Project Manager

Job summary

Salary £50,740 plus a non-pensionable skills payment of £4,198, payable from day one and reviewed annually, giving a total salary of £54,938.Job description

Flexible working: Due to the sensitive nature of our work, this role is fully office-based. However, we actively support a range of working patterns, including full-time, part-time, compressed hours and flexible working arrangements, to help maintain a healthy work-life balance.

About us
We’re MI6, also known as the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). Our mission is to protect the security and economic wellbeing of the UK from overseas threats such as regional instability, terrorism, and cyber-attacks. Working across the globe and in close partnership with MI5 and GCHQ, we help the Government to counter these threats through the provision of secret intelligence. A role in MI6 will see you providing vital support to this work, within a supportive and encouraging environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.

Job description

The role
As a Project Manager, you’ll deliver projects that help us protect the UK, often as part of a wider programme or portfolio. Working in a unique, dynamic environment, you’ll manage projects across science, tech and finance from start to finish.

You’ll lead and facilitate project meetings, keeping them focused, inclusive and outcome-driven, and turn decisions into clear delivery plans that are produced, maintained and updated as work progresses. You’ll report on project progress, issues and risks in a clear, consistent way so stakeholders always have visibility of delivery.

Risk management will run through everything you do. You’ll identify, assess and handle risks early, and work with others to mitigate them across short- and medium-term projects, including digital transformation. Governance structures are applied throughout delivery to maintain control, ensure compliance, and manage risk effectively.

Day to day, you’ll work closely with delivery teams to drive problem-solving, support conflict resolution when needed, and continuously improve ways of working. Effective engagement across technical and non-technical stakeholders ensures clear communication and aligned expectations, while also contributing to the wider project management community through development sessions and shared learning.

If you are successful in your application, you’ll be required to remain within the Project Capability for a minimum of five years.

Person specification

About you
You’re a self-motivated problem solver with practical experience applying project management principles in real delivery environments. That includes working with risk, planning, assurance and delivery controls, and using approaches such as Waterfall, Agile, APM, PRINCE2, or hybrid methods where they fit best.

You’ve got a grounded understanding of project financials and ownership, and you’ve worked within formal governance structures that keep delivery on track. Your experience spans multiple stages of the project lifecycle, giving you a clear sense of how projects evolve from early definition through to delivery and closure.

As a skilled communicator with effective interpersonal skills, you’re comfortable influencing and collaborating with stakeholders at all levels, guiding and mentoring less-experienced colleagues along the way. Your pragmatism helps you apply theory to the reality of each project, and your resilience means you can adapt if priorities shift.

In this role, you'll be a key part of driving innovation and positive change across teams. You'll manage requirements and resources thoughtfully and use your strategic mindset and problem-solving skills to overcome any challenges. You don’t need to have led a full end-to-end programme, but you do need experience applying project management approaches across different stages of delivery, and the confidence to use them effectively in context.

Benefits

Training and development
We take professional development seriously, and you'll be joining a community that invests in helping people grow their skills. On joining , a full induction to MI6 is provided, alongside a team induction to give a rounded view of the role. From there, on-the-job training supports your transition into the role.

Your development doesn’t stop there. You’ll be encouraged to shape your own learning and seek out opportunities as your career progresses. Alongside this, access is available to tailored training, coaching, and mentoring, as well as opportunities to pursue specialised career pathways within organisational change. As part of our commitment to developing and applying core project delivery skills, the Government Project Delivery Capability Framework (PDCF) is used to guide and nurture talent at all levels.

Support is provided to enhance professional skillset and experience, including working towards full membership of the Association for Project Management (APM), or the Chartered Project Professional Programme (ChPP). Depending on your experience and capability, training opportunities and support mechanisms are available to support progression towards APM certification within 12 months of joining the team. Whatever your professional goal, support is in place to help build the skills needed to excel in the role and throughout a career.

Rewards and benefits
You’ll receive a starting salary of £50,740, plus a non-pensionable skills payment of £4,198, payable from day one and reviewed annually.

• 25 days’ annual leave, automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years' service, plus an
• additional 10.5 days of public and privilege holidays
• 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

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

Equal opportunities
At MI6, 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: people 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 under-represented groups in our workforce, such as women, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Find out more about our culture, working environment and diversity on our websites.

Offer of interview
We are committed to providing equitable opportunities throughout the recruitment process to support candidates with disabilities. As part of this commitment, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants who best meet the essential minimum criteria for this position, are offered an interview, where 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:

1. You’ll be required to reach the minimum pass mark for the Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT), which assesses your ability to problem-solve
2. Demonstrate the ability to use Project Management methodologies
3. Demonstrate the ability to communicate with stakeholders at all levels and adapt your approach to changing circumstances
4. You’ll be required to meet the minimum pass mark in questions about motivation for the role and the organisation

There is a wide range of extra support available throughout the recruitment process to enable you to do your best. Please see our website for information on the reasonable adjustments we can offer.

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

1. An initial online application form including pre-screening questions to ensure you meet our eligibility criteria
2. Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT) rating the appropriateness of your responses to a series of short scenarios. The SJT tests criteria important for all roles in our organisation
3. Personal interview
4. Drug test
5. Vetting interview
6. Conditional offer of employment, if successful

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process to progress to the next. Your application may take between 6 to 9 months to process, including vetting, so we advise that you continue in any current employment until you have received your final job offer.

Before you apply
To work at MI6, you must be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. You can read our full eligibility criteria here.

This role requires the highest level of security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). This is 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. Once you start your application, you must not take any recreational drugs, and you’ll need to declare your previous drug usage at the relevant stage.

Before you apply, we recommend setting up a separate email address for correspondence with us, to ensure your personal and application correspondence remain separate. Try to avoid including identifying information in your email address, such as your first or surname or date of birth. This is good practice and will help you to manage your application more securely.

This role is based in Central 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.

We offer reasonable reimbursement of travel costs for candidates attending in person interviews or assessments during the recruitment and vetting process. Full details will be provided with your interview or assessment invitation.

Reimbursement is discretionary and will only be made in line with the Candidate Expenses Policy, as amended from time to time. Candidates must book their own travel using the most economical option and provide original hard-copy receipts for reimbursement.

Please note, you should only submit your application from within the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you are visiting the UK before applying. Applying from outside the UK will impact our ability to progress your application. You should not discuss your application with anyone other than 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 once a certain number of applications have been received. We therefore encourage you to submit your application at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.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

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : The Recruitment Team
• Email : careers@recruitmentoffice.org.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : careers@recruitmentoffice.org.uk

Further information

https://www.sis.gov.uk/careers/