Senior Software Engineers - Manchester
Department - Technology Roles
Location(s) - Manchester, Greater Manchester
Salary - £46,448 - £55,412 dependent on skills and experience (package includes basic salary and skills payment)
Job description
Salary: £46,448 - £55,412 dependent on skills and experience (package includes basic salary and skills payment).
You'll also receive a one-off recruitment bonus of £3,500, (split into 2 payments, £1,750 on arrival & £1,750 on successful completion of probation) plus the opportunity to qualify for a skills payment of up to £19,113 once you're in role, following a successful skills assessment.
Flexible Working: We offer a strong work-life balance and support full-time, part-time, and flexible hours. Home working may be available depending on location and business 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.
The Role
As a Senior Software Engineer using your experience of a range of software engineering methods, you'll work with and often lead a team, working to solve mission problems. Excited by innovation and eager to discover new techniques, you'll bring fresh ideas to the team, influencing leaders and working diligently to build close relationships as you work with customers and stakeholders.Your work is at the core of our operations. Put simply, your contribution will directly or indirectly help our ongoing mission to keep the UK safe.
You're familiar with a range of software engineering methods, languages, and frameworks, such as JavaScript, Java, C++, Node, Python, Rust, Go and .NET. You'll set the standard for what good looks like, sharing digital and innovative ways of working, framing problems and setting priorities for the team, growing them through recruitment and upskilling.A clear and engaging communicator, you'll be comfortable working with technical and non-technical customers, and you'll love solving problems, sharing your knowledge, and mentoring other colleagues.
Whether you're reviewing pull requests or defining review, branching and deployment strategies, you'll assist key projects and in doing so, influence the wider engineering community. This is a practical role with plenty of opportunity to develop yourself and others.And whilst this role is uniquely complex and requires a level of sensitivity due to the nature of the work, it will always be rewarding.
About You
As a Senior Software Engineer, you'll demonstrate your knowledge of modern computer languages and frameworks such as C++, Golang, Java, JavaScript, NET, Node, Python, Rust, or Cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP) enabling you to contribute to the architecture and design of new and existing systems - and deliver positive outcomes for the business.
We welcome applications from experienced candidates who currently work within a related role, such as multi-skilled Software Engineering, Cloud Engineering and Security, UX, Site Reliability Engineering, Front-End design, Agile, Solution Architecture, RF Software Engineering, Data Engineering, and Machine Learning Operations.
You don't need to be the “finished product”, but we'll want you to show us your potential and aptitude. You may have experience working in, and leading, Agile project teams. This isn't an ordinary software engineering job; you'll often be required to be creative and innovative to solve problems with no precedent in other industries.
And, with your previous experience in technology, you'll establish best working practises and confidently evaluate customer business requirements. And you'll keep up with new and emerging technologies, looking to lead in their adoption to solve mission problems.
A resilient problem-solver and self-motivated, you're comfortable thinking strategically, and bringing innovation to the team, you can work with minimal guidance and can critically assess your outputs, as well as the work of others inside and outside the team.
Training and Development
At GCHQ, we'll invest in your skills and adapt to the way you like to learn, we'll support and encourage you every step of the way, helping you to become an integral part of our world-class team. If you have an affinity for technology, a keen desire to learn and the ability to adapt to the ever-evolving challenges and adversaries we face, we'll give you all the training and development you need to thrive.
We're dedicated to allowing you the space and resources for development, innovation and experimentation and we encourage you to spend up to 30% of your time to achieve this. We value your ability to learn and adapt to new challenges, so we'll invest in you: from books, study, courses, and conferences to stretching work with the support of the team.
When you start, you'll have a full induction to our organisation, which will give you knowledge on how we operate. You'll be encouraged to drive and shape your own personal development and you'll have access to learning and development opportunities tailored to your role.We'll cover the cost and provide you with the time and support to gain professional qualifications and certifications.
Our training covers a multitude of software disciplines including Front end design, RF Software Engineering, Site Reliability Engineering, Data Engineering, Solutions architecture, Machine Learning Operations, UX, Agile, Cloud Engineering & Security.
From day one, you'll have access to mentors and subject matter experts. We'll help you create a structured development and career plan that's right for you.
Our culture is centred on embracing a growth mindset, equality, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day.
During the recruitment process, you may be given access to a funded and dedicated training programme, though the Cloud Academy.
Examples of potential training for a Senior Software Engineer once in role include:
AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification
AWS Developer Certification / AWS Solution Architect Certification
Certified SCRUM Master
Microservices Architecture Training
Advanced Fundamentals / Patterns
Advanced Linux & CLI
User Experience
Internal Training - for example Team Leadership (difficult conversations, leading a team etc.)
Cloud Academy / Pluralsight / O'Reilly Subscription.
Rewards and Benefits
You'll receive a starting salary of £46,448 - £55,412 dependent on skills and experience with an additional one-off recruitment bonus of £3,500, 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 and 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:
You can evidence where you've taken ownership of a technical project or piece of work
Ability to understand several modern languages/frameworks, such as C++, GoLang, Java, JavaScript, .Net, Node, Python, Rust
Experience of working in an Agile Technical Project team
Provide evidence of competency as a Software Engineer.
What to Expect
Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:
Application form sift
Technical and competency-based interview, including a presentation
If successful, you will receive a conditional offer of employment, subject to vetting.
Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process in order 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 practice and will help you to manage your application with us more discretely.
These roles are based in Central Manchester or Greater Manchester so you'll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application.
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.
Right to Withdraw Statement:
Please be aware that we reserve 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.