About Us

We are MI5, we protect the UK from threats to national security such as terrorism and espionage. We gather intelligence and work closely with the police and law enforcement to detect threats and work out ways to stop them. 

The Role                

Are you interested in providing the best technology solutions to teams to help them deliver critical intelligence, evidence, and data to our frontline missions? Are you proactive, enthusiastic and do you have an open mind? Are you flexible in approach and prepared to work in an environment of change and uncertainty? 

You’ll know that teamwork is at the heart of success and through this you can have a major impact in driving the technical solutions now and in the future.  The role relies on building high quality relationships with customers, key partners and industry suppliers. Much of our best capability is created collaboratively. Helping us deliver this should be a very rewarding and exciting experience.

As a Product Manager, you’ll be part of the team developing clear strategies and product roadmaps, alongside customers, ensuring that users are at the heart of the capability development process.  It will be your responsibility to delivering to these road maps, managing the lifecycles of various products from innovation through to retirement and replacement. Some of the main duties and responsibilities you can expect in the role include:

•    Managing dependencies and coordinating cross-functional teams by participating in Programme Increment (PI) Planning, including contributing to management of prioritisation conflicts.
•    Developing and maintaining strong relationships with the mission customers as well as investment partners.
•    Responsible for delivering compliant products which provide maximum business value.
•    Responsible for budget management and adhering to financial regulations and processes; including reporting.
•    Managing product and delivery related risks and ensuring effective risk management processes are implemented by others.
•    Understanding the marketplace, generating benefits through working with existing and new industry partners.

About You

As an experienced delivery professional, you’ll have worked across a range of fast paced projects and programmes, coupled with an ability to understand their strategic context. You are able to practically apply your experience to complex situations and be confident in applying your own judgement to issues or situations, thereby enabling you to identify solutions and implementing them quickly, and within agreed guiderails.

You’ll have a proven record of delivery, and are experienced working with suppliers to deliver at pace.  You choose the appropriate project methodology (agile, iterative, experimental, MSP) to enable successful swift delivery.

You will be an excellent communicator who can articulate a clear vision and direction of the products you are responsible for.  You have strong stakeholder skills and build strong relationships. Enjoying problem-solving and having a flexible approach to change, you’ll be keen to try new ways of working and delivery methods.

You enjoy being part of a team - working with colleagues to help create a fully inclusive and supportive environment with a focus on EDI as well as continual learning, experimentation, and innovative ways of working.

Training and Development

Working in MI5 will give you a challenge, inspiration and a real sense of purpose to your work. You’ll be empowered and supported to make a real difference in a truly unique environment.

You will benefit from a broad range of development and training opportunities. From the moment you join, you will be supported to understand what we do and how we do it.  We support flexible working arrangements and actively encourage a healthy life/work balance. We value professional skills, offering candidates an additional allowance which reflects the importance we place on Project and Change Management and Business Analysis.

Rewards and Benefits

You’ll receive a starting salary of £50,463.00 plus other benefits including: £2,776.00 Skills Allowance

-    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
-    Facilities such as a subsidised gym and restaurant, and on-site coffee bars
-    Paid parental and adoption leave 

Culture and Working Environment 

As part of our team, you’ll discover an inclusive workplace that’s welcoming, supportive and encouraging. You’ll be part of an organisation where people want to support one another and make a difference. Aside from fostering an open culture, we’ve got a range of growing affinity groups. For example:  
 
•    Ethnic Minority and gender equality networks
•    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 variety of sports, activity, interest and social groups to help you settle in and connect with people with similar interests. 

Before You Apply

To work at MI5, you need to be a British citizen. 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 MI5, 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.

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, 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.

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 ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview where practicable; this is known as ‘Offer of an Interview’. To secure an interview for this vacancy, the minimum criteria (in order of application process) are: 

•   Knowledge of Project Management and Governance including the management of risks, issues, and dependencies an ability to create working relationships with stakeholders facilitating collaboration to achieve successful outcomes. (to be assessed during technical sift)
•   An ability to build collaborative relationships with stakeholders, domestic and international partners and commercial suppliers and a willingness to learn and adapt to change. (to be assessed during competency interview)
•   A proven record of delivering successful outcomes within an engineering or technology driven environment. (to be assessed during technical sift)

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 the nationality or citizenship from our approved list of countries.Further information on our eligibility criteria can be found here. If you hold dual nationality, of which one component is British, you will nonetheless be considered. Further information on our eligibility criteria can be found here. 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. 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 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.

What to Expect

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

•   Application sift
•   Technical interview
•   Competency Interview
•   Vetting

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.

Our Vetting

To work in this role you will need the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community has to go through and it can take some time. As part of the DV process you will be asked to fill in a detailed questionnaire and attend an interview with a vetting officer. In your interview the vetting officer will have a thorough, compassionate and honest discussion with you about you as a person and your life experiences, to ensure holding a DV clearance is right for you. You don’t need to do any preparation for your vetting interview, just be honest and be yourself. All applicants for DV are treated impartially and consistently, irrespective of gender, race, disability, religion, age, sexual orientation and other protected characteristics. 

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.