Head of Regional Security at Swift in Leiden area

Job description

ABOUT US We’re the world’s leading provider of secure financial messaging services, headquartered in Belgium. We are the way the world moves value – across borders, through cities and overseas. No other organisation can address the scale, precision, pace and trust that this demands, and we’re proud to support the global economy. We’re unique too. We were established to find a better way for the global financial community to move value – a reliable, safe and secure approach that the community can trust, completely. We’re always striving to be better and are constantly evolving in an ever-changing landscape, without undermining that trust. Five decades on, our vibrant community reflects the complexity and diversity of the financial ecosystem. We innovate diligently, test exhaustively, then implement fast. In a connected and exciting era, our mission has never been more relevant. Swift now has a presence in 200+ countries and legal territories to serve a community of more than 12,000 banks and financial institutions. Head of Regional Security Role Purpose The Head of Regional Security provides senior leadership across physical security, security investment planning, and risk management for the organisation’s regional operations. This senior role requires the credibility to represent the organisation with government and regulatory bodies, combined with the operational expertise to lead major physical security programmes across critical infrastructure sites. The postholder holds delegated authority for regional decisions, budget planning, reporting, oversight, KPI management and crisis response. Key Responsibilities Strategic Leadership: As a strategic and trusted adviser to the Head of Golbal Corporate Security, The Regional Corporate Security function leads on regional and cross-functional corporate security, including support for regulatory, board and executive reporting. The role develops and owns the regional security strategy, aligning it to the group-wide corporate security operating model. Lead the design, business case development, and delivery of major security investment projects, ensuring value for money and alignment with enterprise risk appetite. Critical Infrastructure & Regulated Environments: Provide security leadership across critical national infrastructure (CNI) assets, ensuring compliance with sector-specific regulatory frameworks. Own the relationship with government security bodies, and law enforcement, acting as the organisation’s principal point of contact on security matters within the region. Support regulatory reporting, lead and coordinate security audits, both regulatory and internal, ensuring findings are tracked to closure and inform continuous improvement. Geopolitical & Risk Management: Monitor and assess the geopolitical environment, translating intelligence into actionable guidance for leadership on risks to people, assets, and critical infrastructure. Own regional threat and risk assessments, ensuring mitigation plans are proportionate, current, and tested. A restored a senior escalation point during incidents, applying structured incident command principles (e.g. Gold-Silver-Bronze) to coordinate response. People & Programme Leadership: Lead a team of security specialists, setting objectives, developing capability, and managing performance. Manage investment projects are delivered on time and to specification. Build strong working relationships with peers across the business (legal, HR, operations, IT/cyber) to ensure security is embedded rather than siloed. Person Specification: Essential 10+ years in a management role leading security investment projects, ideally within a corporate or critical infrastructure security function. Demonstrable experience operating within a highly regulated environment involving critical infrastructure. Experience navigating geopolitical environments and assessing their impact on people and critical infrastructure. Track record of leading or coordinating investiga