Senior Project Manager - GCHQ/MI5/MI6

Flexible Working: We support full-time, part-time, compressed, and flexible hours, with hybrid working available dependent on role, organisation, and business need.

About Us

MI5, MI6 and GCHQ are the UK’s Intelligence Services. We work together to safeguard Britain’s people, interests, and businesses from various threats at home, overseas and online, including cyber-attacks, espionage, terrorism, and organised crime. Working across our vital missions, you’ll deliver impact at the heart of national security, all within a supportive and inclusive environment that allows everyone to thrive.

The Role

As a Senior Project Manager in MI5, MI6 or GCHQ no day is the same. From managing innovative projects across science, tech, and finance, to driving business change and reporting progress to stakeholders, you’ll be working closely with colleagues to deliver projects from start to finish.

You’ll get the best out of people and projects. The role will encompass individual project work, cross team and organisational working and the chance to work with external partners. You’ll be working in diverse areas with diverse people as you lead a team through the project lifecycle. You’ll set objectives, mentor team members, and manage budgets, predicting financial forecasts as you create, update, and monitor roadmaps.

Risk management will also be part of your role, as you’ll identify, handle, and mitigate risk, working with stakeholders and external partners on short and medium-term projects across programs such as digital transformation. You don’t need to be a subject matter expert; your knowledge and application of different methodologies will be sufficient and allow you to focus on a tech or non tech portfolio. Whilst this role is uniquely complex and requires a level of sensitivity due to the nature of the work, your work will always be rewarding.

About You

You’ll have experience using methodologies like Prince2, Agile and SAFe®. As a Senior Project Manager, you’ll have industry-recognised qualifications, alongside experience managing complex projects from start to finish.

At whatever level you join us, you’ll have experience working with Agile methodologies, communicating with stakeholders, and articulating complex requirements clearly. You’ll be a good communicator too, especially when working with ambiguous projects and resolving conflicts.

A resilient problem-solver with an innate curiosity, you’ll be comfortable thinking strategically, bringing innovation to the team, and collaborating on culture change initiatives.

Crucially, you’ll be able to show competency across requirements; resource management; planning; assurance; budgeting; cost management; governance; using relevant frameworks and project management approaches; change control and stakeholder engagement.

Training and Development

Whether you join MI5, MI6 or GCHQ you’ll have a full induction to the organisation, which will help you get to grips with how we operate. You’ll then have a team induction to give you a rounded understanding of your role, followed by on-the-job training to help you settle in.

You’ll also be supported if you choose to work towards professional qualifications, including SAFe® certification in Scaled Agile, Certificated SAFe® for government (applying lean-agile practices in the public sector) and APMG (Agile Project Management Practitioner) as well as Prosci Change Management.

We’re committed to developing our staff and recognise this will look different for everyone. We have an exceptional skills community dedicated to supporting you. There’ll be lots of tailored training, coaching, and mentoring, alongside opportunities to pursue career pathways which cover specialism tracks. Depending on the organisation there may be a personal learning budget to support your personal development. Whatever your professional goals, we’ll work with you to build the skills you need to excel at your role and throughout your career.

Rewards and Benefits

You’ll receive a salary of £48,104 - £67,782 (dependent on skills and experience) as a Senior Project Manager 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
• Interest-free season ticket loan (parking and travel)
• Excellent pension scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Facilities such as a gym and restaurant, and on-site coffee bars (at some locations)
• Paid parental and adoption leave

Equal Opportunities

At MI5, MI6 and 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, 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 websites:

https://www.mi5.gov.uk/careers/working-at-mi5

https://www.gchq-careers.co.uk/life-at-gchq.html

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

We’re Disability Confident

MI5, MI6 and GCHQ 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 essential criteria for the role. This is our ‘Offer of Interview’ (OOI). To secure an interview for this vacancy, the essential criteria (in order of application process) are:

• Ability to use Project Management methodologies although formal qualifications such as PRINCE2 are not a prerequisite.
• Demonstrate ability to communicate with stakeholders at all levels and adapt your approach to changing circumstances.
• Evidence of planning and delivering a project (this can be an example from other work or personal life).

What to Expect

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

• Paper sift – you are advised to make full use of the word allowance for each question
• Interview
• Drugs Test
• Vetting Interview

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 MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, 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.

MI5 and MI6: 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. An interest-free loan via our benevolent fund is available to assist with relocating into privately rented accommodation to take up the offer of employment.

GCHQ: The role is based in Cheltenham, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application, as we do not offer relocation costs.

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. You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member.

Right to Withdraw Statement:

Please be aware that we reserve 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.

When you are ready to apply for the role, return to the previous page, and click the submit button at the bottom of the page to start your application. You'll be able to select the role you want to apply for in the application form.