Job Description
Flexible working: We recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balanceand offer a range of working patterns, including full-time, part-time, andcompressed hours. While most of our work is carried out on-site due to itssensitive nature, occasional home working may be possible depending onbusiness requirements. We also support flexible start and finish times to helpyou balance your personal and professional commitments.About usGCHQ is an intelligence, cyber and security agency with a mission to keep theUK safe. We use cutting-edge technology, ingenuity and partnerships toidentify, 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 inclusiveenvironment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.The roleAs one of our Associate Solutions Architects, you will help design and delivertechnology solutions across GCHQ. Our work is unique, often cutting-edge,and designed to support our highly specialised national security mission. As aresult, you will have exceptional opportunities for training, development andcontinuous learning within an environment unlike that of any otherorganisation. This means the opportunity for learning and support in this roleis extensive, with plenty of interesting challenges and dedicated support onoffer.Guided by one of our experienced Solutions Architects, you will help shapedesigns, produce architectural artefacts, and be part of the teams that deliverthe solutions. It is an excellent opportunity to step into solutions architecturefrom a background such as software, infrastructure or systems engineering, orto build on your existing architecture experience and grow your career.In this role, you will create solution designs, documentation and models thatalign with our architectural standards end to end and strategic direction.Experience with at least one modern framework will help you work effectivelywithin our structured ways of working and collaborate with delivery teams,
engineers and business colleagues. You will play a key role in ensuring oursolutions remain robust, scalable and cost-effective. A big part of the job is understanding business needs and helping to definesolutions that take technical constraints, delivery plans, risks and complexityinto account. With support from your line manager and mentor, you will answerquestions, clarify designs, and adapt solutions as requirements change. Eachday brings opportunities to gain practical experience across the lifecycle of ourcapabilities, learn from experienced architects and build confidence. Occasional travel to sites across the UK will be required so you can workclosely with colleagues across the organisation.About youYou do not need a degree or any specific qualifications to apply for this role;we are interested in your experience and your motivation to support our sharedmission. A foundational understanding of solution architecture is important,along with experience contributing to the design and delivery of digital ortechnology solutions. Experience with at least one modern framework, suchas TOGAF, NIST and ITIL, is also valuable, typically gained in roles likesoftware engineering, infrastructure engineering, DevOps.As you will be involved in projects from day one, an understanding of howbusiness needs, technology choices and delivery constraints shape solutiondesign will be required. You will operate independently on moderately complexproblems while contributing to broader work led by more senior architects,responsible for delivering architectural design and direction for a specificsolution or defined area of delivery. Effective communication skills, combinedwith a broad technical foundation, will help you to explain design decisions toboth technical and non-technical audiences.Being collaborative, comfortable working across teams and confident ininfluencing and negotiation, will help in finding solutions that work foreveryone. Because priorities may change depending on business needs,you will need to be adaptable and able to manage your own time. And yourability to think critically and solve problems creatively means you’ll be able tofind holistic solutions to uniquely challenging requirements.
Training and developmentWe are proud to offer an inclusive and supportive working environment, and asan organisation that values and nurtures our colleagues, both professionallyand personally, we are dedicated to helping you fulfil your potential.On joining, you’ll have a full induction into GCHQ, so you can learn moreabout who we are, what we do, and where your role fits in. Once in your role,you will receive formal and on-the-job training and all the support you need tothrive at work. We encourage continuous professional development and arededicated to allowing you the space and capacity to develop, innovate and
experiment. We typically expect 20% of your time to be spent on developingyourself and supporting others. We value your ability to learn and adapt to new challenges, so we will invest inyour skills and the way you like to learn, from books, study, courses, andconferences to stretching work with the support of the team. You will beencouraged to drive and shape your own personal development, and you willhave access to learning and development opportunities tailored to your role.We will cover the cost and provide you with the time and support to gainprofessional qualifications and certifications. From day one, you will have access to mentors and subject matter experts. We willhelp you create a structured development and career plan that is right for youRewards and benefitsYou will receive a starting salary of £53,496 to £61,686, plus other benefitsincluding: 25 days’ annual leave, rising automatically to 30 days after 5 years ofservice, plus an additional 10.5 days of public and privilege holidays opportunities to be recognised through our employee performancescheme 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 somelocations) paid parental and adoption leaveEqual opportunitiesAt GCHQ, diversity and inclusion are critical to our mission. To protect the UK,we need a workforce that truly reflects the society we serve. This includesdiversity in every sense of the word: people of different backgrounds, ages,ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, ways of thinking and thosewith disabilities or neurodivergent conditions. We therefore welcome andencourage applications from everyone, including individuals from groups thatare currently under-represented in our workforce, such as women, peoplefrom ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities and those from lowsocio-economic backgrounds.Visit our website to find out more about our culture, working environment anddiversity. We’re Disability ConfidentGCHQ is proud to have achieved Leader status within the Department forWork and Pensions’ Disability Confident scheme. The scheme encouragesemployers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how
they recruit, retain and develop disabled people. As a Disability Confidentorganisation, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number ofdisabled applicants who best meet the essential criteria for this position,assessed at sift, are offered an interview, if it practical for us to do so. This isknown as the Offer of Interview. To secure an interview for this role, theminimum criteria (in order of application process) are: experience interpreting business and user needs, and translating theminto maintainable architecture designs and artefacts that align withsolutions architecture strategy and standards experience supporting architectural decision-making by gatheringinformation, analysing options, and understanding risks and trade-offs (forexample, delivery, impact, or technical complexity), while working withingovernance and standards ability to work with technical and non-technical stakeholders within andacross teams, communicating architectural concepts clearly andcontributing to discussions that support alignment to agreed solutionsVisit our How to Apply page for more information on the reasonableadjustments we can offer. What to expectOur recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is abrief overview of each stage, in order: Application sift. Virtual interview, assessing your technical skills and the organisationalcompetencies. If successful, you’ll receive a Conditional Offer of Employment.Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process toprogress to the next. Your application may take around 6 to 9 months toprocess including vetting, so we advise that you continue any currentemployment until you have received your final job offer.
Before you applyTo work at GCHQ, you must 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 is something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes.Find out more about the vetting process.Please note we have a strict drugs policy, so once you start your application,you can not take any recreational drugs and you will need to declare your previousdrug usage at the relevant stage.
Before applying, we recommend setting up a separate email address for yourcontact with us to ensure your personal and application correspondenceremain separate. Try to avoid including identifying features in your emailaddress, such as your first and/or surname and date of birth. This is goodpractice and will help you manage your application with us more securely.The role is based in Cheltenham so you will need to live within a commutabledistance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities beforesubmitting an application, 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 detailswill be provided with your interview or assessment invitation. Reimbursementis discretionary and will only be made in line with the Candidate ExpensesPolicy, as amended from time to time. Candidates must book their owntravel, using the most economical option, and provide original hard copyreceipts for reimbursement. Please note: you should only launch your application from within theUK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you visit the UK tobegin your application. Applying from outside the UK will affect ourability to progress your application. You should not discuss yourapplication, other than 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 forthis role once a certain number of applications have been received. Please bemindful of this and submit your application at your earliest convenience toavoid disappointment.