Deputy Director HR People Strategy

GCHQ

On-Site

Expires: Expiring in less than 4 weeks

Full time

£96,981 - £102,261 per year

Job summary

GCHQ is the nation’s intelligence, cyber and security agency. We work to make the UK the safest place to live and work online; connect the national security community securely; and provide insights and counter threats through SIGINT and effects. Our people work closely with MI5 and MI6 as well as defence, international, and industry partners across a variety of locations, with major hubs in Cheltenham, London and Manchester as well as other sites in the UK and overseas. We live by the values of ingenuity, integrity, impact and teamwork as we work to keep the UK safe, resilient and prosperous in an uncertain world. A role with us means you will do unique and challenging work in a supportive environment, making a meaningful difference to national security.

Job description

The role

Reporting to Chief People Officer, this is an exciting and broad opportunity. We are seeking a HR Professional to act as Deputy Director to lead the delivery of key HR initiatives across the organisation, focusing on Pay, Pensions, and Careers and Skills. The successful candidate will be a strategic HR professional with a proven track record of delivering complex projects and managing stakeholder relationships.

This post will work closely with the leadership team in GCHQ and across UKIC HR and as a team you will cover all HR functions so an ability to work with others to drive genuine transformation is critical to succeeding in this role.

Person specification

Key Responsibilities:

Pay:

Lead the development and implementation of the organisation's annual pay award remit, ensuring compliance with relevant legislation and regulations.
Negotiate with trade unions and other stakeholders to secure agreement on pay awards and related terms and conditions.
Analyse and interpret data to inform pay decisions and ensure fairness and equity across the organisation.

Pensions:

Oversee the policies and administration of the organisation's pension schemes, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations and legislation.
Develop and implement pension strategy, including communicating changes to employees and stakeholders.
Collaborate with pension scheme administrators and other stakeholders to resolve issues and improve processes.

Careers and Skills:

Lead the design and development of career pathways for specific professional groups in conjunction with heads of profession.
Lead the career and skills alignment across UKIC.
Collaborate with heads of profession and other key stakeholders to identify skills gaps and develop targeted interventions.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is critical to our mission and we expect all our leaders to demonstrate a commitment to its delivery. To protect the UK, we need a truly diverse workforce that reflects the society we serve and therefore would like to encourage applications from a wide range of backgrounds for this role.

Senior roles within GCHQ are responsible for ensuring effective engagement with Safety, Health and Wellbeing processes, including actions related to allocating resourcing and monitoring compliance. This extends to the management of psychological risk and the nomination of an individual/individuals responsible for assessing and recording roles in the Management of Psychological Risk (MPR) tool and to lead on liaison with the Wellbeing team.

About you

You will be an experienced HR professional with relevant skills and experience in the HR field; a leader with excellent personal resilience, ability to demonstrate strong teamwork, and also commitment to self-awareness and professional development. You’ll be a leader who demonstrates GCHQ’s values of Integrity, Ingenuity, Impact and Teamwork, who works inclusively, collaboratively and takes a learning approach to agile delivery. You should be an excellent communicator in person and in writing, able to explain complicated issues and identify solutions that work for the business.

You will have:

Professional HR qualification CIPD Level 7 and significant experience in a senior HR role.
Proven track record of delivering complex HR projects and managing stakeholder relationships.
Strong knowledge of employment law, pensions, and pay practices.
Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to interpret data and inform decision-making.
Strong communication and negotiation skills, with the ability to build effective relationships with stakeholders.
Ability to work at a strategic level, influencing organisational decision-making.
Experience of working in a large or complex organisation.
Knowledge of careers development and talent management principles.

Benefits

Rewards and Benefits

You will receive a minimum salary of £96,981 plus a non-concessionary payment of £3030 (subject to security compliance) and London Pay Addition of £6250 if contracted to a London work location, 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
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

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

SCS1 Competency Framework

The role is broad and varied in scope, but particularly focused on the following SCS1 Competencies (Level 5):

Driving Innovation and Change
Leading Inclusively
Providing Customer Value
Working Collaboratively
Delivering Outcomes

Selection Process

To apply to for this role please complete the relevant sections of the application and copy and paste your Suitability Statement (limit to 2 sides of A4) and CV into the required fields. Please note that you will be required to complete a short initial eligibility application, before being progressed to the full application form.

Your application will be sifted to assess your evidence against the essential criteria above.
If longlisted, you will participate in a telephone interview with our recruitment partners – scheduled for week commencing 25/05/26.
If shortlisted at telephone interview, you will be invited to participate in a Staff Engagement Session with a small group of GCHQ staff. This will be held virtually. Full details of the assessment process will be made available to shortlisted candidates – scheduled week commencing 15/06/26.
You will be invited to attend a panel interview held in person in London, where your motivational fit, values, competency evidence and technical experience will be assessed. - scheduled week commencing 06/07/26.

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.

For more information about the role or a confidential discussion please contact confidential@recruitmentoffice.org.uk

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:

ht https://www.gchq.gov.uk/section/culture/diversity-and-inclusion

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 fair and proportionate number of person-to-person interviews 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:

Meeting the eligibility criteria
Meeting the essential criteria for the role at initial sift

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 the reasonable adjustments we can offer. https://www.gchq-careers.co.uk/how-to-apply.html

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 at the link below.

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 at the link below.

https://www.gchq-careers.co.uk/how-to-apply.html

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 can be based in Cheltenham, London or Manchester, but the successful candidate would be expected to spend time in each of the three locations. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities associated with the location and travel require for the role 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.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

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Contact point for applicants

Salary range

£96,981 - £102,261 per year