Technology Graduate Development Programme - Specialist Roles Ref. 1914

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Technology Roles
London
£34,366 rising to £37,152 after one year

Whether we’re disrupting cyber-attacks or preventing terrorism and espionage, technology is playing an increasingly vital role at MI5. Which is why we always need graduates with a passion for technology to join us. But don’t worry – you don’t have to a technical prodigy to apply. In fact, our Technology Graduate Development Programme offers you the chance to develop the skills in a vital business area.

This is a structured two year development programme that is designed to fully equip you with the skills, knowledge and experience needed to be an effective part of MI5’s technology workforce.

Specialist streams

When you join the TGDP, we’ll place you into a specialist area, which we call ‘streams’. The stream you get assigned to will be chosen based on your preference, skills and the current needs of our business. Over the two years, you’ll work on a variety of projects with a number of different teams within your specialist stream - helping you to broaden your specialist skills and experience.

The specialist roles we have available are:

Software Engineering: As a Software Engineer, you’ll collaborate with your team to create and manipulate new and existing products – bits of kit that will drive investigations, analysis and corporate functions. These products are incredibly unique, varied and have a direct and rewarding impact on our success.

Data Science Specialist: As a Data Science Specialist, you will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team, which could involve researching, developing, testing, and deploying novel science-based analytics and tools. You will work on both strategic longer term research and capability development projects, creating full-production, scalable and supported capability, as well as short-term tactical work in response to current operations or investigations. Through the application of proven scientific methods to our analysis, we aim to improve the intelligence and operational insight we can glean from the data, as well as improving efficiencies and robustness of our approach.

Whichever stream you’re in, you’ll work with a number of different teams who will help you broaden both your business and technical skills.

Training and Career Development

We’re lucky at MI5. We have a unique and stimulating work environment. One that makes sure all of our people have the ongoing support and development to build a rewarding and successful career with us. Together with the other graduates on the TGDP, you’ll get a mix of on-the-job and more formal training. You’ll also follow a training pathway that’s been specifically designed for your business stream.

Some examples of training courses include:

•    Emotional Intelligence
•    Communicating and Presenting with Impact
•    Influencing with Integrity
•    Practical Strategic Planning

Learning and development is central to our engineering ethos and we invest heavily in our people. As part of your MI5 career we will support you in broadening and deepening your technical and non-technical skills. We have access to a wide variety of classroom and online learning, as well as our own development programmes and schemes. We work with external bodies such as the Institute for Engineering and Technology and the British Computing Society to support and fund accreditation for our staff, which could be in a specific technical area or more broadly, such as becoming a Chartered Engineer.

At MI5, we’ve worked hard to create a supportive environment that encourages collaboration. We also believe in the power of a healthy work-life balance. For a more detailed look into life at MI5, and the benefits we offer our people, please visit ‘Working at MI5’ .

The Person

To join the TGDP, it’s so important that you have a real passion for technology. You’ll also need (or be expecting) a 2:2 degree by September 2020 in a STEM (Science, Technical, Engineering or Mathematics) discipline.

You’ll also need to show us that you’re a good communicator. After all, not everyone will know technical terms. So you’ll be comfortable translating complex information to people at all levels of the business. You’ll have also learnt how to think analytically, and can confidently challenge the usual way of doing things. Crucially, you can combine your honesty and resilience with good decision-making and the ability to take responsibility of your work.

Recruitment Process

The first thing we will ask you to do is complete our pre-screening questions to find out if you meet our initial criteria.  If you do, we will then ask you to begin an application.  To do this you will need to create a login by providing your full name, email address and a memorable password.  You will then be asked to complete a basic application form and equal opportunities monitoring information.  

After you submit this, you’ll receive an email from us asking you to complete our full application form, which includes an a Situational Judgement Test. Remember – you only have a week to take the test and finish your form. If you don’t, we’ll assume that you’ve decided not to apply anymore.  

The application form consists of basic eligibility questions, and sections for you to list your qualifications and work experience. It will explore your motivation to work for MI5 and why you and why you specifically want to be on the TGDP. We’ll also ask you to select your preferred area to work in. Our recruitment team will go through every application and successful applicants will be invited to complete a Codility online test. Candidates who are successful at the Codility test will then be invited to an assessment centre in London. These will run between January and March 2020. This may be followed by a final selection interview to explore your suitability to the preferred business area.  If you successfully pass the final recruitment stage, you will be made a conditional offer of employment. These are made on the condition that you pass the Developed Vetting (DV) stages of the process, which will include a security interview with one of our vetting officers.

Before you apply, you should read about the process to make sure you meet our criteria. You can find that here. Providing misleading information, or concealing or leaving out any information, is taken very seriously. So please do follow our guidance from the moment you decide to apply. Find out more about the vetting process here: https://www.mi5.gov.uk/careers/vetting

The recruitment and vetting process can take up to nine months to complete.  If you’re in your final year of studying, we would suggest applying now.  Once all vetting enquiries have been completed and DV clearance has been granted, we’ll be able to make you a final offer of employment and agree start dates.  For the TGDP, this will be in September 2020.


Guaranteed Interview Scheme

As part of our commitment to being a ‘Disability Confident Leader’ we offer an interview to all candidates with a disability who meet our minimum criteria for the role they are applying for. This is known as the Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS)

To secure an interview for this vacancy, the minimum 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 directed to the initial application form.

Full Application and Situational Judgement Test – You will be required to reach the pass mark set for the Situational Judgement Test and Codility Test.

On successful completion of this test and an application form sift, you will be invited to interview (this could be either a telephone or face to face interview). This is our guaranteed interview.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible to apply, you must meet our residency criteria. You must be a born or naturalised British citizen and one of your parents must be a British citizen or have substantial ties to the UK. Candidates must normally have been resident in the UK for nine out of the last 10 years. This is particularly important if you were born outside the UK. You will nonetheless be considered if you have, for example, served overseas with HM Forces or in some other official capacity as a representative of Her Majesty’s Government, studied abroad, or lived overseas with your parents. You can apply at the age of 17 years and 6 months, if successful you will not be offered a start date prior to your 18th birthday. Discretion is vital. You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member. 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. Further information on our eligibility criteria can be found on the How to Apply section.

The UK intelligence Agencies / MI5 / MI6 / GCHQ are Equal Opportunities employers, committed to reflecting the society we protect. Our recruitment process is fair, transparent and based on merit. We particularly welcome applications from diverse and under-represented groups. We particularly welcome applications from women/ Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates /candidates with a disability / LGBT + candidates.

Key Dates

Application Close - 11th November 2019

Online Testing start - From mid-November 2019

Assessment Centres start - From January 2020

This Program / Vacancy is closed to applications.