Cyber security technical professional (integrated degree)
- Level
- 6
- Typical duration
- 48 months (about 4 years)
- Max funding band
- £24,000
- Route
- Digital
Leading teams which manage cyber security risks.
About the role
A cyber security technical professional operates in business or technology / engineering functions across a range of sectors of the economy including critical national infrastructure (such as energy, transport, water, finance), public and private, large and small. They will normally operate with a considerable degree of autonomy and will lead teams which research, analyse, model, assess and manage cyber security risks; design, develop, justify, manage and operate secure solutions; and detect and respond to incidents. They work in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, standards and ethics.
How it compares
At 48 months (about 4 years), it is longer than average for a degree-level apprenticeship (the average across all 172 Level 6+ standards is 39 months).
The funding band — the maximum an employer's levy can contribute to training costs — is £24,000, at or above the £21,500 average for degree-level standards. Apprentices never pay tuition either way.
Typical job titles
- Cyber Risk Manager
- Cyber Risk Analyst
- Cyber Research Analyst
- Cyber Incident Manager
- Cyber Security Engineer
- Cyber Security Design Engineer
What you'll learn
The official standard defines 26 knowledge areas, 12 skills, 3 behaviours. This is the actual assessed content of the apprenticeship — worth reading before an interview, because competency questions are usually written straight from these lists.
Knowledge 26
- 1: N/A Foundations of cyber security, its significance, concepts, threats, vulnerabilities and assurance.
- 2: Design, build, configure, optimise, test and troubleshoot simple and complex networks. Network foundations, connections, internetworking, protocols, standards, performance, security and server virtualisation.
- 3: Apply statistical techniques to large data sets. Identify vulnerabilities in big data architectures and deployment. Information management, big data concepts, statistical techniques, database concepts and data quality.
- 4: Build test and debug a digital system to a specification. Computer architecture, digital logic, machine level representation of data.
- 5: Configure an Operating System in accordance with security policy. Identify threats and features. Operating System principles, architectures, features, mechanisms, security features and exploits.
- 6: Write, test, debug programs in high and low level languages and scripts. Algorithm and program design, concepts, compilers and logic. Programming languages.
- 7: Design, implement and analyse algorithms. Algorithms, complexity and discrete maths.
- 8: Construct software to interact with the real world and analyse for security exploits. How software interacts with the hardware and real world environment and security issues.
- 9: Analyse malware & identify its mechanisms. Malware, reverse engineering, obfuscation.
- 10: Apply secure programming principles and design patterns to address security issues. Defensive programming, malware resistance, code analysis, formal methods, good practice.
- 11: Apply system engineering and software development methodologies and models. System development principles, tools, approaches, complexity, software engineering.
- 12: Discover, identify and analyse threats, attack techniques, vulnerabilities and mitigations. Threats, vulnerabilities, impacts and mitigations in ICT systems and the enterprise environment.
- 13: Assess culture & individual responsibilities. Human dimensions of cyber security.
- 14: Undertake ethical system reconnaissance and intelligence analysis. Structured and ethical intelligence analysis, methods, techniques.
- 15: Undertake risk modelling, analysis and trades. Management of cyber security risk, tools and techniques.
- 16: Undertake risk assessment to an external standard. Quantitative & qualitative risk management theory & practice, role of risk stakeholders.
- 17: Apply a management system and develop an information security management plan. Concepts & benefits of security management systems, governance & international standards.
- 18: Configure and use security technology components and key management. Security components: how they are used for security / business benefit. Crypto & key management.
- 19: Design & evaluate a system to a security case. How to compose a justified security case.
- 20: Architect, analyse & justify a secure system. Understand security assurance, how to achieve it and how to apply security principles
- 21: Develop an assurance strategy. Assurance concepts & approaches.
- 22: Security monitoring, analysis and intrusion detection. Recognise anomalies & behaviours. How to diagnose cause from observables. Application of SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) tools & techniques.
- 23: Manage intrusion response, including with 3rd parties. Cyber incident response, management, escalation, investigation & 3rd party involvement.
- 24: N/A Legal, regulatory, compliance & standards environment.
- 25: Organise testing & investigation work in accordance with legal & ethical requirements. Applicability of laws regulations & ethical standards.
- 26: Develop & apply information security policy to implement legal or regulatory requirements. Legal responsibilities of system owners, users, employers, employees.
Skills 12
- Fluent in written communications and able to articulate complex issues.
- Makes concise, engaging and well-structured verbal presentations, arguments and explanations.
- Able to deal with different, competing interests within and outside the organisation with excellent negotiation skills.
- Able to identify the preferences, motivations, strengths and limitations of other people and apply these insights to work more effectively with and to motivate others.
- Able to work effectively with others to achieve a common goal.
- Competent in active listening and in leading, influencing and persuading others.
- Able to give and receive feedback constructively and incorporate it into his/her own development and life-long learning.
- Analytical and critical thinking skills for Technology Solutions development and can systematically analyse and apply structured problem solving techniques to complex systems and situations.
- Able to put forward, demonstrate value and gain commitment to a moderately complex technology-oriented solution, demonstrating understanding of business need, using open questions and summarising skills and basic negotiating skills.
- Can conduct effective research, using literature and other media.
- Logical thinking and creative approach to problem solving.
- Able to demonstrate a ‘security mind-set’ (how to break as well as make).
Behaviours 3
- Demonstrates business disciplines, ethics and courtesies, demonstrating timeliness and focus when faced with distractions and the ability to complete tasks to a deadline with high quality.
- Flexible attitude and ability to perform under pressure.
- A thorough approach to work in the cyber security role.
Live vacancies
No live vacancies for this course as of 2026-07-24 — new adverts appear on Find an apprenticeship daily, and many degree apprenticeship employers recruit on their own careers sites instead.
Universities registered to deliver it
4 universities are on the government provider register for this standard. Registration means they can deliver it — live vacancies depend on employer partnerships each recruitment cycle.
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Official sources
- Official standard page (Skills England)
- Registered training providers (Find apprenticeship training)
Occupational summary, duties, knowledge, skills and behaviours reproduced from the ST0409 apprenticeship standard (last updated 2022-08-26) — contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Always check the official page before applying: standards get revised.