Senior Security Engineer
Possible
Sponsorship likelihood
This employer issued few or no visas recently
Not disclosed
Salary
Not disclosed by employer
£48,500
Going rate
Skilled Worker going rate
This role likely qualifies for a Skilled Worker visa
SOC 2135 (89% match) is an eligible occupation, with a going rate of £48,500, and OPTICORE IT LTD is a licensed sponsor. That is our reading of the rules. Whether they issue a Certificate of Sponsorship is still their call.
This could also be SOC 2137 (IT network professionals). We read the code off the advert, so it is our best guess, not the employer's.
New graduate or PhD holder? Pick one of the lower rates.
What each route needs for this job
| Occupation code | New entrant 70% of going rate | STEM PhD 80% of going rate | Relevant PhD 90% of going rate | Standard rate 100% of going rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2135 Cyber security professionals Most likely code | £34,000 | £38,800 | £43,700 | £48,500 |
2137 IT network professionals Also possible | £33,400 | £36,500 | £41,100 | £45,600 |
We use the lowest threshold across the plausible codes. Likelihood is Possible at most when the pay clears only a lower rate, or only under a less likely code. How the Home Office picks the code
About the role
Opticore IT is a specialist Network Engineer and Project Management consultancy offering a wide variety of opportunities to work within fast-paced, challenging environments across our client base spanning multiple sectors including Finance, Broadcast Media, Telecommunications and more.
Opticore IT are currently searching for a Senior Security Engineer who is confident working with Fortigate to join the team for an initial 6 month contract inside IR35 with scope to extend. This opportunity will require 2 days per week in Central London.
Lead the design, business agreement and hands on delivery of a new firewall governance framework for the bank, acting as design authority while reviewing and remediating a Cisco FTD and FortiGate estate of around 4,000 rules so that every rule has a clear owner, purpose and review date, and laying the foundation for Firewall Policy as Code.
What you'll be doing:
Review the bank's current firewall policies, AlgoSec reports, Ivanti request and change processes, and CMDB ownership data to establish the current state.
Design the firewall operating model, covering roles, governance forums, policy hierarchy, exceptions and risk acceptance, and KPIs.
Produce the ownership model and RACI, the request, change and continuous risk based recertification procedures, and the Ivanti firewall request catalogue item design.
Tailor the Rule Design Standard to Cisco FTD and FortiGate, and define a vendor neutral rule schema that forms the data model for Policy as Code.
Deliver BU workshops in London, write the BU onboarding pack, and support second line review with Technology Risk and the CISO office through to sign off.
Analyse the full rule base in AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer, establish a measured baseline and risk rank the findings.
Map rules to business units and service owners using the Ivanti CMDB, validate ownership with each BU, and investigate orphaned rules for risk acceptance.
Remove unused, shadowed, redundant and expired rules through change packs with rollback plans, implemented out of hours under the bank's change control.
Remediate wide and overly permissive rules in risk order, using Elastic traffic logs (including month end and quarter end) to design explicit replacement rules, validate failover paths, then monitor, disable and remove the original rules.
Record every remediated and new rule in the vendor neutral format, and produce interim and final segmented reports showing each BU its rules and risk.
Run a pilot recertification cycle with one BU, align DC Refresh firewalls with the framework, and deliver the Policy as Code high level design, close out report and stakeholder handover
What you'll bring:
Cisco FTD/FMC & FortiGate Firewall Engineering
Firewall Rule Base Review & Remediation
Firewall Governance & Operating Model Design
Change Control in Regulated / Financial Services Environments
Business & Second Line Stakeholder Engagement
Diversity:
At Opticore IT we embrace diversity and are committed to equal opportunities. We actively recruit for an inclusive and diverse workforce and as such, want to ensure we do everything we can to support your application.
We want you to feel empowered to let us know if you require any adjustments to be made with your application or interview process so please speak to our recruitment team.
This description is the source posting as it read when we added it. We are not affiliated with OPTICORE IT LTD, so check their own site for the current details.
Where this offer sits in the market
Cyber security professionals (SOC 2135) · UK · ONS ASHE 2025 · basic pay · ~30k in sample- Middle half £43,680–69,316
- Median £51,376
- Going rate £48,500
- Threshold £41,700
- New entrant £34,000–43,700
Similar sponsored roles
See all UK visa jobsNo close matches live right now.
Browse more sponsored jobs at OPTICORE IT LTDAbout sponsorship for this role
Does this job guarantee visa sponsorship?
Not necessarily. OPTICORE IT LTD holds a sponsor licence, but sponsorship for a specific hire is always the employer's decision. Be upfront in your application that you'll require it.
What salary is needed for this role to be eligible?
The offer must clear both the general threshold and the SOC 2135 going rate of £48,500. New-entrant and shortage discounts can lower it.