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 are 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 is 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 designing and owning end-to-end solution architecture,
interpreting business and user needs and translating them into designs
and artefacts aligned with architecture strategies and standards experience making and owning architectural decisions involving trade-offs (e.g. cost, risk, scalability or maintainability), managing risks and
delivering within governance and standards ability to work effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders
across teams or programmes, communicating architectural concepts and
influencing 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 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 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’s 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’t take any recreational drugs and you’ll 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’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.
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.