Head of Observability & Security Engineering

Head of Observability & Security Engineering
Up to £100.000 plus private healthcare, company car or car allowance and more great benefits (Work Level 4)
Manchester city centre - in this role you'll work in a hybrid way splitting your time between home and the office around once a week (find out more about our hybrid working policy at https://jobs.coop.co.uk/hybrid-working-policy).

We're open to applications from people who may require flexible working arrangements. There'll be an opportunity to discuss your flexible working requirements during the interview process, and at offer stage.

We're reshaping our Digital, Technology and Data function for the future, creating new opportunities, strengthening our capability, and building clearer, more resilient ways of working so we can deliver even better services for our Co-op, our colleagues, members and customers.

We're looking for a Head of Observability and Security Engineering to join our Technology Operations and Assurance team and help us build and run the platforms that keep our systems secure, resilient and easy to understand. In this role, you'll lead the design, build and operation of observability, security, identity and automation capabilities, making sure we have the right insight, control and engineering foundations to support the organisation, bringing data together to give a complete, real-time view of what's happening across our technology estate.

Why this role matters

This is a key leadership role at the heart of how we run and protect our technology. You'll shape how we monitor, secure and automate across a complex estate, ensuring we have accurate data, clear insight and strong engineering in place to support everything we do. This is an area of real growth for us, where we're moving towards more proactive, intelligence-led capabilities, helping us detect and respond to risks earlier and anticipate issues before they happen.

In this role you'll have the opportunity to drive meaningful change at scale, from modernising tooling and improving resilience to enabling business transformation, while leading a skilled team in a purpose-led organisation. You'll play a key role in building innovative, future-ready capabilities, working with modern technologies and helping shape a truly best-in-class observability and security engineering function.

What you'll do

* Lead the strategy and delivery of observability, security engineering and platform tooling across the organisation
* Design and implement enterprise observability, covering logging, metrics, tracing and telemetry across cloud, on prem and SaaS environments, ensuring we have complete visibility across all platforms
* Oversee the development of a future-state CMDB and its integration with ITSM platforms, enabling better service visibility and decision-making
* Drive automation and intelligent engineering approaches to reduce manual effort and improve operational reliability, supporting more proactive and self-healing operations
* Lead identity and access management engineering, including cloud identity, privileged access and lifecycle automation
* Ensure security logging and telemetry support effective threat detection, response and regulatory requirements
* Partner with technology, security and business teams to embed secure, resilient engineering into major programmes, including cloud and M&A activity, bringing together data and insight from across domains
* Build and lead a high-performing engineering team, setting clear direction, standards and ways of working, creating a culture of innovation, strong engineering practice and continuous improvement

What you'll bring

We're committed to making our roles as accessible as possible, so we only ask for the minimum criteria. To thrive here, you'll need to bring:

* Strong senior leadership experience in platform, security or engineering roles within a complex environment
* Deep understanding of observability practices, including logging, metrics, tracing and telemetry
* Experience designing and delivering large-scale platforms such as CMDB, ITSM or similar enterprise tooling
* Strong background in security and identity engineering, including cloud-based identity solutions, with a good understanding of networks and integration across complex environments
* Experience of delivering automation and integrating systems at scale
* Good understanding of security and resilience frameworks such as NIST and Zero Trust, as well as future trends and emerging technologies
* Ability to work across technical and business teams, influencing and building strong relationships
* Clear and confident communication skills, able to explain complex topics to non-technical audiences
* Vision, curiosity and imagination to drive innovation and turn ideas into practical outcomes

We know some people may hesitate to apply if they don't meet every requirement. At Co-op, we're committed to building diverse and inclusive teams, so if you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly, we still encourage you to apply.

Why Co-op?

At Co-op, we're owned by our members. And because we're owned by you, we can do right by you. So when you join us, you're not just taking a job, you're joining a movement. We're an organisation that puts people and communities first, and we're powered by purpose. We want this to be a place where you can thrive, so you'll also receive:

* An annual bonus (based on personal and business performance)
* 28 days holiday (rising to 32 with service) plus bank holidays
* A pension with up to 10% employer contributions
* Private healthcare
* Company car or £6,000 car allowance
* Access to a subsidised onsite gym (at our Manchester HQ)
* 30% discount on Co-op products and 10% off other brands
* Stream - early access to a percentage of your pay as you earn it
* Virtual healthcare including GP appointments, mental health support, nutrition and fitness advice
* 24/7 colleague support service
* Training and support for your development and career progression
* Cycle-to-work scheme

A place you'll belong

We're building diverse and inclusive teams that reflect the communities we serve. We welcome applications from everyone and are committed to creating a workplace where colleagues can feel like they belong, supported by our inclusive policies and the ways we work.

We're proud to be part of the Disability Confident scheme and offer interviews to disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria for a job. If you need any adjustments during the recruitment process, we'll support you.

Learn more about our recruitment process at jobs.coop.co.uk/apply-process and our inclusion commitments at jobs.coop.co.uk/diversity-inclusion