Salary:

Business Analyst £43,172 - £52,212, dependent on skills and experience (pay package includes basic salary and skills-related payment)

Senior Business Analyst £52,703 - £64,007 plus the opportunity to qualify for a £5,128 skills allowance.

Flexible Working: We support full-time, part-time, compressed, and flexible hours. We are committed to offering remote working across our organisations, however, our ability to do this is dependent on role requirements and business need.

About Us

MI5 and MI6 are part of the UK’s Intelligence Services. We work together to safeguard Britain’s people, interests and businesses from various threats at home, overseas and online, including cyber-attacks, espionage, terrorism, and organised crime. Working across our vital missions, you’ll deliver impact at the heart of national security, all within a supportive and inclusive environment that allows everyone to thrive.

The Role

Technology and transformation are at the forefront of everything we do. As a Business Analyst or Senior Business Analyst, you’ll help us stay ahead by evolving our business processes or playing a key role in our digital missions. You’ll do this by understanding our unique problems as well as working on technology-focused project delivery and organisational transformation to deliver the services we need for the future.

You’ll work as part of a varied team, getting to grips with a range of complex business problems as you collaborate with colleagues to understand needs, challenges, and opportunities. As part of this, you’ll map, model, and review business processes, always looking for ways to optimise them. You’ll achieve this by working with key stakeholders to meet user needs, communicating with a variety of people, and using evidence to support and explain key decisions. 

You’ll undertake impact analysis, drawing together themes, making recommendations, and defining criteria for the success of a product or programme before measuring its delivery.

As a Business Analyst, you’ll be keen to develop, you’ll stay up to date on the latest business analysis practice and advancements, supporting business change and influencing stakeholders to become truly excited about your vision.

If you’re applying to be a Senior Business Analyst, you’ll take an active role in mentoring and coaching other colleagues, contributing to the Business Analysis Community of Practice. You’ll demonstrate leadership qualities, supporting others to upskill and build their career in an inclusive environment.

About You

You’ll have experience as a Business Analyst, defining and shaping problems while working with a wide range of stakeholders to meet customer needs. You’ll also have experience with delivery methodologies such as Waterfall or Agile, showing how you’ve embedded change within an organisation and used quantitative and qualitative data to turn user focus into business outcomes.

You’ll be able to communicate complex matters succinctly, influencing people as you work in politically sensitive areas and adapt to complex or uncertain situations. Importantly, you’ll be motivated and proactive, with the ability to see the bigger picture and plan for the short and long-term.

As a Business Analyst, it’s important that you’ve analysed business problems and recommended a range of technical and non-technical solutions. You’ll already have had some training and you may also be working towards one of the recognised BA certifications, such as the BCS or IIBA. You’ll be able to apply structured approaches to business problems; help to ensure solutions meet business and user needs; as well as analyse goals, objectives, functions, and processes. You’ll also be able to conduct options analysis, contribute to business case development, and work with limited direction to complete tasks.

If you’re applying to be a Senior Business Analyst, you’ll take this a step further, having led the analysis of large or complex business problems. As a skilled practitioner of Business Analysis, you’ll already have extensive experience or one of the recognised BA certifications such as the BCS or IIBA. You’ll be able to recommend and advise on approaches to complex business problems, inform tactical decision making, share knowledge, and deliver workshops. Always ensuring the proposed solution aligns with business goals and objectives, and achieves the required outcomes and expected benefits.

Training and Development

When you join us, you’ll have a full induction to the organisation, which will help you get to grips with how we operate. You’ll then have a team induction to give you a rounded understanding of your role, followed by on-the-job training to help you settle in.

We’re committed to developing our staff and recognise this will look different for everyone. We’ll use the Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) capability framework as a compass to provide guidance and tools to support you, so there’ll be lots of tailored training, coaching, and mentoring, alongside opportunities to gain qualifications and pursue specialist business analysis pathways. Whatever your professional goals, we’ll work with you to build the skills you need to excel at your role and throughout your career.

Rewards and Benefits

You’ll receive a starting salary of £43,172 - £52,212 as a Business Analyst and £52,703 - £64,007 as a Senior Business Analyst 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
• Interest-free season ticket loan (parking and travel)
• Excellent pension scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Facilities such as a gym and restaurant, and on-site coffee bars (at some locations)
• Paid parental and adoption leave

Equal Opportunities

At MI5 and MI6 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(s):

https://www.mi5.gov.uk/careers/diversity

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

We’re Disability Confident

MI5 and MI6 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:

• Evidence of analysing business problems and recommending a range of technical and non-technical solutions.
• Business Analysis expertise and training or recognised Business Analysis qualification(s) e.g. BCS, IIBA.

What to Expect

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

• Paper sift – you are advised to make full use of the word allowance for each question
• Interview
• Drugs Test
• Vetting Interview

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process 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 and MI6, 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. An interest-free loan via our benevolent fund is available to assist with relocating into privately rented accommodation to take up the offer of employment.

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 reserve 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.

When you are ready to apply for the role, return to the previous page, and click the submit button at the bottom of the page to start your application. You'll be able to select the role you want to apply for in the application form.