Salary: £50,838 to £62,437 with an additional concessionary payment. Salary dependent on current salary and experience. You’ll also have the opportunity to qualify for an Individual Recruitment Premium of £7,392 to £10,212 (effective from day one), which acknowledges the pay difference between GCHQ and the NHS. Please note, this is not guaranteed year-on-year and is reviewed annually.
Flexible working: we recognise the importance of a good work-life balance and offer full-time and part-time hours (minimum 3 days per week). Remote/homeworking options are limited due to the nature of the work. Flexible hours considered, subject to business needs.
About us
GCHQ is an intelligence, cyber and security agency with a mission to keep the UK safe. We use cutting-edge technology, ingenuity and partnerships to identify, analyse and disrupt threats. Working with our intelligence partners MI5 and MI6, we protect the UK from terrorism, cyber-attacks and espionage. At GCHQ you’ll do varied and fascinating work in a supportive and inclusive environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.
The role
As a Principal Clinical/Counselling Psychologist (Wellbeing), you’ll provide expert advice and support to colleagues operating in complex, risk-based roles. You’ll deliver consultations focussed on vulnerability, resilience and risk, and carry out direct and indirect clinical assessments drawing on psychometrics, interviews and clinical observations, where appropriate. This is a rewarding and influential role where you’ll be responsible for multi-disciplinary work with wide-reaching impact.
You might be undertaking collaborative health surveillance and impact monitoring, offering wellbeing consultations to corporate teams, or highlighting the psychological aspects of complex casework to business partners. This includes offering reflective practice to colleagues managing high-risk roles. You’ll also oversee the delivery of specialist clinical interventions, including risk management and trauma work.
Whether you’re presenting psychology-informed training sessions or developing assessments that support high-risk role selection, you’ll be engaging with our teams, the wider behavioural science community and government partners to develop best practice approaches. You’ll also participate in small-scale research and audit projects, and regular peer supervision and ethical practice reflection.
It's a role with plenty of collaboration. You’ll work with Personal Security, Occupational Health, and Employee Assistance/Health and Wellbeing, and act as a role model for professionalism, inclusion and evidence-based practices. As you seek to enhance our processes, you’ll also seize opportunities to further your own skills as you stay up to date with Health and Care Professions Council requirements. You may also attend relevant conferences in the UK and internationally, and travel to other locations nationally where required.
About you
You’ll hold a Masters or Doctorate in Clinical Psychology or Counselling Psychology, or equivalent (conferring eligibility for chartership with the British Psychological Society). You’ll also be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council. Importantly, you’ll have significant experience of working at NHS Band 7 or 8a (or equivalent) as a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist.
You don’t need any experience of working in government, intelligence or security, but you will have previously worked in a multidisciplinary team setting delivering training and have extensive post-qualification experience working with young adult or adult clinical populations. You’ll bring proven expertise in conducting psychological assessments and have developed and delivered training to psychology and non-psychology colleagues.
As an effective communicator who can influence and challenge with sensitivity, you’ll deliver clinical advice and consultation and provide clear and concise reports and documentation. And you’ll have expertise in psychometric testing, formulation and risk assessment. Plus, you’ll be committed to your continuous professional development and stay updated with relevant clinical and research findings.
Training and development
At GCHQ, we value and nurture talent and we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential. We offer a wide range of in-house and external opportunities for personal and professional development. Plus, we’ll actively support further training with funding in specialist skills related to your role.
Upon joining, you’ll receive a comprehensive induction into the role and the wellbeing arena, as well as GCHQ as an organisation and the wider community of Practitioner Psychologists and Behaviour and Social Scientists. Training will be provided on our processes and tools, and you’ll have the additional support of a ‘buddy’ and mentor as you settle into your new role.
Rewards and benefits
In addition to your salary, other benefits include:
- 25 days annual leave automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years' service, and an additional 10.5 days public and privilege holidays (continuous years’ service within the NHS will be recognised)
- opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme
- an interest-free season ticket loan
- an excellent pension scheme
- a cycle to work scheme
- facilities such as a gym, restaurant and on-site coffee bars (at some locations)
- paid parental and adoption leave
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, 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.
We’re Disability Confident
GCHQ is proud to have achieved Leader status within the Department for Work and Pensions’ 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. As a Disability Confident Leader, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants who best meet the essential minimum criteria for this position, will be offered an interview, if it is practical for us to do so. (This is known as the Offer of an Interview.) To secure an interview for this role, the minimum criteria (in order of application process) are:
- A Master’s or Doctorate in Clinical Psychology or Counselling Psychology (or its equivalent, conferring eligibility for chartership with BPS)
- Registered with the Health & Care Professions Council
- Significant experience of working at NHS Band 7 (or its equivalent) as a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist
- Meeting the minimum pass mark for the application question which explores your motivation and suitability for this role and organisation
There is a wide range of extra support available throughout the recruitment process to enable you to do your best, see our website for information on reasonable adjustments we can offer.
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
- Telephone Interview, a brief call to explore your motivation for the role/organisation
- In person Assessment Centre, including situational role-plays and interview
- If successful, you will receive a conditional offer of employment, subject to vetting
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 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.
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 securely.
The role is based in Cheltenham or Manchester, 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.