Security Officer

Job summary

As one of our Security Officers, you’ll be the first point of contact for visitors and staff entering our buildings. Working in a close-knit, supportive team, you’ll anticipate and reduce security risks, making sure our building and everyone in it stays safe.

You may be working in our Security Control Room, monitoring CCTV, or overseeing access to the building, or you could be carrying out physical searches or patrolling the grounds. Whether you’re responding to an alarm, giving first aid, or helping a visitor understand security procedures, you’ll always follow our policies carefully and keep clear, accurate incident logs.

In this role, your calm, friendly presence will be invaluable. Each day, you’ll greet people from all walks of life, including government officials and colleagues from our partner agencies, and guide them through any security processes they need to know. As the first person they meet at GCHQ, you’ll make a great first impression while completing the necessary checks and staying alert to anything unusual.

Job description

You’ll be joining a team that’s as supportive as it is experienced. As you learn from your colleagues and develop your skills, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to grow. With the chance to work with MI5 and MI6, as well as other security teams throughout GCHQ, this could be the beginning of an exciting career within the UK Intelligence Agencies.

Person specification

You’re motivated, proactive, and quick to spot problems before they emerge. Your strong situational awareness means you’re confident in responding to changing situations and making sound decisions under pressure. Along with your friendly manner and people skills, you’re also someone who communicates clearly and enjoys working with others.

You may already have experience in the security industry or come from a military, police, prison service, or other protective services background. Equally, you could have developed strong customer service or public-facing skills in another role. Whatever your background, you’ll bring a can-do attitude and a desire to contribute to vital work.

To apply, you’ll need:

• security or customer service experience, as you’ll interact daily with visitors, colleagues and partner agencies

• an English Language GCSE at grade C/4 or above, or equivalent experience, which has developed your written and verbal communication skills

• basic IT and Microsoft Office skills to support your incident logging

• the ability to reliably commute for your assigned shift times

You don’t need a high level of fitness for this role, but there are some physical aspects to be aware of. You’ll need to be comfortable operating heavy doors, using stairs or lifts, and carrying out physical search and screening duties, which may include lifting or moving bags and equipment. Foot patrols will take you indoors and outdoors, sometimes over uneven ground and in all weather conditions.

This is a role where you’ll grow and develop over time. Ideally you will be someone looking for a career in security. You’ll be expected to remain within the security team for 18 months, but during that period, you can apply for a promotion or explore other roles within the team, subject to readiness and your line manager’s endorsement.

Training and development

From the moment you join us, you’ll be trained on everything you need to know to be an effective Security Officer at GCHQ. This will include Security Industry Authority (SIA) certifications and emergency first aid, along with a 1–2-week induction with the security team prior to starting your shift pattern. You’ll also be assigned a buddy on shift to support you as you get settled in.

Benefits

You’ll receive a starting salary of £31,878 to £37,338, depending on role, including shift allowances 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

• an interest-free season ticket loan (travel and parking)

• 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

Our recruitment process is fair, transparent and based on merit. Here’s 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) in which you rate the appropriateness of responses to a series of short scenarios.
3. Full Application form.
4. Application sift – looking at your motivation for the role and the organisation.
5. Virtual interview.
6. 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 to 9 months to process including vetting, so we advise you to continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer.

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: Equality, diversity & inclusion , GCHQ

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:

• You'll be required to reach the minimum pass mark for the online Situational Judgement Test (SJT), which assesses criteria important for all roles in our organisation.

• You will be required to reach the minimum pass mark set for the role specific Situational Judgement Test.

In addition, we encourage you to review the Physical Requirements section of the role carefully and consider whether you can meet the expectations outlined.

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.

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 Applying to GCHQ , GCHQ

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 Applying to GCHQ , GCHQ

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 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.

We offer reasonable reimbursement of travel costs for candidates attending in-person appointments 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 hardcopy receipts for reimbursement.

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 close applications early

Please be aware that we reserve the right to close applications once a certain number have been received. Please submit your application as soon as possible to avoid missing out. If you have a disability (as defined under the Equality Act 2010) and need additional time to complete your application, please submit your initial application. Then, contact us via the email provided as soon as possible, using the subject line "Reasonable Adjustments Extension" and briefly outline the support you require.

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

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

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 : careers@recruitmentteam.org.uk
• Email : careers@recruitmentteam.org.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : careers@recruitmentteam.org.uk