Job description
Flexible working: We recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance
and offer a range of working patterns, including full-time, part-time, and
compressed hours. Homeworking may be possible depending on business
needs, but it is limited due to the nature of our work. We also support flexible
start and finish times to help you manage your personal and professional
commitments.
About us
At GCHQ, we unlock the complex world of data and communications to keep
the UK and its citizens safe, both in the real world and online. Working closely
with our British Intelligence partners in MI5 and MI6, we protect the UK from
threats including serious organised crime, terrorism, and cyber-attacks. A role
at GCHQ means you have varied and fascinating work in a supportive and
encouraging environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.
The role
As one of our Associate Business Analysts, you be at the heart of interesting
projects across GCHQ that help us to keep the UK safe. Working as part of a
multidisciplinary team, you will seek to understand intricate problems, uncover
opportunities, and shape solutions that meet both user and business needs.
You will analyse requirements, then turn your insight into action by mapping
processes and helping to design services that are efficient, effective, and
aligned with our strategic goals. It is all about solving the right problems in the
right way, delivering value for the colleagues who depend on you.
Day-to-day, you will support the gathering and validation of business and user
needs through workshops, interviews, document reviews, and collaborative
working. Working with more senior analysts, you will assist in producing
analysis, and in defining and escalating risks. You’ll also be responsible for
preparing materials for stakeholders, capturing feedback, and ensuring
information is always accurate and clear.
Support comes from an experienced Business Analyst who helps you manage
your project portfolio and develop your skills. It is an excellent opportunity to
build core business analysis capability, gain exposure to delivery
environments, and understand how analysis informs decision-making across
GCHQ. As your experience grows, the chance to take on more complex
projects and progress to a more senior role will become available.
You could be working in technology, facilities, information, or other teams
across the organisation. This means a diverse workload, ranging from
supporting vital internal systems and processes to contributing to new
technology that underpins mission-critical activity. Collaboration with
stakeholders across the UK Intelligence Services is also a key part of the
role, along with supporting teams through periods of change.
About you
Practical experience as an Associate Business Analyst is essential, including
delivering analysis for projects or programmes of work. Your foundational
knowledge and skills in business modelling should make you comfortable with
process analysis and improvement, and confident in creating organisation,
process, system, and data models to support decision- making.
Given the nature of our work, adaptability and resilience are important,
particularly when operating in complex environments where priorities can shift
and requirements may be ambiguous. The ability to elicit and manage user
requirements is key. Because outputs must be tailored to different audiences
and collaboration happens across multiple teams, good communication and
teamwork skills are vital.
Attention to detail is crucial, ensuring outputs remain accurate, complete, and
valuable. Influencing skills also play an important role, helping navigate
differing viewpoints and priorities while building consensus and support for the
right solutions. Managing your own time effectively, being open to feedback,
and acting on it are also essential.
A degree or specific qualifications are not necessary. We are interested in your
skills and experience, which may have been gained from any background or
sector, from government through to large private enterprises.
Training and development
When you start, you will receive an organisation-wide induction and be assigned
a buddy to help you settle in. We are proud to offer an inclusive and supportive
working environment and, as an organisation that values and nurtures our
colleagues both professionally and personally, we’re dedicated to helping you
fulfil your potential.
Progression opportunities exist within business analysis, and your ongoing
learning and development will be supported, with 20% of your time protected
for professional development activities. You’ll have access to internal and
external training courses, along with opportunities to be supported by a
mentor or coach within the organisation.
Rewards and benefits
You will receive a starting salary of £44,044 plus other benefits including:
25 days’ annual leave, automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years of
service, plus an additional 10.5 days of public and privilege holidays
opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance
scheme
an interest-free season ticket loan
an excellent pension scheme
a 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: people 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, people
from ethnic minority backgrounds, those with disabilities, and individuals from
low socio-economic backgrounds.
Visit our website to find out more about our culture, working environment and
diversity.
We are Disability Confident
GCHQ is proud to have achieved Leader status within the Department for
Work and Pensions 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
known as the offer of an interview. The essential criteria below are assessed
at application sift stage.
experience supporting the elicitation, analysis and documentation of
business and user needs, contributing to structured requirements or
analysis, with an understanding of how these support delivery.
ability to support the analysis of business context, problems, and
processes contribute to the identification of root causes, assess options
and the development recommendations.
experience supporting stakeholder engagement and communicating
analysis and working collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams to build
a shared understanding that reflects stakeholder needs.
A wide range of support is also available throughout the recruitment process
to help you perform at your best.
Visit our How to Apply page for information on the reasonable adjustments 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.
Virtual interview (assessing your technical skills and the organisational
competencies).
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 to 9 months to
process including vetting, so we advise you 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. Read about our eligibility criteria.
This role requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting
(DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes.
Find out more about the vetting process.
Please note we have a strict drugs policy, once you start your application, you
must not take any recreational drugs, and you will be required to declare any
previous drug use 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 using identifying features in
your email address, such as your first or surname or date of birth. This is good
practice and will help you manage your application 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
applying, as we do not offer relocation costs.
We offer reasonable reimbursement of travel costs for candidates attending in-
person appointments during the recruitment and vetting process. Full details
will be provided with your interview or assessment invitation. Reimbursement
is discretionary and will only be made in line with the Candidate Expenses
Policy, as amended from time to time. Candidates must book their own travel,
using the most economical option, and provide original hard copy receipts for
reimbursement.
You should only launch your application from within the UK. If you are
overseas, please wait until you visit the UK before applying, as
submitting an application from outside the UK may affect our ability to
process it. You should not discuss your application except with your
partner or a close family member.
Right to withdraw statement:
Please be aware that we reserve the right to bring forward the closing date for
this role once a certain number of applications have been received. We
encourage you to submit your application at your earliest convenience to
avoid disappointment.