Knowledge and Information Manager
Location: Cheltenham
Salary: £36,408
Flexible working: we recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance and offer flexible working patterns to suit your needs. This is an office-based role, however some home working may be possible one day per week.
About us
GCHQ is an intelligence, cyber and security agency with a mission to keep the UK safe. We use cutting-edge technology, ingenuity and partnerships to identify, analyse and disrupt threats. Working with our intelligence partners MI5 and MI6, we protect the UK from terrorism, cyber-attacks and espionage. At GCHQ you’ll do varied and fascinating work in a supportive and inclusive environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.
The Role
Effective information management is vital to the success of our operations. As a Knowledge and Information Manager, you’ll support our intelligence community by meeting their requirements and ensuring information is shared securely. Based in our Knowledge and Information team, you’ll deliver information services, work with customers across the business, and identify opportunities to shape our processes to meet the changing needs of our organisation.
Day-to-day, you’ll promote best practice across the organisation and make sure knowledge and information is accessible, usable and protected. From ensuring information is managed in line with legal and departmental responsibilities, to managing our intranet, online collaboration platforms, document management and corporate records estate - you’ll help provide a service that streamlines the finding and sharing of mission-critical knowledge and information.
You’ll work with a wide range of customers and stakeholders to meet their needs. Whether you’re providing support on our information systems or working with the team to identify new ways of working, you’ll be an active member of our community. You’ll be involved in small and large scale projects and you’ll seek to bring transformational changes to the way we operate. In doing so, you’ll enable our community to achieve mission success now and into the future.
About You
You’ll have a degree and/or a post-graduate qualification in a relevant subject area such as Information Management, Records and Archives, or Librarianship. Or, you’ll have experience working in a similar sector, for example Information Management, Knowledge Management, Records Management, Librarianship, Information Policy and/or Governance. Importantly, you’ll bring a genuine interest, understanding and aptitude for the Knowledge and Information profession.
Motivated and collaborative, you’ll be comfortable engaging and communicating with customers and colleagues at all levels. You’ll work on individual projects and as part of the team and enjoy supporting colleagues and delivering reliable customer service. As someone who enjoys solving problems and finding solutions, you’ll be able to identify opportunities for innovation and ways to future-proof our services.
Training and development
You’ll receive a mix of internal and on-the-job training, as well as access to external courses and further development pathways. Upon joining, you’ll undertake the Knowledge and Information team’s ‘first 100 days’ induction programme for new starters. And you’ll have a say in which learning areas you wish to pursue taking into account the role, your needs and your preferred learning styles.
You’ll also be encouraged to gain accreditation from professional bodies including AIIM, IRMS and CILIP.
Rewards and Benefits
You’ll receive a starting salary of £36,408 plus other benefits including:
* 25 Days Annual Leave automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years' service, and an additional 10.5 days public and privilege holidays
* opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme
* interest-free season ticket loan
* excellent pension scheme
* cycle to work scheme
* facilities such as a gym, restaurant and on-site coffee bars (at some locations)
* paid parental and adoption leave.
Equal Opportunities
At GCHQ diversity and inclusion are critical to our mission. To protect the UK, we need a truly diverse workforce that reflects the society we serve. This includes diversity in every sense of the word: those with different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, ways of thinking and those with disabilities or neurodivergent conditions. We therefore welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including those from groups that are under-represented in our workforce such as women, those from an ethnic minority background, people with disabilities and those from low socio-economic backgrounds. Find out more about our culture, working environment and diversity on our website: https://www.gchq-careers.co.uk/life-at-gchq/diversity-inclusion.html
We’re Disability Confident
GCHQ is proud to have achieved Leader status within the DWP’s Disability Confident scheme. This is aimed at encouraging employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people. As a Disability Confident Leader, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants who best meet the essential minimum criteria for this position, will be offered an interview, if it is practical for us to do so. This is known as our Offer of Interview (OOI). To secure an interview for this role, the minimum criteria (in order of application process) are:
* have a demonstrable understanding of Knowledge and Information Management - to be assessed at initial sift
* meet the minimum pass mark for the application questions about your motivation to work for the organisation and your professional alignment with the role – to be assessed at application form sift
There is a wide range of extra support available through the recruitment process to enable you to do your best. See our website for information on reasonable adjustments (https://www.gchq-careers.co.uk/how-to-apply.html) we can offer.
What to Expect
Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:
* application sift, including looking at your motivation for the role and the organisation
* online interview
* if successful, you will receive a conditional offer of employment
Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process to progress to the next. Your application may take around 6 - 9 months to process including vetting, so we advise you to continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer.
Before You Apply
To work at GCHQ, you need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. You can read our full eligibility criteria here.
This role requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes. You can find out more about the vetting process here.
Please note we have a strict drugs policy, so once you start your application, you can’t take any recreational drugs and you’ll need to declare your previous drug usage at the relevant stage.
Before you apply, we advise you to consider setting up a separate email address for your contact with us, to ensure your personal and application correspondence remain separate. Try to avoid having identifying features in your email address, such as your first and/or surname and date of birth. This is good practice and will help you to manage your application with us more securely.
The role is based in Cheltenham, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application, as we do not offer relocation costs.
Please note, you should only launch your application from within the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you visit the UK to launch an application. Applying from outside the UK will impact on our ability to progress your application. You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member.
Right to Withdraw Statement:
Please be aware that we withhold the right to bring forward the closing date for this role from the original closing date once a certain number of applications have been received. Please be mindful of this and submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.