Flexible Working: We support full-time, part-time, and flexible hours, with hybrid working available dependent on business need (generally a 70% office 30% home-working split).

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 Scrum Master, your work will be unique, varied, and far from average. You’ll support on projects for customers in our investigative and analysis teams, gaining insight into the important work that goes into protecting our country. 

Our people thrive under pressure – attending to urgent business needs, therefore it’s critical our Scrum Masters think quickly and are effective when responding to issues that occur within our live operational IT systems. With strong organisation and problem-solving skills, you’ll be full of ideas about how we can implement agile methodologies into the business. This will be especially crucial as we start to migrate projects using digital technology.

Collaborative and communicative, you’ll support the team to engage, coordinate, and cooperate resolving issues effectively in an ever-evolving environment, coaching them as you help to implement Scaled Agile Framework® (SAFe®). You’ll promote Agile technical practices, removing barriers to your team’s progress and supporting them to find the best ways to refine their backlog and create stories. 

You’ll share a collective responsibility in keeping the country safe, striving to develop your team, enabling departments to work together, and ensuring outputs meet customer standards. You’ll also manage up to two members of staff, supporting their career development as you grow into this vital role.

About You

As a Scrum Master, you’ll focus on the needs of the team. The emphasis is very much around working together and helping each other out. You’ll listen to and support your team, helping them to discover their potential. Whether you already have a Scrum Master certification, experience as a Scrum Master, or are in a role within an Agile framework, this might be the role for you. You’ll have organisation skills and will be comfortable planning your own and others time. You’ll also be empathetic, a persuasive communicator, and a strategic long-term thinker.

With experience negotiating complexity and uncertainty in an Agile environment, you’ll have a good understanding of Scrum and Agile working practices such as SAFe®, drawing on your proactive attitude to adapt to new circumstances. Most importantly, you’ll be motivated, collaborative and have a passion for learning with an eagerness to develop yourself and others.

A capable problem-solver, you’ll be comfortable with numbers, data, and technology, using your expertise to supportively challenge the status quo as you support and challenge your team. 

Training and Development

We’re committed to developing our staff, but we know this will look different for everyone. That’s why there’ll be lots of tailored training, coaching, and mentoring, as we work with you to build the skills you need, enabling you to excel in your role and throughout your career. 

When you start, you’ll have a full induction to our organization, which will give you knowledge on how we operate. You’ll then have a team induction, working as part of the project team to give you a rounded understanding of your new role. If you’re not already a Certified Scrum Master, we’ll help you train toward this qualification. 

You’ll be enrolled on our training pathway, allowing you to develop your skills from a Scrum Master through to a Release Train Engineer. You’ll also have the opportunity to attend Agile-related training such as ICAgile and ICP-ACC Agile Coaching, plus other relevant courses. As well as one-to-one on the job training and support, you’ll have access to buddy schemes where you can benefit from the expertise of experienced colleagues. 

Continued professional development is also encouraged and supported by our CPD framework. You’ll benefit from reviews where your skills will be assessed, and you’ll be supported to move up the pay scale as you thrive in your role.

Rewards and Benefits

You’ll receive a starting salary of between £49,134 - £52,340 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 (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 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 here.

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: 

• Demonstrate expertise in a scrum master role or evidence of a developed understanding of scrum and Agile working practises such as SAFe®, and an understanding of Agile technical practises – measured within the responses to the technical questions asked in application form.
• Evidence of planning skills, organising own workloads and that of others.
• Evidence of ability to communicate diplomatically, with skills to influence, understand and empathise with others.
• Demonstrate aptitude for learning and development.

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, 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 Manchester, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application. 

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.