Capability and Telecoms Engineers Ref. 3208

Flexible Working: We support full-time, compressed and part-time hours, and job shares. For the Telecoms Engineer and Senior Telecoms Engineer roles only, there is the potential for hybrid working dependent on business needs. This would involve a mix of working from home and in the office, but the ratio of office and home-working will flex to meet mission 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.

Our technical teams are central to this mission.  And now, with a number of technical roles available, you’ve got an opportunity to do work that’s at the heart of our operations. Whichever role you apply for, you’ll need to be a problem solver who thinks creatively.  Someone who thrives when collaborating with a diverse supportive team, and is keen to learn and develop new skills

Available Roles

Our engineering requirements are wide-ranging and often unique.  We’re looking for engineers with skillsets across a wide spectrum of areas. Whatever your specialism , you’ll be responsible for solving mission problems using off-the-shelf and custom-built systems, and your day-to-day work will be like nothing you’ve experienced before.

Telecoms Engineers

Using your expertise to understand complex telecom networks and technologies, analyse, process and reverse engineer a range of telecom technologies from physical layer to protocol processing. We’re looking for people who can demonstrate a solid interest and aptitude in STEM, you could have gained experience and expertise from industry or have a STEM degree or equivalent qualification, coupled with a passion to learn new technology.

Senior Telecoms Engineers

As a senior Telecoms engineer, you will be expected to have practical experience of applying your technical skills to full lifecycle delivery of capability and outcomes. As well as being a local lead, you’ll help shape our ways of working and support others to upskill and build their career in an inclusive environment.

Senior Embedded Systems Engineers

Your focus will be on building high performance solutions to complex and high rate processing, working with industry and academia, you’re willing to push the boundaries on how we design and apply embedded systems to manage the challenges we face, helping us to protect the UK and its interests. As well as being a local lead, you’ll help shape our ways of working and support others to upskill and build their career in an inclusive environment. You will be expected to have practical experience of applying your technical skills to full lifecycle delivery of capability and outcomes.

Multi-skilled Engineers (Electronics/Manufacturing)

Using your experience of various methods and technologies your work will be to deliver tailored end-to-end systems comprising hardware platforms, running software applications to perform signal processing, connected back via bespoke networks.  This work requires a broad knowledge of different technologies and system engineering knowledge to integrate hardware, software and network components into a complete system, coupled with a passion to learn new technology.

Telecoms Engineers - £38,303 - £41,696 dependent on skills and experience (package includes basic salary and skills payment), you will also receive an additional one-off recruitment bonus of £2,000. 

Senior Telecoms Engineers - £45,575 – £53,400 dependent on skills and experience (package includes basic salary and skills payment), you will also receive an additional one-off recruitment bonus of £3,500. 

Senior Embedded Systems Engineers - £46,448 - £55,412 dependent on skills and experience (package includes basic salary and skills payment), you will also receive an additional one-off recruitment bonus of £3,500. 

Multi-skilled Engineers (Electronics/Manufacturing) – £37,783 - £44,296 dependent on skills and experience (package includes basic salary and skills payment), you will also receive an additional one-off recruitment bonus of £2,000. 

There’s an opportunity to qualify for increased skills payments in the future, of up to £19,113 depending on the role, following successful assessment. 

Training and Development

On joining, you’ll have a full induction into GCHQ, so you can learn more about who we are, what we do, and where your role fits in. Once in your role, you’ll receive formal and on the job training and all the support you need to thrive at work. We encourage continuous professional development, and are dedicated to allowing you the space and capacity to develop, innovate and experiment. You’ll be encouraged to spend up to 30% of your time to achieve this.

Rewards and Benefits

You’ll receive a starting salary of £37,783 – 55,412 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, 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 on our website:

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

We’re Disability Confident

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: 

• Able to demonstrate how you have analysed and solved technical problems – assessed at application sift.
• Able to evidence that you’re comfortable working as part of a team to develop new capability and collaborate with others – assessed at application sift.
• Demonstrate an awareness of the basic steps required to develop capability – assessed at application sift.
• Able to demonstrate an inquisitive approach to understanding or adapting technology – assessed at application sift.

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
• Interview – to include a presentation
• If successful you will receive a conditional offer of employment

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 practise and will help you to manage your application with us more discretely.

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 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.