stage with additional members of the Vulnerability Management team
• Final stage with InfoSec Director and CISO

Benefits

• 33 days holiday (including public holidays, which you can take when it works best for you)

• An extra day’s holiday for your birthday
• Annual leave is increased with length of service, and you can choose to buy or sell up to five extra days off
• 16 hours paid volunteering time a year
• Salary sacrifice, company enhanced pension scheme
• Life insurance at 4x your salary & group income protection
• Private Medical Insurance with VitalityHealth including mental health support and cancer care. Partner benefits include discounts with Waitrose, Mr&Mrs Smith and Peloton
• Generous family-friendly policies
• Incentives refer a friend scheme
• Perkbox membership giving access to retail discounts, a wellness platform for physical and mental health, and weekly free and boosted perks
• Access to initiatives like Cycle to Work, Salary Sacrificed Gym partnerships and Electric Vehicle (EV) leasing

About Us

You may be put off applying for a role because you don't tick every box. Forget that! While we can’t accommodate every flexible working request, we're always open to discussion. So, if you're excited about working with us, but aren’t sure if you're 100% there yet, get in touch anyway. We’re on a mission to radically reshape banking – and that starts with our brilliant team. Whatever came before, we’re proud to bring together people of all backgrounds and experiences who love working together to solve problems.

Starling Bank is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster diversity & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment at Starling Bank are considered without regard to race, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. 

When you provide us with this information, you are doing so at your own consent, with full knowledge that we will process this personal data in accordance with our Privacy Notice. By submitting your application, you agree that Starling Bank will collect your personal data for recruiting and related purposes. Our Privacy Notice explains what personal information we will process, where we will process your personal information, its purposes for processing your personal information, and the rights you can exercise over our use of your personal information.