MI5’s mission is to keep the country and its people safe. It means we have really rewarding careers that rely on people with varied backgrounds, ages, and skills – just like our Business Enabler role. Whether you’ve just graduated or want a career change, you’ll develop your skills, have a hugely positive impact and be at the heart of what we do. As a Business Enabler at MI5, you will play an essential role in protecting national security. The support you give in one of our many corporate positions will help the wider intelligence business work smoothly. It’s varied work that’ll give you lots of interesting insights.

While this is technically called a scheme, you’ll work in a corporate role and collaborate with a range of business areas. When you join, you won’t be rotated around different departments. Instead, your first post will typically last for two to three years. You might be based in fascinating areas like Finance, Legal, Information Management, HR, Project Management, Compliance, Recruitment, Policy, and Data Management. And that’s just to name a few.

This’ll help you to gain a breadth of experience, build relationships and develop detailed knowledge in one specific area of our organisation. And after that, you’ll take full control of your career as you can apply for a range of roles across MI5. While you’ll be employed by MI5, you might have opportunities to also work with MI6 and GCHQ.  

About you

There’s no one ‘type’ of person we’re after. Safeguarding the UK requires talented people, and those people aren’t found in any one particular section of society. Our Business Enablers come from a range of backgrounds and with various degree disciplines.  Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit.

To join, you’ll have (or be expecting) a 2:2 degree or above in any degree discipline, or you’ll have relevant work experience in the workplace. That experience could come from any range of employers (eg. sales, recruitment, retail, customer services, hospitality, transport). You’ll be able to communicate effectively with people, establish productive working relationships and work well in a team. With great organisational skills and a good eye for detail, you’ll trust your own judgment and have confidence in making your own decisions. While happy to take responsibility for your own areas of work, you’ll also enjoy collaborating to solve problems. And it’s important that you’re keen to learn.

No matter your experience or background, you’ll get lots of dedicated support when you join. With an induction and your own mentor, you’ll quickly get to grips with everything and have a friendly face to help.

Rewards and benefits

You’ll receive a starting salary of £33,350 rising to £36,053 after 1 year (London) £31,051 rising to £33,569 after 1 year (Cheltenham & Manchester and 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.
• Opportunities to work flexibly, subject to business needs
• Interest free season ticket loan
• Excellent pension scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Parental and adoption leave

There are lots of facilities at our site, like as a gym, restaurant, and coffee bars. And we also host lots of social events so that everyone can get together outside of ‘work’.

Culture and Working Environment   

We have a serious job, but that doesn’t mean we’re serious all the time. We work in a collaborative environment, friendships develop – perhaps because we can talk about our work with each other, but mainly because we’re a welcoming bunch. It’s a very collaborative and inclusive place to work and teamwork really is key.

It’s also really important that everyone has a great work-life balance. That’s why we offer part-time working, compressed hours and flexible working. We also work hard to ensure our people can bring their whole selves to work. Aside from fostering a welcoming, supportive, and open culture, we’ve got a range of growing affinity groups. These currently include:

•    Ethnic Minority networks
•    Communities supporting gender diversity and social mobility  
•    Groups supporting wellbeing, mental health, neurodiversity, and disability
•    Faith/No Faith communities for staff to come together
•    LGBTQ+ support networks

You’ll also find a range of sports, activity, interest, and social groups to help you settle in and connect with people with similar interests.

Find out more at our Diversity page.

Key Dates

If you are in the final year of your studies we advise you to apply now. During the recruitment process our recruitment team will give you further information about when you would be able to join.

We reserve the right to close the online vacancy when we are in receipt of sufficient applications. Should you wish to apply for this post you are advised to complete and submit your application form as soon as possible.

Before You Apply

To work at MI5, you need to be a British citizen and you’ll need a real passion for the role. We do 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.

Honesty and integrity are really important if you want to work at MI5. Take some time to read about the vetting process and make sure you meet the criteria in the vetting pages of the ‘How to Apply’ section. The process can take some time, but this is just because it’s thorough. Giving misleading information and omitting or concealing information during the recruitment and vetting process is viewed very seriously.

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.

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 of the UK will impact on our ability to progress your application. Further information on our eligibility criteria can be found on the Applying section. 

Disability Confident Employer

We’re a global organisation that represents and defends the UK’s interests. So, naturally, Diversity and Inclusion is at the top of our agenda. It’s essential that we have a diverse workforce and provide an inclusive environment. We aim for everyone’s differences to be celebrated, and to create a workplace where everyone feels encouraged and supported.

As well as supporting you throughout the recruitment process, including offering a range of adjustments, we’ll ensure you have the right support throughout your career. We have a dedicated disability network group, which aims to build awareness of disability through internal talks, activities, and social events. 

We’re also proud to be a ‘Disability Confident’ organisation and have achieved ‘Leader’ status within the Department for Work and Pension’s scheme. We ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview, (this is known as Offer of an Interview). To secure an interview for this role, 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 this criteria, you will be directed to the initial application form.

Online Test – You will be required to reach the pass mark set for the situational judgement test.

On successful completion of this test and an application form sift; you will be invited to an interview. This will normally be a telephone interview and is our guaranteed interview.

Our commitment demonstrates the importance we place on equal opportunities, and it means that we also:

•    Do our best to accommodate adjustments
•    Allow extra time during selection ‘tests’
•    Ensure accessible formats are available
•    Offer alternative ways of carrying out different recruitment processes
•    Provide equipment where requested
•    Give candidates a telephone number or email address to contact us with any queries throughout the process.  

The Recruitment Process

The recruitment process for this role is outlined below (in order):

Eligibility questions – The first step is for you to complete our pre-screening questions to find out if you do meet our initial criteria. If you do meet these criteria, we then ask you to begin an application.

Initial form – You will need to create a login and provide your full name, email address and memorable password. Once you have successfully created a personal account, you will be required to complete an initial application form providing contact details and equal opportunities information. The application form also includes a Situational Judgement test.

Situational Judgement Test – During the situational judgement test you will be presented with a set of hypothetical scenarios which have been designed using situations relevant to our values and key behaviours needed to perform the Business Enabler role. The situational judgement test is set in the context of you taking on the role of a Business Enabler, however you will not need any knowledge of the policies or procedures relating to MI5 in order to answer the questions in this test. You will just need to use your own judgement to rate the effectiveness of each option in response to the situation presented and pick the most and least effective options. This situational judgement test will present you with different situations that you might have to deal with as a Business Enabler.

Telephone Interview – Your application will be sifted by our recruitment team and if successful, the next stage is a telephone interview. This will include competency-based questions and will explore your motivation to work for MI5.

Online Assessment Centre – Assuming you pass the telephone interview, you will be invited to attend an assessment online. This half day assessment will include a mixture of role-plays, an interview, and a written assessment. It is designed to assess the full range of competencies and skills required for the Business Enabler role, but is often described by candidates as a challenging and rewarding day.

Vetting – You should read about the Vetting process and satisfy yourself that you meet the criteria outlined in the Vetting pages prior to submitting an application.

Security interview – this interview will take place in Central London and is an important part of the selection process. It’s an interview to explore your life and experiences, and it’s not a competency or capability-based interview. We have taken appropriate measures to ensure that our buildings are COVID secure and this interview will take place in line with current government guidance around social distancing and COVID procedures.

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process in order to progress to the next and your application may take around 9 to 12 months to process.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible to apply, you must be a British Citizen. One of your parents must be a British Citizen or must have one of the nationalities or citizenships from one of the following: British Overseas Territory, British Subject, British National (Overseas), British Overseas Citizen, British Protected Person, citizenship of a country in the Commonwealth, citizenship of a country in the European Economic Area (EEA), or citizenship of the United States of America (USA). If deceased, they should have had such citizenship or nationality before death. If you hold dual nationality, of which one component is British, you will nonetheless be considered. If successful, you will not normally be required to give up your non-British citizenship but, as a condition of your employment or secondment, MI5 may impose restrictions on your postings, work travel and/or general use of that nationality. Candidates must normally have been resident in the UK for seven out of the last ten years. This is particularly important if you were born outside the UK. Each case will be carefully considered on its own facts. 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.