Business Support Officer Ref. 3283

Flexible working: we support a range of working patterns, full-time, part-time (minimum of 3 working days), compressed hours and job shares. Due to the nature of the role homeworking will not be possible.

About Us
We’re MI6, also known as the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). Our mission is to protect the security and economic wellbeing of the UK from overseas threats such as regional instability, terrorism, and cyber-attacks. Working across the globe and in close partnership with MI5 and GCHQ we help the Government to counter these threats through the provision of secret intelligence. A role in MI6 will see you providing vital support to this work, within a supportive and encouraging environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.

The Role
As a Business Support Officer (BSO), you’ll be at the heart of our mission, supporting activities that will keep the country safe. You’ll start on a two-year development programme and over the course of this time, you’ll have placements in teams doing administration-based roles, where you’ll benefit from practical learning, all within a supportive environment. You could be assisting a busy operational team, a part of the HR department, or working alongside senior staff supporting them to manage a busy schedule. You’ll be the go-to person within your team and your contribution will keep critical activity on track. This role brings plenty of new opportunities every day. You’ll take on real business challenges while learning with the support of your team.

On completing the programme, you’ll have a variety of opportunities open to you. You may want to specialise in a corporate profession and gain industry-recognised qualifications or apply for a role in one of our many locations overseas (there are opportunities to work overseas after 3 years). Whatever you choose, this role offers you the opportunity to carve a career path unique to you, while building on your strengths and learning valuable new skills.

About You
You’ll have a minimum of 5 GCSEs Grades 9 – 4 (A to E) including maths and English Language Grades A to C or equivalent. A resilient problem-solver with innate curiosity, you’re adaptable with an ability to plan and prioritise your workload and you’ll enjoy embracing challenges to support our mission. You’ll be comfortable communicating with people at all levels of the organisation, anticipating their needs and using your natural curiosity to look for efficiencies to help you, and your team, work better.

Whatever your background, you’ll be adaptable, motivated, and collaborative. Some BSOs come straight from full time education, others might have extensive work experience, but all are attracted by our unique working environment. You’ll share our values of integrity, courage, respect and creativity and our mission to have a positive impact on UK security.

Training and Development
At MI6, we’re proud to offer an inclusive and supportive working environment. We value and nurture talent, and we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential. No matter your experience or background, you’ll get lots of dedicated support. Upon joining, you’ll receive an initial induction to learn more about the organisation. You’ll then begin your career with MI6 on a two-year development programme, with a range of different learning and development opportunities available, from team shadowing to courses and peer support. You won’t be on your own here – our strong community of Business Support Officers have created a peer network, where you can learn from each other, share ideas, organise events and build connections that’ll last throughout your career. You’ll be part of a community dedicated to your development.

Rewards and Benefits
You’ll receive a starting salary of £33,746 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
• Opportunities to work flexibly, subject to business needs
• Interest-free season ticket loan
• Excellent pension scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Facilities such as a gym and restaurant, and on-site coffee bars
• Paid parental and adoption leave

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

We’re Disability Confident
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 criteria for the role. This is our “offer of interview” (OOI). To secure an interview for this vacancy, the minimum criteria (in order of application process) are:

• A minimum of five GCSEs at grade 9-4 (A -E), including maths and English Language grades A-C or equivalent
• Demonstrate a strong motivation for applying to work for MI6 as a Business Support Officer – assessed at application sift
• Successfully pass the online situational judgment test

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

• You’ll complete an online application form and online test
• You’ll be invited to attend an online interview
• If you’re successful at this stage, you’ll be made a conditional offer of employment while you undergo the Developed Vetting process (details below)

You’ll only be made a final offer of employment once you have obtained the necessary security clearance.

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 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.

Before you apply, we advise you to consider setting up a separate email address for your contact with us, to ensure your personal and application correspondence remain separate. Try to avoid having identifying features in your email address, such as your first and/or surname and date of birth. This is good practice and will help you to manage your application with us more discretely.

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. A loan is available to support people relocating to London.

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.

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.