Principal Technology Adviser - Identity and Trust

Principal Technology Advisor – Identity and Trust

Full time / Part time

Salary: £57,815pa - £65,021pa, with potential for further progression to £73,211pa with our pay progression scheme.

Location:

Hybrid

Contracted to our Wilmslow, London, Edinburgh, Cardiff or Belfast office, however, we offer flexible home and office-based working opportunities. There will be times when you will be expected to attend the office to collaborate with colleagues or travel due to business need. Please note, from Autumn 2026 our head office will relocate from Wilmslow to Manchester city centre.

• Pay progression scheme.
• Hybrid and flexible working options.
• 25 days paid holiday per year, plus privilege and public holidays.
• Flexi leave (up to 26 additional days leave per year).
• Pension (employer contribution around 28.9%).
• Online discount scheme to save money at major supermarkets, retailers, gyms, restaurants, insurance providers and many more.
• Health Cash Plan.
• Fantastic development opportunities to learn and progress.

Further details can be found on the benefits section of our .

Reporting to the Group Manager of the Identity and Trust team, you will join legal, policy and technology experts across the ICO involved in different projects and work streams.

You may have relevant technical experience through a background in encryption or security (public key infrastructure/cryptography), development of technical standards for online trust (ie ETSI, ISO Mdl, NIST 800-63, W3C VC, FIDO, GPG 45), or experience of other associated disciplines, such as Decentralised identity, security and privacy engineering or identity verification and authentication.

You will enjoy substantial autonomy, often working directly with more senior colleagues, including members of the ICO Executive and Senior Leadership Teams, and will regularly provide advice and expertise in internal briefings and at external events and meetings. You may also work directly with external researchers or technologists, and industry fora as part of this role.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the independent regulator of information rights. In a data-driven world, we provide advice, guidance, and support to organisations enabling compliance with their obligations, as well as protecting individuals and their personal data.

As an employer, we are passionate about making a positive difference to the lives and careers of our people, and we empower you to be curious, impactful, collaborative and respectful.

• Provide in-depth advice on technology projects and support the development of information rights policy generally as required.
• Build strong relationships within the ICO and translate technical insights into impactful actions.
• Support the ICO’s supervisory functions for qualified status of trust service providers under UK eIDAS.
• Provide strategic advice to the Commissioner and his senior leadership team, including the delivery of timely and high-quality briefings.
• Keep up with developments in online trust and their implications for information rights such as: interoperability and technical standards, fraud and security risks and mitigations, or usability and inclusivity considerations for identity management.
• Develop relationships with key stakeholders and represent the ICO in technical discussions, conferences, and meetings with technical bodies and interest groups.
• Represent the ICO in situations where expert advice or guidance is needed, eg meeting senior technical representative bodies and information rights interest groups, speaking at conferences, etc.

Essential criteria assessed at application stage:

• Substantial experience relevant to the role requirements, as described in the role responsibilities and person specification, and accumulated through any combination of academic or vocational qualifications or experience
• Good knowledge of cryptographic concepts enabled by PKI (Encryption, digital signatures, authentication, non-repudiation).
• Up to date knowledge of current trends and practices in system architecture for digital identity or trust services
• Ability to apply technical standards or legislative…