Security Lead

About Allica Bank

Allica is the UK’s fastest growing company - and the fastest-growing financial technology (Fintech) firm ever. Our purpose is to help established SMEs, one of the last major underserved opportunities in Fintech.

Established SMEs are the backbone of local communities - representing over a third of our economy - yet have been largely neglected both by traditional high street banks and modern fintech providers.

Department Description

Security is woven into every part of Allica. We’re not just here to protect the business, we’re here to enable it to grow safely and confidently. Our work touches every team and every customer, whether that’s keeping payments flowing, data safe or our people equipped with the tools and knowledge to stay secure. We enjoy a mix of pace and purpose. In many banks, security can feel like a blocker – here, it’s a partner.

At Allica, we’re building security for a modern bank, cloud-native, intelligence led and transparent. That means our people have the freedom to shape how security looks, experiment with new approaches, technology and see their impact almost immediately.

Role Description – Security Lead

As Allica’s Security Lead you’ll be responsible for building, maturing and leading a high-performing team that designs, runs, and continuously improves the bank’s security capabilities across Security Operations and Identity & Access Management.

Your role is about outcomes, not just tasks. You will make sure Allica’s defences are not only resilient today but are evolving to anticipate tomorrow’s threats. You’ll set the standard for engineering excellence, automation, and innovation in how security is delivered. Most importantly, you’ll shape a culture where security enables growth and trust, rather than slowing it down.

Principal Accountabilities

Engineering for resilience: Build and maintain security platforms that are scalable, automated, and intelligence driven. Success means fewer manual processes, faster response times, and defences that adapt as the bank grows.

Operational excellence: Lead SecOps and IAM with a focus on measurable outcomes: faster detection and response, reduced risk exposure, seamless identity experiences for colleagues.

Enablement, not friction: Deliver security solutions that empower the business to move quickly and safely. Create controls that feel invisible in day-to-day operations but deliver confidence at scale.

Leadership & growth: Develop a high-performing team of engineers. Coach them to own their outcomes, experiment with new approaches, and continuously raise the bar.

Innovation at pace: Champion new technologies and approaches. Stay ahead of industry trends and bring forward ideas that make us different from larger, slower peers.

Trust & transparency: Work across departments to build security into Allica’s DNA, ensuring stakeholders understand not just what we’re doing, but why it matters.

Personal Attributes & Experience

• Proven experience leading technical security teams, ideally across Security Operations and Identity.

• A track record of delivering outcomes that matters, whether that’s reducing mean time to detect/respond, implementing zero-trust, or driving measurable adoption of new security platforms.

• Evidence of going above and beyond: embracing emerging technologies before they became mainstream, delivering automation that changed how teams work, or implementing solutions that peers said couldn’t be done.

• Strong engineering background with hands-on ability in at least one core area (e.g. SIEM/SOAR, XDR, cloud security, incident response).

• Experience with Microsoft Azure environments and industry knowledge/experience of MDR/XDR platforms, as well as security tooling for email.

• A leader who empowers others: proven ability to coach, inspire, and grow engineering talent.

• Highly collaborative, with the ability to work at pace in a cross-functional environment and translate complex security challenges into clear, actionable outcomes.

• An innovator with curiosity and drive to explore new tools, new ideas, and new ways of thinking.

Working at Allica Bank

At Allica Bank we want to ensure our employees have the right tools and environment in which to succeed in their role and in support of our customers.

Our employees are at the heart of everything we do, so our benefits are designed with you in mind:

• Full onboarding support and continued development opportunities

• Options for flexible working

• Regular social activities

• Pension contributions

• Discretionary bonus scheme

• Private health cover

• Life assurance

• Family friendly policies including enhanced Maternity & Paternity leave

Don’t tick every box?

Don’t worry if you don’t have all the skills or requirements listed on the job description. If you think you’ll be a good fit, we’d still love to hear from you!

Flexible working

We know the ‘9-to-5’ isn’t right for everyone. That’s why Allica Bank is fully committed to flexible and hybrid working. Please let us know what is best for you and, if we can, we will do our best to accommodate.

Diversity

We’re a diverse bunch here at Allica, with all kinds of experiences, backgrounds and lifestyles. Our openness and differences make us stronger, and we want everybody to feel comfortable bringing as much of themselves to work with them as they like.