Only 5 days left

NADRA Jobs 2026 in Islamabad — Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)

National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) — NADRA Headquarters, G-5/2, Islamabad

By Muhammad Younus, Editor Posted: 29 Oct 2026 Updated: 01 Nov 2026 14 min read

NADRA Jobs 2026 announce the senior post of Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at the National Database and Registration Authority headquarters in Islamabad, and the last date to apply online is 11 November 2026. This is a single senior leadership post for an experienced cybersecurity professional: applicants must hold a relevant Master's degree from an HEC-recognized institution, with HEC attestation, and must have at least ten years of professional experience in senior information security operations and management. The advertisement reference is PID(I)3844/26, and applications are accepted online only through NADRA's official careers portal at careers.nadra.gov.pk — no application fee is mentioned in the advertisement, and no salary package or vacancy count beyond the one title is printed, so neither is quoted in this article. The maximum age limit is 55 years, and the advertisement states that five years of general age relaxation is already included in that limit. The selected candidate will serve an initial six-month probation period, extendable on performance, and only shortlisted candidates will be called for interview.

About National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA)

The National Database and Registration Authority, NADRA, is the government organization responsible for national identity registration and related database services in Pakistan, working under the Ministry of Interior and Narcotics Control. Its work touches almost every adult citizen: it issues and manages the Computerised National Identity Card, maintains the national citizen database, and runs the registration centres, data centres and software systems through which identity is verified for banking, telecom, voting, passports and public services. Because that database is among the most sensitive data holdings in the country, NADRA's information security function is not a back-office IT job but a national-security-grade responsibility: the authority must protect identity records against intrusion, misuse and leakage, run security operations around the clock, investigate incidents with forensic discipline, and answer to national and international regulatory requirements. That is why the Chief Information Security Officer post is pitched at the top of the profession rather than at mid-career level, and why the advertisement demands a decade of senior experience rather than a degree alone. NADRA recruits professionals for different departments according to its operational requirements, and its headquarters in Sector G-5/2, Islamabad, in the State Bank of Pakistan Building on Shahrah-e-Jamhuriat, is where this post is based. For a cybersecurity leader already running security operations, governance or incident response at scale, this is one of the very few chief-level security posts in Pakistan's public sector, with a mandate that covers strategy, operations, threat intelligence and the authority's external representation on security matters.

Vacant Positions — Post-Wise Details

One post title is open in this round, and it is a chief-level post rather than a batch recruitment. The advertisement prints no vacancy count beyond the single title and no salary package, so this article quotes neither. What it does print in full is the qualification, the ten-year senior experience rule, the age limit and the responsibility set, and those are set out below.

• Chief Information Security Officer (CISO): The authority's senior security leadership post, owning information security strategy, the Security Operations Centre, incident response and forensics, threat intelligence, vulnerability assessment and penetration testing oversight.

Eligibility Criteria — Who Can Apply

• Master's degree in Information Security, Information Technology, Computer Science, Software Engineering or an equivalent relevant discipline, from an HEC-recognized institution, with degree attestation by the Higher Education Commission.
• Preference for a PhD or doctoral degree in a relevant discipline.
• Preference for relevant professional certifications, particularly Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and Certified Information Security Manager (CISM).
• Minimum 10 years of experience in senior positions involving information security operations and management, covering strategy, governance, security operations centre management, incident response and forensics, threat intelligence and vulnerability assessment / penetration testing.
• Experience of national and international regulatory requirements, information security risk assessment, security policy development and management of information security teams.
• Strong communication, decision-making and leadership skills, as required for a chief-level post that represents the authority at national and international forums.
• Maximum age 55 years; the advertisement states that five years of general age relaxation is already included in the specified age limit.
• Government and semi-government employees must provide a No Objection Certificate at the time of interview.
• Attested educational documents must be provided at the time of joining; the selected candidate must provide medical fitness and character certificates.
• Only online applications through careers.nadra.gov.pk will be accepted; no application fee is mentioned in the advertisement.

NADRA Jobs 2026 for the Chief Information Security Officer post are written for a candidate who has already led security at scale, and the eligibility pattern makes that plain in three layers. The first layer is education: a Master's degree in Information Security, Information Technology, Computer Science, Software Engineering or an equivalent relevant discipline, from an HEC-recognized institution, with HEC attestation of the degree, and a stated preference for a PhD or doctoral degree in a relevant discipline. The second layer is certification: the advertisement prefers relevant information security audit and management certifications, naming the Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and the Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) specifically, which tells applicants that the authority values audited, governed security practice rather than tool familiarity alone. The third layer, and the decisive one, is experience: at least ten years in senior positions involving information security operations and management, with the advertisement naming the domains the candidate must have actually worked in — information security operations and management, national and international regulatory requirements, cybersecurity strategy and governance, information security risk assessment, security operations and incident response, security policy development, and management of information security teams. Strong communication, decision-making and leadership skills are also required, because the post represents NADRA at national and international forums on information security and cybersecurity matters. The age rule is a single line with an important clarification: the maximum age limit is fifty-five years, and five years of general age relaxation is already included in that limit, so applicants should not add a further relaxation on top of it. Government and semi-government employees must provide a No Objection Certificate at the interview stage, attested educational documents must be provided at joining, and the selected candidate must provide medical fitness and character certificates. No salary package is printed in the advertisement, and no application fee is mentioned, so neither is stated in this article.

Salary & Benefits

NADRA Jobs 2026 print no salary package for the Chief Information Security Officer post, and this article therefore quotes no rupee figure. That is the honest position: the advertisement gives the qualification, the ten-year senior experience rule, the age limit, the contract terms and the application route, but it does not publish a pay scale or a monthly package for the post. Candidates should not rely on salary figures quoted by third-party job sites for this post, because no such figure appears in the advertisement, and any figure found elsewhere is at best a market guess for a chief-level security role. What can fairly be said is that this is a chief-level leadership post in a major federal authority, with a six-month probation period extendable on performance, which indicates a senior contract appointment rather than a junior or mid-career opening. The one financial point the advertisement is clear about is the cost of applying: no application fee is mentioned, and the application is made online only through the careers portal, so there is no fee or postal cost to the applicant. No travelling allowance or daily allowance for the interview is mentioned either, and electronic devices including mobile phones and smartwatches will not be allowed during interviews, so applicants should plan accordingly. The package, if offered, will be settled at the offer stage under NADRA's own terms, and candidates who reach interview should ask for it in writing before accepting, because a chief-level post of this kind is normally negotiated on the documented record of the candidate's experience.

Selection Process

NADRA Jobs 2026 for the Chief Information Security Officer post are filled by online application, shortlisting and interview, and the advertisement states the rules plainly. The first stage is the online application itself through the careers portal at careers.nadra.gov.pk: applicants provide personal details, educational qualifications, professional experience, information security and cybersecurity background, relevant certifications and contact information, and upload the required documents according to the portal's instructions, with an application guide available in the Downloads section of the portal. Only online applications will be accepted, and the closing date is 11 November 2026, so an application that is not submitted online by that date does not exist for this recruitment. Shortlisting is done against the printed criteria — the relevant Master's degree with HEC attestation, the ten years of senior information security experience, and the age limit — and only shortlisted candidates will be called for interview, so meeting the degree alone does not guarantee a call. At the interview stage, government and semi-government employees must provide a No Objection Certificate, electronic devices including mobile phones and smartwatches are not allowed, and no travelling or daily allowance is provided. The selected candidate then undergoes an initial six-month probation period, extendable on performance, must provide attested educational documents at joining together with medical fitness and character certificates, and should note that NADRA reserves the right to cancel or withhold the recruitment process and that false information may result in disqualification at any stage.

Documents Required

• Online application submitted through the NADRA careers portal at careers.nadra.gov.pk, with all fields completed accurately.
• Master's degree certificate in Information Security, Information Technology, Computer Science, Software Engineering or an equivalent relevant discipline, from an HEC-recognized institution.
• HEC attestation of the degree, as required by the advertisement.
• PhD or doctoral degree certificate, if held and claimed as a preferred qualification.
• CISA and / or CISM certification, if held and claimed as a preferred qualification.
• Experience letters proving at least 10 years in senior information security operations and management roles.
• Updated CV covering the full information security and cybersecurity background, including SOC management, incident response, threat intelligence and VAPT work.
• Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC), attested copy.
• No Objection Certificate from the current employer, for government and semi-government employees, at the time of interview.
• Medical fitness certificate and character certificate, for the selected candidate at joining.
• Attested educational documents for verification at the time of joining.
• Any additional documents the careers portal asks for with the online application.

Terms & Conditions

Recruitment under NADRA Jobs 2026 for the Chief Information Security Officer post is governed by advertisement reference PID(I)3844/26. Applications must be submitted online only through the NADRA careers portal at careers.nadra.gov.pk, and the closing date is 11 November 2026. Only shortlisted candidates will be called for interview, and NADRA reserves the right to cancel or withhold the recruitment process. False information may result in disqualification at any stage. Government and semi-government employees must provide a No Objection Certificate at the time of interview; attested educational documents must be provided at the time of joining; and the selected candidate must provide medical fitness and character certificates. The selected candidate will undergo an initial six-month probation period, extendable on performance. Electronic devices, including mobile phones and smartwatches, will not be allowed during interviews, and no travelling or daily allowance will be provided. Women, minorities, transgender persons and differently abled candidates are encouraged to apply, and applicants should review all official recruitment conditions on the careers portal before submitting.

Frequently Asked Questions