Physical Security and Estates Lead
| Posting date: | 09 March 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £48,889 to £60,948 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 25 March 2026 |
| Location: | Birmingham, Bristol, Bootle, Croydon, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Reading and Swansea |
| Remote working: | Hybrid - work remotely up to 2 days per week |
| Company: | Government Internal Audit Agency |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 452233 |
Summary
The Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) is driven by its unparalleled access across government to build better insights, better outcomes for our clients. This role offers a strong platform for career progression within the Agency and the wider civil service, providing opportunities to develop leadership, partner engagement and strategic relationship management skills across government. The Agency’s unique access across the public sector exposes you to different risk and control environments, allowing you to gain insights, apply experience, contribute meaningfully, and continue developing professionally.
About the Role
The Physical Security and Estates lead will play an important role in ensuring the protection of assets, people, and property while delivering efficient and effective estate and safety management services. The role involves planning, implementing and maintaining robust security and safety measures, ensuring compliance with government policies and standards, legal requirements, and promoting a strong safe and secure culture across the organisation.
In addition to serving as a subject matter expert in physical security and safety, working in a multi-disciplinary team they will be required to perform various activities across other Central Services functions. These functions include security, data protection, estates, business continuity and health and safety. They will work flexibly, adapting to support these areas as needed to enhance the efficiency and resilience of Central Services. By doing so, they will ensure collaboration and contribute to the effective delivery of the organisation's objectives.
Role responsibilities
Leading estate management activities, including health & safety compliance, space optimisation, landlord relationships, facilities management, contracts and agreements, and incident reporting.
Providing expert advice and oversight on physical security, improving personnel safety and organisational security posture.
Managing accident and incident reporting (including RIDDOR), investigations, analysis, and prevention in collaboration with People teams, managers, and landlords.
Conducting evidence-based safety and security risk assessments across sites, suppliers, and the organisation, advising on control effectiveness, residual risk and undertaking remedial actions and tracking their completion.
Acting as the central point of contact for estates, safety, and physical security issues, ensuring timely resolution and removal of barriers to office attendance.
Managing personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) and support inclusive, safe working environments.
Assessing emerging threats and vulnerabilities using structured analytical techniques to provide holistic security risk opinions.
Managing contracts and relationships with external estates and security suppliers, developing and tracking improvement action plans.
Developing, implementing, and maintaining business continuity and incident response plans, including testing, communications, intranet guidance, and incident support.
Promoting a strong safety and security culture through training, expert advice, cross-government collaboration, and compliance with GovS 007, GovS 004, and departmental security health checks.
About You
We are looking for:
A strong track record of continuous improvement in security, estates or safety, working closely with others to identify where things could be made better and then working in partnership to make those improvements happen.
Experience of building relationships and influencing stakeholders, working collaboratively and inclusively, sharing information and knowledge to achieve common aims and excellent customer service.
Experience in conducting evidence-based safety or security risk assessments across sites, suppliers, and the organisation, advising on control effectiveness, residual risk, undertaking remedial actions and tracking their completion.
Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team, undertaking various activities across different functions, demonstrating flexibility and adaptability to support these areas to improve efficiency and resilience to contribute to the organisation’s objectives.
Qualifications Required: This role has responsibility for security and health and safety. All candidates must be IOSH or NEBOSH qualified or be a member of the Security Institute or have completed a level 3 Security Management course and have a willingness to undertake IOSH or NEBOSH certification.
We are committed to being an inclusive employer. We encourage applications from all backgrounds, and we welcome applications from candidates who wish to work flexibly, for example, part-time, term time or job share.
Hybrid Working is available to GIAA colleagues. This means a combination of office working and working from home. This includes time spent in our GIAA office locations and can also include any time spent attending our customers' sites.
GIAA has an expectation for all colleagues to attend their local workplace regularly and to attend client sites for key meetings and when undertaking fieldwork.
Some of the Benefits our people love!
Competitive salaries and in-year rewards
Flexible working
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
Discount on big brands
Volunteering days
Season Ticket Loan and Cycle to Work Schemes
Free eyesight tests
Family-friendly HR policies
25 days’ annual leave increasing by one day per year of service to 30 days after 5 years’ service.
About the Role
The Physical Security and Estates lead will play an important role in ensuring the protection of assets, people, and property while delivering efficient and effective estate and safety management services. The role involves planning, implementing and maintaining robust security and safety measures, ensuring compliance with government policies and standards, legal requirements, and promoting a strong safe and secure culture across the organisation.
In addition to serving as a subject matter expert in physical security and safety, working in a multi-disciplinary team they will be required to perform various activities across other Central Services functions. These functions include security, data protection, estates, business continuity and health and safety. They will work flexibly, adapting to support these areas as needed to enhance the efficiency and resilience of Central Services. By doing so, they will ensure collaboration and contribute to the effective delivery of the organisation's objectives.
Role responsibilities
Leading estate management activities, including health & safety compliance, space optimisation, landlord relationships, facilities management, contracts and agreements, and incident reporting.
Providing expert advice and oversight on physical security, improving personnel safety and organisational security posture.
Managing accident and incident reporting (including RIDDOR), investigations, analysis, and prevention in collaboration with People teams, managers, and landlords.
Conducting evidence-based safety and security risk assessments across sites, suppliers, and the organisation, advising on control effectiveness, residual risk and undertaking remedial actions and tracking their completion.
Acting as the central point of contact for estates, safety, and physical security issues, ensuring timely resolution and removal of barriers to office attendance.
Managing personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) and support inclusive, safe working environments.
Assessing emerging threats and vulnerabilities using structured analytical techniques to provide holistic security risk opinions.
Managing contracts and relationships with external estates and security suppliers, developing and tracking improvement action plans.
Developing, implementing, and maintaining business continuity and incident response plans, including testing, communications, intranet guidance, and incident support.
Promoting a strong safety and security culture through training, expert advice, cross-government collaboration, and compliance with GovS 007, GovS 004, and departmental security health checks.
About You
We are looking for:
A strong track record of continuous improvement in security, estates or safety, working closely with others to identify where things could be made better and then working in partnership to make those improvements happen.
Experience of building relationships and influencing stakeholders, working collaboratively and inclusively, sharing information and knowledge to achieve common aims and excellent customer service.
Experience in conducting evidence-based safety or security risk assessments across sites, suppliers, and the organisation, advising on control effectiveness, residual risk, undertaking remedial actions and tracking their completion.
Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team, undertaking various activities across different functions, demonstrating flexibility and adaptability to support these areas to improve efficiency and resilience to contribute to the organisation’s objectives.
Qualifications Required: This role has responsibility for security and health and safety. All candidates must be IOSH or NEBOSH qualified or be a member of the Security Institute or have completed a level 3 Security Management course and have a willingness to undertake IOSH or NEBOSH certification.
We are committed to being an inclusive employer. We encourage applications from all backgrounds, and we welcome applications from candidates who wish to work flexibly, for example, part-time, term time or job share.
Hybrid Working is available to GIAA colleagues. This means a combination of office working and working from home. This includes time spent in our GIAA office locations and can also include any time spent attending our customers' sites.
GIAA has an expectation for all colleagues to attend their local workplace regularly and to attend client sites for key meetings and when undertaking fieldwork.
Some of the Benefits our people love!
Competitive salaries and in-year rewards
Flexible working
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
Discount on big brands
Volunteering days
Season Ticket Loan and Cycle to Work Schemes
Free eyesight tests
Family-friendly HR policies
25 days’ annual leave increasing by one day per year of service to 30 days after 5 years’ service.
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.