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Senior Admin Officer

Location: London, Manchester or Cheltenham. Due to the nature of the role there will be occasional travel between locations for training and development.

Hours: Full time, part time and flexible/compressed hours are available.

Salary: £27,751 - £30,024 (dependent on location)

About us

MI5 safeguards the UK against threats such as terrorism, espionage, cyber and sabotage. We investigate suspect individuals and organisations in the UK to obtain, collate, analyse and assess secret intelligence relating to these threats. Alongside our British Intelligence partners, MI6 and GCHQ, we provide the UK government with the information they need to protect national security. At MI5, you’ll enjoy varied and rewarding work in a supportive and encouraging environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.

The Role

As a Senior Admin Officer you’ll work as part of a large, multi-skilled research team, delivering analysis to support the vetting process across the UK’s Intelligence Services. It’s a role where, once fully trained, you’ll work with a high degree of autonomy and use your own judgement, all to support our mission to keep the UK safe.

Vetting is vitally important to what we do because it ensures that the people who have access to some of the UK’s most sensitive information can be trusted. Everyone who works within the UK’s Intelligence Services goes through vetting, so it’s crucial that our decision making is evidence-based, accurate and consistent. That’s where you come in.

Day to day, you’ll complete research and analysis on a range of data that helps build a picture of someone’s suitability to hold security clearance. Using a variety of tools and methods, which we’ll train you in, you’ll both find information and assess it, spotting links between different pieces of data as you drive your caseload forward. Once you’ve finished your analysis, you’ll write reports containing your findings, which will be used to support decision making by our Vetting Officers.

It's a fast-paced role, where you’ll need to have a keen eye for detail, be able to prioritise your workload independently, and meet strict deadlines. Whether you’re at the beginning of your career, returning to work after a break, or are looking for a new challenge, this role has the potential to begin a career with the UK’s Intelligence Services where you’ll be key to maintaining the integrity of one of our most crucial processes.

While this role is primarily within our vetting team, successful candidates may be offered an alternative admin role at the same level within another team, subject to business need.

About You

You’ll need either

• two GCSEs (or equivalent) in Maths and English Language at grades A*-C/9-4,
• or experience in an office environment working in an administrative role.

You’ll also:

• Be keen to learn, as this role includes an initial training period where you’ll be brought up to speed on our research and analysis techniques.
• Be comfortable using your initiative and talking to a range of people.
• Have attention to detail, even when working to tight deadlines.
• Have great organisational skills.

We’re interested in what makes you, you. There’s no one ‘type’ of person that we’re after. Whether you choose to work full time or part time, you’ll feel part of a large, welcoming team where there’s plenty of support and training on offer. If you have a disability or long-term health condition, just let us know if you need any adjustments made during the recruitment process or if you have any questions about how we can support you once you’re in-role.

Training and Development

We’re committed to helping our people develop their skills and career by ensuring everyone gets the training and support they need to succeed. When you join us as a Senior Admin Officer, you’ll begin a formal training and mentoring period that usually lasts around 3 months. This will equip you with all the knowledge and skills you need to undertake the role.

Following this period, you’ll continue to draw on support and guidance from your colleagues. You’ll also get opportunities to attend a wide range of personal development and job specific courses. Whether through courses run by our own academy, or through knowledge sharing, you’ll never stop learning. And after you’ve completed two years in your role as Senior Admin Officer, you’ll have the option to move to a different role anywhere within the organisation, either at the same level or via promotion if you’re ready.

Rewards and Benefits

You’ll receive a starting salary of £27,751 - £30,024 (dependent on location)

plus other benefits including:

• 25 Days Annual Leave automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years' service, and an additional 10.5 days public and privilege holidays
• Opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme
• Personal Learning Budget
• Interest-free season ticket loan
• Excellent pension scheme
• 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 MI5 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

We’re Disability Confident

MI5 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:

• 
  Two GCSEs in Maths and English Language at grades A*-C/ 9-4 (or equivalent).
• Successfully passing a question about your motivation for applying for the role
• On completion of the application form, and successfully passing the full application form sift, you will be invited to interview. This is your Offer of Interview.
• (If you need any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know).

What to Expect

Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:

• Eligibility questions – you’ll answer a number of questions based on the requirements for the role.

• Initial form – you’ll create a personal account and complete our equal opportunities monitoring questions. If you do not feel comfortable completing equal opportunities monitoring, there is a ‘prefer not to say’ option for each question.
• Application form – you’ll be asked to complete an application which will cover relevant experience, your motivation for applying and some situational judgement questions aligned to being a Senior Admin Officer, but which require no prior knowledge or experience of the role.To process your application, it is essential that you provide all the information requested in the application form.
• Application sift – our recruitment team will complete an application sift and successful applicants will be invited to the next stage which is a telephone interview.

• Online interview – this interview will take place online over a video conferencing system. You won’t be required to visit any of our premises. This interview will further explore that you have the potential skills and motivation to join MI5.

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process in order to progress to the next. Your application may take around 6 - 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 MI5, 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 roles are based in either London, Cheltenham or Manchester so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance of the location you choose. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application. A loan is available to support people relocating to London.

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.

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.