Deputy Director Chief Technology Officer - CNO

About You

You’ll be somebody who:

• Sees the bigger picture, and anticipates the long-term impact on GCHQ of economic, environmental, social and technological developments, both nationally and internationally.
• Delivers outcomes by translating strategic priorities into clear outcome-focused goals for managers and teams, acting as a role model for delivery by showing efficiency and focus. Establish an inclusive culture which allows people space and authority to be innovative and take well-judged risks. Makes effective decisions, acting decisively and making bold, transparent and unbiased decisions at a strategic level.
• Makes sense of a wide range of political and national pressures and influences to develop strategies which meet organisational goals.
• Works collaboratively, proactively creating, maintaining, and promoting strong contacts across the organisation and externally.
• Communicate with conviction and clarity in the face of tough negotiations or challenges. Influence external partners, stakeholders and customers, in order to successfully secure mutually beneficial outcomes.

Key responsibilities

• Accountability for GCHQ’S current and future CNO technical capabilities, and the technical direction of the specialist CNO workforce.
• Responsibility for the investment portfolio for CNO work.
• Role-modelling exemplary leadership to provide staff with the culture and environment which enables success.

Selection Process

To apply to for this role please ensure you complete all relevant sections of the application.

Required

Please note that you will be required to complete a short initial eligibility application, before you are invited to complete the full application form which will include the submission of:

• Suitability Statement (limited to 3 sides of A4)
• CV and Technical Career Summary
• Summary (700 Word Total) Of Your Personal Experience In
  • Designing an organisation's technical architecture and infrastructure
  • Research and Development in cybersecurity or computer network operations

The application process in in depth and can take significant time to complete, so we strongly advise leaving plenty of time in advance of the closing date to complete and submit your application.

Application Stages

Your application will be sifted to assess your evidence against the criteria stated in this job description – scheduled for w/c 5th October (stc).

If longlisted, you will participate in a telephone interview with our recruitment partners – scheduled for w/c 12th, 19th & 26th October (stc).

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, with full details of the assessment process made available to shortlisted candidates – scheduled for w/c 16th November (stc).

You will be invited to attend a panel interview held in person, where your motivational fit, values, competency evidence and technical experience will be assessed. - scheduled for week commencing 30th November (stc).

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

Rewards And Benefits

You will receive remuneration up to £155,355 (depending on assessed skills and experience), along with additional 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

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.

We’re Disability Confident

About

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.

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 securely.

The role can be based in Cheltenham