What do you actually do?
Source: https://www.york.ac.uk/students/work-volunteering-careers/options/career-ideas/podcast/ Parent: https://www.york.ac.uk/students/work-volunteering-careers/options/
A podcast from the Careers and Placements team, released every other week during UG semester-time.
A Career in Cyber Security with Phil Venables
In this episode, Phil Venables, Partner at Ballistic Ventures, explains how early-stage venture capital supports cybersecurity startups. His firm invests in new companies and works closely with founders to develop ideas, build teams, and grow successful businesses. Drawing on his career—from software engineering to senior cybersecurity roles at major organisations including Google—Phil highlights what it takes to succeed in cybersecurity. While the work can be demanding, it offers a strong sense of purpose, as professionals help protect critical systems, businesses, and society from growing digital threats.
Phil's Bio
Phil is a Partner at Ballistic Ventures working on early stage cyber investments Previously, Phil was the first Chief Information Security Officer of Google Cloud where he led the risk, security, compliance, and privacy teams and drove many AI security initiatives. Before joining Google, he was a Partner at Goldman Sachs where he held multiple roles over a long career, initially as their first Chief Information Security Officer, a role he held for 17 years. Prior to this he was in security, engineering, software development roles at a number of defense, energy and finance companies.
Browse our previous episodes
We've organised our previous episodes into job sectors so you can find the episodes most relevant to you.
Advertising, marketing and PR
- Climate Communications Consultant: Cass Hebron
- Getting on a top grad scheme, with Lewis McDowell
- Marketing in the museum, with Tasha McNaught
- Running an advertising firm, with Luke D'Arcy
- Client Account Management in Advertising with Izi Hutchinson
- Entrepreneurship and Direct Marketing with Tom Kelton
Want to know more? Read our job sector information on advertising, marketing and PR.
Charity and voluntary sector
- A career in corporate social responsibility, with Daniel Arda
- Making people's lives healthier, with Sam Thomas
- Pursuing your passions in the charity sector, with Cat Schroeter
- Working in international development
- Working in Heritage Education at The Rowntree Society
Want to know more? Read our job sector information on the charity and voluntary sector.
Creative industries
- All roads lead to film-making, with Richard Knight
- Executive producer in TV
- Film composer
- From lecture theatres to film sets, with Hannah Greig
- Getting involved with theatre, with John Tomlinson
- Historical consulting for video games, with Nicholas Gliserman
- Media and communications with Molly Watson
Want to know more? Read our job sector information about the creative industries.
Criminal justice
- On the beat, with Ross Gehnich
- Prison Officer (Unlocked Graduate scheme) (Note: the Unlocked scheme has suspended recruitment for 2025.)
Want to know more? Read our job sector information about criminal justice.
Digital, IT and cyber security
- Bringing social media into The Economist, with Adam Smith
- Changing fast: working in agile project management, with Alison Critchley
- Digital archaeologist and entrepreneur
- Flirting with Algorithms, with Harpal Sahota
- From TV to tech, with Vivien Chung
- Historical consulting for video games, with Nicholas Gliserman
- Running a startup
- Starting a Startup, with Phil Daneshyar
- Summer Internship: Make it yours! with Julia Hebron
- Service Designer: Kate Every
- Indie Games and XR Design with Yasmina Fadel
- A Career in Cyber Security with Phil Venables
Want to know more? Read our job sector information about digital, IT and cyber security.
Education
- Being a project manager, with Laura Hallett
- From lecture theatres to film sets, with Hannah Greig
- How to train your teacher, with Sarah Dagnell
- Lecturing is the tip of the iceberg, with J.T. Welsch
- Managing a University, with Charlie Jeffery
- University widening participation officer
Want to know more? Read our job sector information about:
Environment and energy
- Engineering in the nuclear industry with Cezara Jalba
- Climate Communications Consultant
- Environmental Consultant
- Making a splash, with Tom Pagett
- Pollution is in the air, with Aiden Heeley-Hill
- Summer Internship: It's not easy being green, with Oscar Bentley
- Media and Climate Communications with Molly Watson
Want to know more? Read our job sector information about environment and energy.
Finance, consultancy and business
- Working at the UK Space Agency with Faz Kazmi
- A career in corporate social responsibility, with Daniel Arda
- Changing careers: switching heritage for accounting, with Alice Yevko
- Financial services
- Life as a CEO
- Management consultant
- Service Designer: Kate Every
- Human-centred design in the cultural sector with Alyson Webb
Want to know more? Read our job sector information about finance and consultancy.
Health, healthcare science and social work
- Calling the Midwife, with Jessica Allason
- English grad to junior doctor: Graduate medicine and beyond, with Ian Henderson
- Exploring clinical science, with John Filby
- I ❤ Compliance, with Kate Pyle
- In and out the laboratory, with Stefan Sipika
- Life as a social worker, with Bethany Pease
- Making Medicine, with Tom Ronson
- Speech and language therapist
- Graduating with a disability with George Young
Want to know more? Read our job sector information about:
- Health services management
- Medicine
- Nursing
- Allied professions
- Healthcare sciences
- Social care and social work
International development
- Working in international development
- A career in International Development with Laura Gravini-Rodriguez
- Working in International Development with Juany Murphy, Otra Cosa Network
Want to know more? Read our job sector information on international development.
Journalism and publishing
- Bringing social media into The Economist, with Adam Smith
- Climate Communications Consultant
- A day in the life of a BBC journalist, with Lucy Vladev
- Get into book publishing, with Helen Barton
- Investigative journalist
- Journalism researcher at the BBC
- Writing for a living, with Lewis Lansford
- TV Journalism, Media and Communications with Molly Watson
Want to know more? Read our job sector information about journalism and publishing.
Law
- Barrister
- Leading innovation in the legal sector, with Alexander Malt
- Training to be a lawyer, with Alex Stewart-Moreno
- Facilitating the recovery of lost and stolen art with The Art Loss Register
Want to know more? Read our job sector information about law careers.
Museums and heritage
- Consultant in the heritage industry
- Digital archaeologist and entrepreneur
- Marketing in the museum, with Tasha McNaught
- Senior Estate Manager - English Heritage
- Talking census: a career in genealogy, with Christina Copland
- Working in heritage: In the archive in lockdown
- Human-centred design in the cultural sector with Alyson Webb
- Facilitating the recovery of lost and stolen art with The Art Loss Register
- Art Appraisal with Leah Tharpe
- Working in Heritage Education at The Rowntree Society
- Unearthing Careers in Heritage with Isabelle Diggle
Want to know more? Read our job sector information about museums and heritage.
Politics and public affairs
- Civil Service Fast Stream
- Climate Communications Consultant
- Making people's lives healthier, with Sam Thomas
- Managing the economic growth of York, with Alex Dochery
- Placement year in a political think tank, with Andrew Gloag
- The Civil Service Science and Engineering Fast Stream with James Halpin
- Social Research in the Civil Service with Matt Smith
Want to know more? Read our job sector information about:
Recruitment and HR
- A career in corporate social responsibility, with Daniel Arda
- Civil Service Fast Stream (HR Stream)
- Working in international development (recruitment role)
Science and engineering
- Working in the rail industry: Life as an Engineer at Network Rail
- Engineering in the nuclear industry with Cezara Jalba
- Engineer - European Space Agency
- In and out the laboratory, with Stefan Sipika – Biotech manager
- Making Medicine, with Tom Ronson
- National Grid Engineer
- Pollution is in the air, with Aiden Heeley-Hill
- The Civil Service Science and Engineering Fast Stream with James Halpin
Start-ups and entrepreneurship
- Starting a Startup, with Phil Daneshyar
- How to make a portfolio career work
- Life as a CEO: running Cafédirect
- Running a startup
- Entrepreneurship and working in Direct Marketing with Tom Kelton
Want to know more? Find out about Enterprise support at York.
Working in research
- From lecture theatres to film sets, with Hannah Greig
- Journalism researcher at the BBC
- Lecturing is the tip of the iceberg, with J.T. Welsch
- Making Medicine, with Tom Ronson
- Pollution is in the air, with Aiden Heeley-Hill
- In and out the laboratory, with Stefan Sipika
- Social Research in the Civil Service with Matt Smith
Want to know more? Read our job sector information about working in research.
Internships, placements, grad schemes and special episodes
We've recorded episodes with York students who have completed internships through York Internships and placements through the Placement Year Programme. We've also talked to graduates working on popular graduate schemes:
Internships
- Student Internship Bureau special
- Summer Internship: It's not easy being green, with Oscar Bentley
- Summer Internship: Make it yours! with Julia Hebron
Placement Year
- Placement year in recruitment
- Placement year in a political think tank, with Andrew Gloag
- Placement Year in the NHS
- Placement Year at The Walt Disney Company
Graduate schemes
- Aldi Graduate Area Manager Programme
- Civil Service Fast Stream
- L'Oréal marketing programme: Getting on a top grad scheme, with Lewis McDowell
- Unlocked Graduate scheme: Prison Officer