UK Salary nonsense is raising its head again. The UK Treasury is trying to find a Head of Cyber Security for UK£55k. That's.... well... it's.....

I have no words.

Cost of living is definitely a thing, which seems to confuse a lot of US people when they see UK salaries. In *very general* terms, getting £100k is similar to getting US$200k.

But even so, this is terrible.

Yes, I am simplifying but, *most* people in the UK on £100k a year will have a lifestyle similar to, if not better than, most people in the US living on US$200k a year.

And, yes, you will absolutely find a lot of exceptions to that. Well done.

But this is a different problem. It is a senior role, whatever LinkedIn says. It needs someone to be in the most expensive city in the country (at least some of the time) and it needs them to have the knowledge & experience to defend a Critical National Infrastructure target.

It is a Civil Service role, so the current crazy thinking about "overpaid civil servants" and our weird government obsession with cutting all public-paid salaries except their own has an impact.

But this is a significant problem. It really is.

If they have any competent staff left, this needs to be on the Risk Register in BIG letters as a significant, but complex, risk.

For a start, hiring. Who can you hire? Anyone with the skills & knowledge for this role can get 2-3x as much with almost no effort.

I mean, I got more than this for a mid-senior government role with no civilian-world experience 14 years ago.

Whoever they hire for this role is LIKELY to have bluffed something. Or they are going to bounce & just want it for a year or two to improve their CV.

That's a bit of a red flag though, as it means they don't have a strong enough CV to get a similar role... So they either messed up massively somewhere or don't have the knowledge/experience to do the job.

Back to being a bluffer.

The second risk is more financial. If Criminal Gang X want to get someone "inside" the treasury, this makes it pretty obvious that they are dirt cheap.

I am not saying people do not have morals, but if you are senior career, flat sharing with students and eating pot noodles each day and walking to work because your salary won't cover your rent *&* food *&* travel, then a criminal who offers you £100k to look the other way, is a very, very different proposition.

Why spend money buying possibly valid creds from the DarkWeb when you can just offer the Head of Security a decent meal...

I really do wish the best to whoever gets this job but the main risk (IMHO) is that if they won't pay a decent salary for the HEAD, then your staff are underpaid, undertrained, lacking in skill or experience and your security budget will be pocket money. #infosec #cybersecurity #treasury #security