Jobs at Gchq in United Kingdom

Job Title: Software Developer

Location: London

Closing Date: 23:00 on Tuesday 15th April 2025

Salary: GBP50,294 (includes non-concessionary payment of GBP2,658). You will also have the opportunity to qualify for a skills payment (up to GBP9,812) following a successful skills assessment.

Flexible Working: This is a full-time role. You can expect to be predominantly office-based, with some home working (up to 2 days per week), subject to business need.

About Us

At GCHQ, we unlock the complex world of data and communications to keep the UK and its citizens safe, both in the real world and online. Working closely with our British Intelligence partners in MI5 and MI6, we protect the UK from threats including serious organised crime, terrorism, and cyber-attacks. A role in GCHQ means you will have varied and fascinating work in a supportive and encouraging environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.

The Role

As a Software Developer at GCHQ, you will work on innovative ideas as part of a team that fosters continual experimentation. Using your technical skills, you will provide insight into operational activity and develop pioneering software solutions to optimise and resolve specific challenges. You will do this alongside highly skilled developers within an environment that encourages and supports learning through trial and error.

You could be working on solo projects or in small teams solving specific challenges for missions, or as part of a larger group focused on bigger, more detailed problems. No matter what, experimentation is always encouraged. Working with cloud-based tools, such as Azure and AWS, you will collaborate with colleagues across multiple technical teams and mission areas to develop capabilities, share ideas and contribute to operations. You may also work with partners from external industries and other security agencies.

Responsibilities will include researching and analysing web and mobile technologies as well as designing, documenting, and implementing solutions for operational requirements. You will support existing operations and software solutions throughout their lifecycle, all while helping to push innovative, cutting-edge ideas and technologies forward. There may also be some line management duties in the future, dependent on experience.

Selected at either recruitment or in-role assessment, you will be allocated a specialism, dependent on preference and skills. The specialisms we are looking for include:

• Server and client-side technologies
• Dynamic and Runtime analysis techniques
• Software Principles and Design Patterns
• Object Oriented Programming
• Android App Development
• Agile/Lean Methodologies

About You

To apply, you will require GCSEs at grade 4/C or above, or an equivalent Level 2 qualification in English Language and Maths. You will also need some experience working within software development with exposure to end-to-end projects. This may include contributing to the design/architecture of a product; writing and testing code that delivers features to a product; experience of maintaining support of a running system including fault diagnosis and resolution.

It’s all about aptitude and attitude. We’re looking for curious, analytical people with a keen interest in technology and finding creative solutions. You will be able to demonstrate a desire to stay on top of the latest in tech, as well as an ability to develop new and existing skills.

You work collaboratively across multiple teams and thrive within an agile environment. Able to adapt to change and reprioritise your work in a changing environment, you will always remain focused, no matter the circumstances. Plus, you’re confident communicating with a range of customers, and sharing knowledge, insights and technical information clearly.

Training and Development

At GCHQ, we’re committed to developing our staff and recognise this will look different for everyone. We have an exceptional skills community dedicated to helping you grow and from day one, you will receive full support from your Line Manager. After a comprehensive induction into the organisation, you will be allocated a buddy to help you settle in.

You will receive initial training in-house from our team of experts. Then you will have the chance to complete necessary external training courses to gain relevant qualifications or develop skills such as Linux and knowledge of new technologies. We aim to help you grow your skills and knowledge through exposure, so you will get experience with a wide variety of technologies and programming languages.

You will be surrounded by technical experts, all eager to support you and you will also receive mentoring from more experienced members of the team. Once your skills and knowledge have developed, we will support your application for specialist skills payments. And, as you build your future with us, you will be empowered to set your own direction for your career and to explore progression opportunities within the team and the wider organisation.

Depending on the specialism, the skills that you will be able to develop include:

• Compiled & interpreted programming languages (Go, Python)
• Containerisation (docker, Kubernetes, EKS)
• Agile development methodologies (kanban)
• Automation (+terraform, CloudFormation)
• Statistics generation & data aggregation (Elasticsearch, python-pandas)
• Security minded (e.g. secure coding practices, common vulns)
• OWASP Top 10 experience of implementing least privilege accesses
• Automation tooling (Ansible/Docker/ CI/CD pipelines)

Rewards and Benefits

You will receive a starting salary of GBP50,294 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
• 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.
• You may qualify for Specialist Skills Payments starting from GBP4,513 which can be expected once you have completed your first year in post, depending on your progress and development in the role, and subject to assessment. Skills revalidation is periodically required to retain payment.

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:

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.

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:

• Demonstrate an ability to develop software features. This will be assessed in your answers to the application questions.
• Able to demonstrate knowledge of at least one modern language/framework, such as C++, GoLang, Java, JavaScript, .Net, Node, Python, Rust. This will be assessed at either CV or in your answers to the application questions.
• Demonstrate experience of working as a Software Engineer in a software engineering environment. This will be assessed at either CV or in your answers to the application questions.
• You can evidence an ability to problem solve using your technical skills. This will be assessed in your answers to the application questions.

What to Expect

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

• Application Sift
• Interview which will cover technical and competency-based questions
• If successful, you will receive a conditional offer of employment

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.

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.