Department
Mission Enablers
Location(s)
Cheltenham, London, Manchester
Contract Type
Permanent
Hours of Work
Full time with flexible working
Salary
London: £34,414 (rising to £37,203 after 1 year) Cheltenham & Manchester: £32,050 (rises to £34,648 after one year)
Job description
About Us
MI5 safeguards the UK against threats such as terrorism, espionage, cyber and sabotage. We investigate suspect individuals and organisations in the UK to obtain, collate, analyse and assess secret intelligence relating to these threats. Alongside our British Intelligence partners MI6 and GCHQ, we provide the UK government with the information they need to protect national security.
The Role
At MI5 you’ll enjoy varied work in a supportive and encouraging environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork. It means we have really rewarding careers that rely on people with varied backgrounds, ages, and skills – just like our Business Enabler role. Whether you’ve just graduated or want a career change, you’ll develop your skills, have a hugely positive impact and be at the heart of what we do. The support you give in one of our many mission enabling positions will help the wider intelligence business work smoothly, while giving you lots of interesting insights.
You’ll collaborate with a range of business areas and when you join, you won’t be rotated around different departments. Instead, your first post will typically last for a minimum of two years. If you apply for London you might be based in one of a variety of areas like: Finance, Legal, Information Management, HR, Project Management, Compliance, Recruitment, Policy, and Data Management. And that’s just to name a few. If you apply for Cheltenham, although you will be based in Cheltenham you will be employed by MI5. You can expect to work in corporate services and will likely be posted to areas such as commercial, audit, vetting or finance. And if you apply for Manchester you can expect to work in corporate services in areas such as recruitment or vetting.
This’ll help you to gain a breadth of experience, build relationships and develop detailed knowledge in one specific area of our organisation. And after that, you’ll take full control of your career as you can apply for a range of roles across MI5. If you are working in Cheltenham or Manchester, after you’ve completed your two-year post you can apply to roles based in Cheltenham/Manchester within corporate services or apply for roles across the wider business in London. While you’ll be employed by MI5, you might have opportunities to also work with MI6 and GCHQ.
About You
There’s no one ‘type’ of person we’re after. Safeguarding the UK requires talented people, and those people aren’t found in any one particular section of society. Our Business Enablers come from a range of backgrounds and with various degree disciplines. Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit.
To join, you’ll have (or be expecting) a 2:2 degree or above in any degree discipline, or you’ll have work experience where you have developed the skills and qualities that will be crucial for success in this role. You’ll be able to communicate effectively with people, establish productive working relationships, work well in a team and be adaptable to new working environments. With great organisational skills and a good eye for detail, you’ll trust your own judgment and have confidence in making your own decisions. While happy to take responsibility for your own areas of work, you’ll also enjoy collaborating to solve problems. And it’s important that you’re keen to learn.
No matter your experience or background, you’ll get lots of dedicated support when you join. With an induction and your own mentor, you’ll quickly get to grips with everything and have a friendly face to help you settle in.
Rewards and Benefits
You’ll receive a starting salary of £34,414 rising to £37,203 after 1 year for London and £32,050 rising to £34,648 after 1 year for Cheltenham and Manchester and 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
Personal Learning Budget.
Opportunities to work flexibly, subject to business needs
Interest free season ticket loan
Excellent pension scheme
Cycle to work scheme
Parental and adoption leave
Child care vouchers
Eye care vouchers
There are lots of facilities at our site, such as a gym, restaurant, and coffee bars. And we also host lots of social events so that everyone can get together outside of work.
Equal Opportunities
At MI5 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.
We’re Disability Confident
MI5 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:
Eligibility Questions – You will be asked a series of questions relating to this vacancy. If you meet this criteria, you will be directed to the initial application form.
Online Test – You will be required to reach the pass mark set for the situational judgement test.
On successful completion of this test and an application form sift; you will be invited to an interview. This will normally be a telephone interview, and is our ‘Offer of Interview.’
What to Expect
The recruitment process for this role is outlined below (in order):
Eligibility questions – The first step is for you to complete our pre-screening questions to find out if you do meet our initial criteria. If you do meet these criteria, we then ask you to begin an application.
Initial form – You will need to create a login and provide your full name, email address and memorable password. Once you have successfully created a personal account, you will be required to complete an initial application form providing contact details and equal opportunities information. The application form also includes a Situational Judgement test.
Situational Judgement Test – During the situational judgement test you will be presented with a set of hypothetical scenarios which have been designed using situations relevant to our values and key behaviours needed to perform the Business Enabler role. The situational judgement test is set in the context of you taking on the role of a Business Enabler, however you will not need any knowledge of the policies or procedures relating to MI5 in order to answer the questions in this test. You will just need to use your own judgement to rate the effectiveness of each option in response to the situation presented and pick the most and least effective options. This situational judgement test will present you with different situations that you might have to deal with as a Business Enabler.
Telephone Interview – Your application will be sifted by our recruitment team and if successful, the next stage is a telephone interview. This will include competency-based questions and will explore your motivation to work for MI5.
Online Assessment Centre – Assuming you pass the telephone interview, you will be invited to attend an assessment online. This half day assessment will include a mixture of role-plays, an interview, and a written assessment. It is designed to assess the full range of competencies and skills required for the Business Enabler role, but is often described by candidates as a challenging and rewarding day.
Vetting – You should read about the Vetting process and satisfy yourself that you meet the criteria outlined in the Vetting pages prior to submitting an application.
Security interview – this interview will take place in Central London and is an important part of the selection process. It’s an interview to explore your life and experiences, and it’s not a competency or capability-based interview.
Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process in order to progress to the next and your application may take around 9 to 12 months to process.
If you are in the final year of your studies we advise you to apply now. During the recruitment process our recruitment team will give you further information about when you would be able to join.
We reserve the right to close the online vacancy when we are in receipt of sufficient applications. Should you wish to apply for this post you are advised to complete and submit your application form as soon as possible.
Before You Apply
To work at MI5, 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.
The role is based in London, Manchester or Cheltenham so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance of the location which you apply for. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application. A loan is available to support people relocating.
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 here.
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.
