Home Office seeks new director general for OSCT

The Office for Security and Counter Terrorism is seeking to recruit a new Director General, responsible for leading and delivering the government’s counter terrorism CONTEST strategy.

This means that the will be responsible for leading the counter-terrorism system across government, monitoring its performance, risks and impact. This will entail, working collaboratively with 22 other government departments, security and intelligence agencies, police organisations and arm’s-length bodies.

More specifically, the job also involves: leading for the Home Office on online harms legislation and broader legislation, including a Counter-Espionage Bill; ensuring close integration of the work on security with the rest of the Home Office’s work on borders, policing, crime and identity; and developing capabilities of other key partners, both overseas and in non-counter terrorism parts of government.

The successful candidate will succeed Tom Hurd, who moved from the OSCT to lead the Joint Biosecurity Centre set up as part of the coronavirus response in May. He was later replaced in that role by senior National Cyber Security Centre official Clare Gardiner.

Responsible for approximately 900 staff and a budget of c. £1 billion, the role has been advertised with a salary of up to £140,000 and a minimum of two years employment.