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. While most of our work is carried out on-site due to its
sensitive nature, occasional home working may be possible depending on
business requirements. We also support flexible start and finish times to help
you balance your personal and professional commitments.
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
As one of our Associate Solutions Architects, you will help design and deliver
technology solutions across GCHQ. Our work is unique, often cutting-edge,
and designed to support our highly specialised national security mission. As a
result, you will have exceptional opportunities for training, development and
continuous learning within an environment unlike that of any other
organisation. This means the opportunity for learning and support in this role
is extensive, with plenty of interesting challenges and dedicated support on
offer.
Guided by one of our experienced Solutions Architects, you will help shape
designs, produce architectural artefacts, and be part of the teams that deliver
the solutions. It is an excellent opportunity to step into solutions architecture
from a background such as software, infrastructure or systems engineering, or
to build on your existing architecture experience and grow your career.
In this role, you will create solution designs, documentation and models that
align with our architectural standards end to end and strategic direction.
Experience with at least one modern framework will help you work effectively
within our structured ways of working and collaborate with delivery teams,
engineers and business colleagues. You will play a key role in ensuring our
solutions remain robust, scalable and cost-effective.
A big part of the job is understanding business needs and helping to define
solutions that take technical constraints, delivery plans, risks and complexity
into account. With support from your line manager and mentor, you will answer
questions, clarify designs, and adapt solutions as requirements change. Each
day brings opportunities to gain practical experience across the lifecycle of our
capabilities, learn from experienced architects and build confidence.
Occasional travel to sites across the UK will be required so you can work
closely with colleagues across the organisation.
About you
You 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 shared
mission. A foundational understanding of solution architecture is important,
along with experience contributing to the design and delivery of digital or
technology solutions. Experience with at least one modern framework, such
as TOGAF, NIST and ITIL, is also valuable, typically gained in roles like
software engineering, infrastructure engineering, DevOps.
As you will be involved in projects from day one, an understanding of how
business needs, technology choices and delivery constraints shape solution
design will be required. You will operate independently on moderately complex
problems while contributing to broader work led by more senior architects,
responsible for delivering architectural design and direction for a specific
solution or defined area of delivery. Effective communication skills, combined
with a broad technical foundation, will help you to explain design decisions to
both technical and non-technical audiences.
Being collaborative, comfortable working across teams and confident in
influencing and negotiation, will help in finding solutions that work for
everyone. Because priorities may change depending on business needs,
you will need to be adaptable and able to manage your own time. And your
ability to think critically and solve problems creatively means you’ll be able to
find holistic solutions to uniquely challenging requirements.
Training and development
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 are dedicated to helping you fulfil your potential.
On joining, you’ll have a full induction into GCHQ, so you can learn more
about 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 to
thrive at work. We encourage continuous professional development and are
dedicated to allowing you the space and capacity to develop, innovate and
experiment. We typically expect 20% of your time to be spent on developing
yourself and supporting others.
We value your ability to learn and adapt to new challenges, so we will invest in
your skills and the way you like to learn, from books, study, courses, and
conferences to stretching work with the support of the team. You will be
encouraged to drive and shape your own personal development, and you will
have access to learning and development opportunities tailored to your role.
We will cover the cost and provide you with the time and support to gain
professional qualifications and certifications.
From day one, you will have access to mentors and subject matter experts. We will
help you create a structured development and career plan that is right for you
Rewards and benefits
You will receive a starting salary of £53,496 to £61,686, plus other benefits
including:
25 days’ annual leave, rising automatically 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 workforce that truly reflects the society we serve. This includes
diversity in every sense of the word: people of 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 individuals from groups that
are currently under-represented in our workforce, such as women, people
from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities and those from low
socio-economic backgrounds.
Visit our website to find out more about our culture, working environment and
diversity.
We’re Disability Confident
GCHQ is proud to have achieved Leader status within the Department for
Work and Pensions’ Disability Confident scheme. The scheme encourages
employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how
they recruit, retain and develop disabled people. As a Disability Confident
organisation, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of
disabled 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 is
known as the Offer of Interview. To secure an interview for this role, the
minimum criteria (in order of application process) are:
experience interpreting business and user needs, and translating them
into maintainable architecture designs and artefacts that align with
solutions architecture strategy and standards
experience supporting architectural decision-making by gathering
information, analysing options, and understanding risks and trade-offs (for
example, delivery, impact, or technical complexity), while working within
governance and standards
ability to work with technical and non-technical stakeholders within and
across teams, communicating architectural concepts clearly and
contributing to discussions that support alignment to agreed solutions
Visit our How to Apply page for more 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’ll 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 that you continue any current
employment until you have received your final job offer.
Before you apply
To 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 previous
drug usage at the relevant stage.
Before applying, we recommend setting up a separate email address for your
contact with us to ensure your personal and application correspondence
remain separate. Try to avoid including 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 manage your application with us more securely.
The role is based in Cheltenham so you will 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.
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.
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
begin your application. Applying from outside the UK will affect 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 reserve the right to bring forward the closing date for
this role 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.