Head of Global Physical Security

The role

To set the firm’s global physical security strategy, governance, and standards, ensuring the firm can protect its people, clients, information and assets across a multi-jurisdiction office network and major events. The role provides senior assurance, risk leadership, and crisis advisory, enabling consistent, proportionate and legally compliant security controls aligned to the firm’s risk appetite and operational resilience obligations.

The role will focus on:

• All firm offices globally (owned/leased), client-facing locations, and major firm events.
• Physical security design, controls and assurance (e.g., access control, CCTV, guarding, visitor management, secure areas).
• External environments relevant to the firm’s footprint (e.g., building landlords, shared premises, high-risk geographies).
• Integration points with: Operational Resilience, ERM, Real Estate, Facilities, H&S, IT/InfoSec, Travel Risk, HR.

Who you will work with

Internal Relationships

• Operational Business Transformation Leadership Group (OBTLG) which has overall responsibility for Operational Resilience policy standards and implementation.
• The Real Estate Committee and Global Head of Property Portfolio.
• Global, Regional, and local office management across the firm (GCOO, RCOOs, OMPs and GMs).
• Risk and compliance function to whom you will act as strategic security advisor.
• IT / Information Security (converged security)
• Travel / Mobility, HR, Facilities, H&S
• Client relationship teams for client assurance and security queries

External Relationships

• Building landlords and managing agents (including shared-space governance)
• Security suppliers (guarding, systems integrators, GSOC providers)
• Specialist advisors (risk intelligence, protective security consultants)
• Law enforcement / emergency services (as appropriate, jurisdiction by jurisdiction)

What you will do

1) Strategy, Governance & Risk Leadership

• Define and maintain the global physical security strategy and multi-year roadmap, aligned to firm priorities, growth, and risk appetite.
• Establish and chair an appropriate physical security governance framework (e.g., working group / steering forum) to drive decisions, transparency and accountability.
• Define risk appetite, tolerance and escalation thresholds for physical security, aligned to enterprise risk management and operational resilience.
• Own the global physical security risk register, ensuring consistent risk articulation, prioritisation, and escalation of material issues to senior governance.
• Provide board/committee-level reporting: key risks, control effectiveness, major incidents, and strategic investment priorities.

2) Global Standards, Policy & Control Framework

• Own and maintain the firm’s physical security policy and technical/operational standards for:
  • Access control and identity/credentialing (including secure areas)
  • Visitor management and reception controls
  • CCTV and monitoring (including retention, privacy-by-design, signage)
  • Guarding (where used), post orders, and quality expectations
  • Workplace design security requirements (secure rooms, confidential waste, perimeter, anti-tailgating, etc.)
  • Event security baseline requirements and escalation model
• Define a risk-based minimum control baseline for all offices, plus enhanced controls for high-risk sites.
• Establish a clear exceptions process with documented rationale, time limits, compensating controls and senior risk acceptance.

3) Assurance, Testing & Continuous Improvement

• Design and oversee a global assurance programme to validate control effectiveness, including:
  • periodic site assurance reviews (risk-based cadence)
  • independent assessments / penetration style reviews where proportionate
  • supplier assurance and performance reviews
• Ensure remediation activity is owned and delivered by office / regional teams, with your role providing challenge, prioritisation, escalation and sign-off of closure for material issues.
• Oversee the firm’s Global Security Operations Centre including managing relationships with third-party providers where appropriate.  
• Maintain firmwide security MI/KRIs, including trends, incidents, audit outcomes, and compliance to standards; report routinely to senior stakeholders.

4) Security Architecture for Real Estate Projects

• Act as the senior security authority for office openings, relocations, refurbishments and expansions, ensuring security requirements are embedded at:
  • concept design
  • detailed design and procurement
  • commissioning and handover
• Set global security design principles and approve deviations, ensuring consistency across the portfolio.
• Advise on shared building/landlord controls and negotiate outcomes that meet firm standards.

5) Converged Security & Data/Privacy Compliance

• Partner with InfoSec and IT to ensure physical security controls integrate with cybersecurity and information protection (e.g., secure areas, badge-to-network logic where applicable).
• Ensure physical security technologies and processes are legally compliant and proportionate (privacy, employment considerations, data retention, cross-border considerations).
• Establish appropriate governance for CCTV/monitoring, including access rights, audit trails, retention schedules, and vendor controls.

6) Incident & Crisis Leadership

• Serve as the firm’s senior physical security advisor during major incidents, crises and heightened threat periods.
• Ensure the firm maintains robust physical security incident response playbooks, including:
  • roles and responsibilities
  • communications protocols
  • interface with business continuity / crisis management
  • post-incident review and lessons learned
• Lead senior stakeholder briefings during incidents and ensure consistent messaging and decision support.

7) Travel / Event Security Oversight

• Set the firm’s security requirements for major events, including risk-tiering, minimum controls, and escalation routes.
• Partner with Head of Travel / Mobility to ensure journey management and travel security are risk-based and consistent with office risk profiles.
• Provide targeted briefings for higher-risk travel or locations; ensure appropriate supplier arrangements are in place.

8) Supplier & Commercial Oversight

• Define the global supplier strategy for physical security (guarding, systems, monitoring, risk intelligence).
• Own or co-own selection criteria and contracting requirements (security, privacy, performance SLAs, resilience).
• Oversee vendor performance at a strategic level; ensure issues are addressed by operational owners with appropriate escalation.

9) Capability, Training & Culture

• Set the capability framework and training standards for security stakeholders (Facilities, Office Management, Event Owners, Reception).
• Build a global community of practice for local security points-of-contact to drive consistency and maturity.

Non-exhaustive list of key outcomes and measures of success

• Clear, adopted and embedded global security standards with transparent exceptions management.
• Risk-based assurance programme demonstrating control effectiveness, not just documentation.
• Improved consistency across offices while allowing local adaptation (“local”).
• Measurable reduction in repeat audit findings; timely closure of high-risk remediation items.
• Strong incident performance (speed of escalation, decision support quality, lessons learned implemented).
• Mature MI/KRI reporting supporting leadership decision-making and investment prioritisation.

Your experience

Significant experience leading multi-site / multi-jurisdiction physical security programmes in a complex professional services, corporate, financial services or similarly regulated environment.

• Demonstrable track record in:
  • physical security strategy, governance and standards
  • risk assessment methodologies and assurance/audit programmes
  • major incident and crisis support (senior advisory role)
  • real estate project security design and delivery oversight
  • vendor governance and commercial oversight
• Comfortable influencing senior stakeholders in a matrix environment and driving outcomes without direct line control.

Skills:

• Strong understanding of physical security controls and systems (access control, CCTV, secure area design, visitor management).
• Strong grasp of risk-based security planning and security-by-design principles.
• Working knowledge of privacy and proportionality considerations for monitoring technologies.
• Ability to integrate physical security with operational resilience, business continuity and information security.

Qualifications

• Membership of a recognised security body (e.g., ASIS, Security Institute) or equivalent desirable.
• Relevant professional training/certification in risk, security management, crisis management, or resilience (desirable, not mandatory).
   

Who we are

We are one of the largest international law firms in the world. With over 30 offices across the globe, we strive to exceed the expectations of our clients, providing them with the highest-quality advice and legal insight, which combines the firm’s global standards with in-depth local expertise.

Our firm, work and people span jurisdictions, cultures, and languages. We offer our clients a truly international perspective. We believe every career should be rewarding and stimulating - full of opportunities to learn, thrive, and grow. That’s why we’re so proud of our inclusive, friendly, and team-based approach to work.

Our one firm global strategy is focused on targeted growth led by the needs of our core clients, those who we can best support with the breadth and depth of Clifford Chance expertise, across the sectors and geographies, which matter most to them.

You’ll find our clients in commercial and industrial sectors, the financial investor community, governments, regulators, trade bodies, and not-for-profit organisations. But no matter who they are or why they’ve reached out to us, we provide a world-class service every step of the way. And that’s possible thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit and conscientious approach to work that you’ll find across all of our teams.

Whichever area of the business you join, you’ll become an integral part an innovative, diverse and ambitious team of people. Clifford Chance is a place where the brightest minds and the best of colleagues meet.
 

Hybrid working

This role follows our 'balanced' hybrid working approach and as long as business needs allow, you will be supported to work in a hybrid way with the expectation of working from the office for a minimum of 50% of your time.

What we offer including our broad range of benefits and working environment

When you join Clifford Chance, you will have access to a broad range of benefits to support you across many aspects of your personal and professional life including financial, wellbeing, lifestyle, and family friendly benefits. For more information on what we offer specifically in the UK, please visit our What We Offer page on our career site. 

Equal opportunities

At Clifford Chance, we understand that our true asset is our people. Inclusion is good for our team and their families, our firm and society.

We are committed to treating all employees and applicants fairly and equally regardless of their gender, gender identity and expression, marital or civil partnership status, race, colour, national or ethnic origin, social or economic background, disability, religious belief, sexual orientation, or age.  This applies to recruitment and selection, terms and conditions of employment including pay, promotion, training, transfer and every other aspect of employment.

We have a variety of flourishing employee networks. These networks are a place for colleagues to share experiences and advocate for change wherever they see an opportunity for improvement.

Our goal is to deliver an equality of opportunity, an equality of aspiration and an equality of experience to everyone who works in our firm. 

Find out more about our inclusive culture here.