Red Team Director

Job Description

Purpose of the role

To identify potential vulnerabilities within the banks IT systems using penetration testing tools and techniques to ensure security of computer systems, applications, servers, and networks. 

Accountabilities

• Development and execution of assessments, audits, and threat models to identify vulnerabilities within the banks systems, applications and servers using penetration tools and techniques, and communicate key findings and recommendations to stakeholders.
• Collaboration with stakeholders and IT teams to identify emerging cyber-attack techniques, tools and technologies and to support the development of penetration testing methodologies.
• Development and maintenance of comprehensive documents and reports for senior stakeholders on penetration test findings, and remediation guidance.
• Collaboration with stakeholders to understand their security requirements and controls in business processes, application/services, to enhance overall security posture and assurance.
• Identification of emerging vulnerabilities, exploit codes and cyber-attacks to develop testing methodologies and assurance activities.

Director Expectations

• To manage a business function, providing significant input to function wide strategic initiatives. Contribute to and influence policy and procedures for the function and plan, manage and consult on multiple complex and critical strategic projects, which may be business wide..
• They manage the direction of a large team or sub-function, leading other people managers and embedding a performance culture aligned to the values of the business. Or for an individual contributor, they lead organisation wide projects and act as deep technical expert and thought leader, identifying new ways of working and collaborating cross functionally. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..
• Provide expert advice to senior functional management and committees to influence decisions made outside of own function, offering significant input to function wide strategic initiatives.
• Manage, coordinate and enable resourcing, budgeting and policy creation for a significant sub-function.
• Escalates breaches of policies / procedure appropriately.
• Foster and guide compliance, ensure regulations are observed that relevant processes in place to facilitate adherence.
• Focus on the external environment, regulators, or advocacy groups to both monitor and influence on behalf of Barclays, when appropriate.
• Demonstrate extensive knowledge of how the function integrates with the business division / Group to achieve the overall business objectives.
• Maintain broad and comprehensive knowledge of industry theories and practices within own discipline alongside up-to-date relevant sector / functional knowledge, and insight into external market developments / initiatives.
• Use interpretative thinking and advanced analytical skills to solve problems and design solutions in often complex/ sensitive situations.
• Exercise management authority to make significant decisions and certain strategic decisions or recommendations within own area.
• Negotiate with and influence stakeholders at a senior level both internally and externally.
• Act as principal contact point for key clients and counterparts in other functions/ businesses divisions.
• Mandated as a spokesperson for the function and business division.

All Senior Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.

Strategic & Business Outcomes

• You will shape and deliver a senior-level red teaming strategy that strengthens cyber resilience, improves organisational readiness for major threat scenarios, and directly influences CISO strategy, security investment decisions, and enterprise control priorities.

Delivery, Change & Transformation

• You will lead the transformation of the red team by expanding into purple teaming while strengthening existing adversary emulation assessments, embedding real-time collaboration with the SOC to accelerate vulnerability remediation and measurable security improvement.

Commercial, Customer or Colleague Impact

• You will improve the effectiveness of cyber offensive and defence teams by raising technical capability, strengthening tradecraft, and ensuring colleagues are better prepared to detect, respond to, and recover from advanced adversarial activity.

Risk, Governance & Control

• You will ensure red team activity supports regulatory expectations and control effectiveness, bringing credible CBEST and regulatory experience to strengthen assurance, governance, and operational resilience.

Leadership, Collaboration & Stakeholder Management

• You will provide visible leadership across a distributed technical team, engaging senior technology stakeholders, securing buy-in for campaign priorities, and creating momentum behind a more collaborative red team operating model.

Capability, Innovation & Future Readiness

• You will build future-ready offensive security capability by hiring and developing high-caliber talent, leveraging AI in testing approaches, expanding exercises to assess AI-enabled systems and emerging threat techniques, and helping the organization shift security left so controls are built in earlier across the technology lifecycle.