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About Us

We’re MI6, also known as the SIS. Our mission is to protect the security and economic wellbeing of the UK from overseas threats such as regional instability, terrorism, and cyber-attacks. Working across the globe and in close partnership with MI5 and GCHQ, we help the Government to counter these threats through the provision of secret intelligence. A role in SIS will see you providing vital support to this work, within a supportive and encouraging environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.

The Role

As an Intelligence Officer (IO), you’ll be central to our mission. Our IOs gather secret intelligence to protect the UK and its interests overseas, prioritising matters of national security, economic wellbeing and the disruption of serious crime. It’s a fascinating and diverse role where you’ll use everyday skills, including communication, influencing and empathy, to tackle extraordinary challenges. It’s genuinely interesting and rewarding work.

IOs work across four main areas:

• Operational Managers, who are responsible for planning operations, while identifying and managing risks.
• Targeters, who are tasked with turning information, such as data, into operations alongside our partner agencies.
• Reporting Officers, who link us with Whitehall and our customers and are responsible for validating and testing the intelligence as well as briefing ministers.
• Case Officers, these are the people who build and manage relationships with agents - the people who pass us the intelligence we need.

This is critical work that keeps the UK safe. You might meet a contact for a chat in a café, or you might gather intelligence online at our offices. In fact, your work will look much like any other office role – and like any other job, you’ll usually be contactable, if your family and friends need you.

Click here to find out more about what it’s like to work as an IO by listening to some employee profiles.

You’ll begin your career by completing the three-year Intelligence Officer Training Pathway, where you’ll learn the language and methodology of intelligence and how to apply this to SIS’s Mission of protecting the UK.

The Intelligence Officer Training Pathway

This is made up of the following elements:

• 8 weeks initial classroom-based training
• You’ll be allocated a role within one of the four business areas (see above), where you’ll complete on the job learning for 18 months
• You’ll have continuous access to a mentor and you’ll benefit from a continued and robust support structure
• As you become more experienced, you’ll be given a portfolio of work to own and manage (with support)
• You’ll then complete additional training at a higher level, before moving into another placement for the remainder of the Pathway
• Once you graduate, you ‘ll be able to apply for roles in whichever area best suits your skills and interests. You may choose to specialise in one particular area, you might get the opportunity to learn a language for a role, or you might want to apply for an overseas posting. Either way, you’ll have developed the skills and experience you need to start your career as an IO.

For the remainder of your career as an IO you’ll be expected to move into a different role approximately every three years, so it’s important that you demonstrate aptitude and interest in at least two of the four areas during the recruitment process (however if you specialise in a particularly niche area, there may be an opportunity to stay within this area of work for longer than three years).

About you

You’ll need a minimum of a 2:2 degree or higher, and if you’re an undergraduate, you’ll be expecting your final degree result within 12 months of your application date. Unfortunately, we cannot accept an application earlier than that.

As well as demonstrating a strong motivation for joining the organisation and doing the IO role, you’ll also be able to demonstrate the following key competencies:

• Problem solving and judgement – a keen problem-solver, you’ll be comfortable in your decision making but also able to bring in the expertise of others when you’re unsure.
• Personal organisation and proactivity – a good organiser, you’ll be able to multi-task, prioritising work and able to create and develop plans. With an objective approach, you’ll review progress and risks, to ensure plans use resources efficiently.
• Clear communicator and Influencer – you’ll present information to others concisely and tailored to your audience. You’ll use your communication and people skills to build strong arguments so you can confidently and credibly bring others round to your point of view.
• Able to work with others – with empathy and an ability to take account of other’s objectives, you’ll build positive relationships with people with a range of different experiences and backgrounds.
• Able to work with a broad range of customers – to understand requirements, build strong relationships and keep them informed of progress.
• Open to change – a keen learner, you’ll continually look for opportunities to develop your skills, share your learnings and embrace change.

Ultimately, the skills we’re looking for are the ones you use every day – and not just at work. Maybe your people skills come from volunteering. Your love of learning from a hobby. Maybe you can coach your friends through a tricky escape room, or you know just how to calm your kids down. Those are just the kind of people skills we need.

Desirable: An interest in languages/travel/foreign affairs is of benefit but not essential.

Salary

Between £36,733 - £46,408 depending on performance during the assessment process and professional experience:

• If you have 3 or more years of professional experience, you will be eligible for a starting salary of £41,775
• If you have a language qualification or are proficient in Mandarin, Russian, Persian or Arabic you might be eligible for an additional language allowance. Other languages may be considered on a case by case basis depending on operational demand.

Flexible Working: we can offer part-time, compressed hours, job share, and remote working subject to business need.

Rewards and Benefits

Along with a starting salary of £36,733 and the ability to apply for promotion whenever you feel ready to (after the three-year training course), you will receive excellent benefits including:

• 
  25 days annual leave (rising to 30 days after 5 years’ service) and 10.5 public and privilege holidays
• Those who relocate to London for the role will have access to an interest free loan of £2,500 for 3 years
• Financial support for learning and development
• Significant training and development for 3 years, after which you’ll be given 10% of your time in role for ongoing personal development
• Plenty of opportunities to work overseas (although this is not mandatory)
• Financial support for accommodation and living expenses for overseas postings
• Interest free season ticket loan
• Excellent pension scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Subsidised gym, restaurant, and coffee bar

Before You Apply

To work at SIS, 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.

The role is based in London, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application. A loan is available to support people relocating to London.

If you are an employee of a Central Government Department or are currently serving in the Armed Forces (excluding reservists), you must not use this method to apply. Please register your interest in applying here and we’ll be in touch to discuss next steps.

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.

Equal Opportunities

At SIS 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.MI5.gov.uk/careers/diversity

https://www.GCHQ-careers.co.uk/life-at-GCHQ/diversity-inclusion.html

https://www.SIS.gov.uk/explore-careers.html

We’re Disability Confident

SIS are 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. Being Disability Confident, we aim to offer a person-to-person interview to any candidate who self-identifies as disabled and meets the essential criteria for the role. This is our ‘Offer of Interview’ (OOI). To secure an interview for this vacancy, the essential criteria (in order of application process) are:

• 
  Eligibility Questions: you will be asked a series of questions relating to this vacancy. If you meet the criteria here, you will be invited to complete an initial application.
• Online Assessments: you will be required to reach the pass mark set for the situational judgement test and our Computer Analysis Test (CAT) which looks at your ability to problem-solve and analyse a number of documents.

If you successfully pass these tests and an application form sift, you will be invited to a virtual interview session. This is our Offer of Interview.

What to Expect

Our recruitment process with a brief overview of each stage, in order:

• Initial questions: These check you meet the criteria (your nationality, parents nationality, time lived in UK, degree level). If you do, we’ll invite you to begin an application. The first step will require you to create a login or log into an existing account.
• Initial application: This will ask you about yourself and contain some basic eligibility questions.
• Online Situational Judgement Test: This is designed to explore how you think and make decisions in situations relevant to our roles. It’s all hypothetical, exploring our values and behaviours, and you won’t need any prior knowledge of us or our policies to answer the questions.
• Full Application: Here, we’ll ask you for details around your academic achievements, employment and life experiences, languages spoken, IT skills, and of course your motivation for joining SIS. Please ensure the details are as accurate as possible. It can be time-consuming to provide all the information we need, but it is important for this stage of the process. It’s important to know though that we don’t expect you to come with every skill under the sun: as long as you’ve got intellectual curiosity and people skills, you’ve got potential, and we can train you in what we need.
• Online assessments: After a successful application, you’ll be invited to complete an online Computer Analysis Test (CAT) which looks at your ability to problem-solve and analyse a number of documents.
• Virtual interview: This gives you the chance to demonstrate some of the key attributes and aptitudes essential to this role. There will also be some competency-based questions: if you are unfamiliar with these, you can familiarise yourself with the Civil Service competency framework guidance here.
• Online written exercise: Here, you’ll be presented with a fictional scenario where we’ll explore your ability to problem-solve, take decisions, communicate, influence and analyse information.
• Assessment Centre: This is held in London and occasionally in other regional locations. You’ll try out various scenarios and roleplays where we’ll assess your skills in working with others, building relationships, collaborating, influencing, integrity and learning. There will also be an interview.
• Conditional Offer: If you’re successful in your final interviews, we’ll give you a conditional offer – which means you’ll join us if you successfully complete vetting.

If you live outside the M25 you can claim for the cost of your travel and accommodation if required. Please ask for further details before booking.

IMPORTANT: You must successfully pass each stage of the process in order to progress to the next. We are unable to offer feedback should you not succeed at any stage of the recruitment process.

Please note your application may take around 6 - 12 months to process including vetting, so we advise you continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer.

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.