About Kerry
About Kerry Kerry Dairy Ireland is a vertically integrated farm‑to‑fork business with a very substantial consumer foods presence and a leading nutritional and dairy ingredients division, delivering high-quality dairy solutions with a focus on sustainability and innovation.
About the role
The Cyber Security Lead is a senior, permanent role responsible for protecting Kerry Dairy Ireland’s digital estate during its transition to a standalone organisation and throughout its ongoing operations. In the immediate term, the role plays a pivotal part in ensuring that cyber security is designed and embedded into all infrastructure, application, and data migrations as KDI separates from Kerry Group.
Beyond the programme, the Cyber Security Lead will own and evolve KDI’s cyber security strategy, standards, and risk posture, providing sustained assurance that the organisation’s systems, data, and operations remain secure, resilient, and compliant. The role acts as the single accountable authority for cyber security across KDI, enabling the business to grow, innovate, and operate with confidence in an increasingly complex threat landscape.
Reporting Line & Role Context
Reports to ICT Director
Role type: Permanent senior leadership role (Hybrid – 3 days per week in Tralee office)
Acts as the senior cyber security authority for Kerry Dairy Ireland, with accountability spanning both transformation and steady‑state operations.
Key responsibilities
Act as the single accountable authority for cyber security across Kerry Dairy Ireland, owning cyber risk decisions during transformation and in steady‑state operations.
Embed security by design into infrastructure, application, data, and integration architectures to ensure security is built in from inception and sustained long‑term.
Define, own, and enforce enterprise‑wide cyber security standards for identity, access, data protection, network, and cloud security across all vendors and internal teams.
Provide risk‑based security leadership to enable delivery, innovation, and growth while protecting the organisation from cyber, regulatory, and operational risk.
Establish and maintain KDI’s cyber security strategy, governance, and operating model, ensuring consistent controls and eliminating fragmented or ad‑hoc security practices.
Oversee cyber risk management and incident preparedness, ensuring the organisation can effectively detect, respond to, and recover from security threats.
Ensure ongoing compliance, audit readiness, and regulatory alignment, reducing exposure to costly incidents, remediation, or reputational damage.
Drive a strong security culture across KDI, embedding cyber awareness into everyday decision‑making and operations.
Own KDI’s cyber security strategy, standards, and risk posture across both transformation and day‑to‑day operations.
Lead cyber risk management, incident readiness, and regulatory compliance, ensuring resilience and audit readiness.
Decision Authority
Authority to define and enforce cyber security standards across KDI.
Authority to approve, challenge, or block technology solutions based on cyber risk.
Authority to escalate unresolved cyber risks to senior leadership where required.
Key Interfaces
ICT leadership and delivery teams
Business application and platform owners
External vendors and managed service providers
Audit, risk, and compliance stakeholders
Qualifications and skills
Senior experience in cyber security leadership roles within complex or multi‑vendor technology environments.
Strong understanding of cloud platforms, identity and access management, applications, data, and network security.
Proven ability to embed security‑by‑design into large‑scale technology change and transformation initiatives.
Experience managing cyber risk, incident preparedness, and regulatory compliance in operational environments.
Comfortable operating in regulated or audited environments, including data protection obligations.
Leadership & Professional Competencies
Pragmatic, risk‑based decision maker able to balance security, delivery pace, and business needs.
Confident engaging with and challenging senior stakeholders, vendors, and delivery teams.
Strong communicator, able to translate cyber risk into clear business impact and decisions.
Effective in small, fast‑moving organisations with evolving structures and priorities.
High standards of integrity, accountability, and ownership.
Qualifications
Degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Cyber Security, or a related discipline (or equivalent experience).
Relevant professional certifications desirable but not mandatory (e.g. CISSP, CISM, CCSP).
Equal Opportunity Statement
Kerry Dairy Ireland is committed to fostering an inclusive culture and does not discriminate based on gender, race, class, economic status, ethnic background, sexual orientation, age, political beliefs, veteran status, marital status or any other protected characteristic. We will not accept CVs or candidate profiles from recruitment agencies where Kerry Dairy Ireland terms of business have not been signed. We will not ask candidates to pay any money during the hiring process, except for reimbursable travel expenses.
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