The UK Government has been slammed by an expert after advertising a social media job paying up to £21k more than a role protecting nuclear submarines from cyber attacks.
Questions have been raised after the Nuclear Propulsion Cyber Security Lead role was listed with a salary of just £47,600, while a Social Video Lead position offers between £57,204 and £68,558 – a potential gap of £21k.
Both vacancies are currently advertised on the UK Government website with applications closing on Wednesday (29 July).
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The vital cyber security role, based in Bristol and Raynesway, Derby, involves protecting sensitive information systems used across the UK’s submarine programme and supply chain.
The successful applicant would provide expert cyber security advice, lead audits, accredit networks and systems, and authorise platforms handling Naval Nuclear Propulsion Project Information.
The advert describes it as “a key post” whose importance is increasing as the nuclear propulsion supply chain expands.
It also warns the successful candidate will have access to “very sensitive information”, requiring additional security checks and restrictions on travel to certain countries.
The Social Video Lead role, meanwhile, is based in London and the new northern hub in Manchester and forms part of the Government Media Unit within the Cabinet Office.
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The unit says it was created in April 2026 to transform government communications and rebuild trust with the public through social media content.
But cyber security expert Noel Bradford said he was astonished by the salary gap between the two posts, as reported by Whats The Jam.
He said: “Put these roles side by side and the picture is genuinely hard to defend.
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“The Cabinet Office is advertising social media producer roles at up to £68,558.
“The Ministry of Defence is advertising for someone to lead cyber security assurance across the nuclear submarine supply chain at £47,600.
“That is a gap of around £21,000, and it runs the wrong way.
“The social media roles are perfectly legitimate jobs.
“This isn’t a dig at them.
“But when the state pays more to produce video content than to accredit systems handling naval nuclear propulsion information, something has gone badly wrong with how we value security.
“One of these roles requires developed vetting, the highest clearance the UK issues, and touches the continuous at-sea deterrent.
“The other runs social accounts.
“To be fair to the MOD, the base salary isn’t the whole story.
“That role carries a defined benefit pension with a near 29% employer contribution, worth close to £14,000 a year, which has all but vanished from the private sector.
“But the same pension applies to the Cabinet Office roles too, so it doesn’t close the gap.
“It just lifts the whole comparison.
“If Government itself underpays the person guarding its most sensitive systems, what hope has an ordinary firm of taking cyber security seriously?
“Security is the function everyone underfunds until the morning it fails.
“Good security doesn’t have to be expensive, but stupidity always is.”
The comparison also prompted surprise online, with one social media user writing: “Some nuclear defence job for the UK government at £47,000, TikTok job for the UK government £68,000.”
The UK Government has been approached for comment.
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