Infrastructure Engineer Ref. 2582

About Us

We’re GCHQ, and we unlock the complex world of communications to make a real difference to the safety of the nation. We work closely with our partners in the intelligence community to safeguard Britain's people, interests, and businesses from threats such as serious organised crime, people and drugs trafficking, terrorism and cyber-attacks.

The Role

Your work will be varied, but it’ll all have real impact. You could be working in small teams solving specific challenges, or part of a larger group focused on bigger problems. Whoever you’re working with, you’ll be developing new capabilities and infrastructure solutions. From hardware to cutting-edge technology and the cloud, you’ll support detailed design activities and work on a range of unique projects in an ever-changing environment.

Day-to-day, you could be working with Networks, Operating Systems, Applications, Databases, Data Transfer, Cyber Security, Identity Management or project discovery. You’ll work with external industry partners as well as our own IT teams and partners from other security agencies. And you’ll have line management responsibilities for some roles. So you’ll need to be a confident communicator, whether you’re assisting our drive to automate ‘infrastructure as code’ techniques and technology - or identifying innovation that’ll shape the way we work. Plus, with excellent training on offer, everyone has the opportunity to spend time on their own development.

In these roles, your work is at the core of everything we do. There’s no shift work, but you may be required to be on call. Importantly, we offer a strong work-life balance - including compressed and part time hours. We’re remote-working friendly (depending on business needs), and offer great benefits along with the opportunity to work towards certifications. It’s all to ensure teams and leaders and can bring their best each day.

About You

We’re looking for enthusiastic and motivated people from all backgrounds, who can demonstrate a desire to stay on top of technology and learn new skills. You might have worked in a small company with exposure from end-to-end projects. Or, perhaps you indulge your passion for IT in your spare time and can talk to us about home automation or your home set-up. It doesn’t matter where you are in your career, as long as you’re interested in learning new things and stretching your skills.

You’ll be good at prioritising and able to remain focussed under challenging circumstances. Adapting to change and reprioritising your work in a changing environment will also be important. You’ll be customer focussed, and able to communicate clearly to share knowledge and insight with a range of customers. You’ll be able to analyse problems and develop creative solutions to them. You’ll have experience of working as a member of a team and ideally have experience working across teams. For some of our roles, you’ll have experience of line management.

You’ll already have an interest in technology – although we don’t expect you to know everything, as we’ll train you and provide support. You could be working with some of the following technologies, but you don’t need to be familiar with all of them:

• Programming, scripting languages and automation – eg Powershell, Python and goLang
• Physical, Virtual and Cloud and Container-based infrastructure – VMWare and AWS
• Operating Systems such as Linux, Windows, MacOS
• Networking - WAN/LAN Technologies
• Authentication and Authorisation – eg OpenID Connect 

Training and Development

We offer a full training package tailored to your needs. This could be in the form of structured external training, bespoke internal training courses, or self-guided learning.  You’ll be encouraged and supported to pursue training to suit your needs and role throughout your career. We’ll even cover the cost of your training, meaning you can take exams for CISSP and AWS Systems Architect certifications. Along the way, you’ll also obtain the evidence needed to become a fellow of the IET. You’ll be offered opportunities to attend relevant supplier conferences where this adds value to the business and to your own development.

We also have an internal mentoring scheme where you’ll be paired up with mentors for both technical and personal development. There are opportunities to join internal, informal groups for wider knowledge exchange and for mutual support. In the future, you’ll have opportunities to develop and expand your career which could include moving to different career steams, other security agencies, or may include opportunities to work abroad.

Rewards and Benefits

You'll receive a starting salary from £30,831 to £40,936 (depending on role and experience). We may also offer you a one-off Recruitment Bonus and an annual Specialist Skills Bonus, both of which are also dependent on your skills and experience, which will be assessed at interview. Roles based in London also attract an additional £5,500 London Weighting payment. Our other benefits also include:

• 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
• Facilities such as a subsidised gym and restaurant, and on-site coffee bars at some locations
• 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 including:

• Ethnic Minority and gender equality networks.
• Groups supporting wellbeing, mental health, Neurodiversity and disability.
• Faith/no faith communities.
• 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 GCHQ, 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 GCHQ. 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 several locations, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance of our offices. 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 GCHQ 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,  ages, 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

GCHQ is 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:

• Able to demonstrate an interest for IT and new emerging technologies – either through work experience or self taught
• Able to work independently as well as within a team

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. 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, 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:

• CV Sift
• Interview

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process in order to progress to the next stage. You application may take 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 to impartially and inconsistently, irrespective of gender, race, disability, religion, age, sexual orientation and other protected characteristics.  

Please return to the main job page to apply for this role. Click 'Submit' at the bottom of the page where you will be taken to complete the application form. Within the application you will be prompted to select which role you are applying for. 

Right to Withdraw Statement:   

Please be aware that we withhold the right to bring 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.