GCHQ
Intelligence Data Analyst
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Cheltenham, Manchester, Samlesbury
Job Summary
As an Intelligence Data Analyst at GCHQ, you’ll work right at the heart of our mission, supporting real-world events and gaining a unique insight into what goes on behind the news headlines. Previously our analysts have helped prevent multiple terrorist attacks in a single year, halted a major cyber-attack from North Korea, and helped strengthen Ukraine’s cyber capabilities. So, joining us means being part of something truly impactful.
In this role, working with bespoke technology, you’ll gather information from different sources, including a high volume of data generated by many internet-connected devices. Using your analytical and interpretive skills, you’ll piece everything together to make sense of it. It’s like putting together a puzzle, with pieces scattered across the digital landscape. Sometimes, you’ll discover the answer you’re looking for. Other times, you’ll have to go down a few rabbit holes to find out more; but that’s where the interest lies. It’s an exciting opportunity to work in a rapidly changing technological environment, where no two days are the same.
Job Description
There’s no set formula for good analysis, so you’ll have the freedom to take responsibility for your work and try out fresh approaches. Whether you’re involved in short or long-term projects, this role offers the unique and ongoing task of finding and tracking adversaries, and using your analytical skills to help stop them causing harm. Your analysis could also help inform foreign policy, law enforcement and national security.
Starting out, you won’t be expected to know it all. That’s why we’ll provide you with comprehensive training to help you grow. During an initial training period of nine months, you’ll need to commit to full-time hours to immerse yourself, though it may be possible to adjust your hours later on if you request to. Once you’ve completed the training phase, you’ll be able to flex your hours, so whether you’re an early bird or a night owl, you’ll be able to find a way of working that suits you best. Working with classified materials and systems means you’ll need to be in the office every day. But that also means you can leave work behind when you head home, with no expectation of working weekends or shifts.
Person specification
You’ll be someone who enjoys making sense of complex information and asking questions as much as finding answers. Your curiosity leads you to investigate things further, and sometimes, the outcome is not what you want, but there’s always something that can be gained. That’s where your resilience and perseverance come into play.
As someone keen to learn new things, you’ll be interested in emerging technologies, though we don’t expect you to have a technical background. We have a welcoming and supportive environment. We want a mix of minds, including people of all ages and backgrounds from across our society, who can see and understand things from different perspectives.
You don’t need a degree or previous experience to apply for this role. All that’s needed is a Level 2 (GCSE or equivalent) qualification in English Language and Maths at Grade 4/C or above. Your skills and mindset are key. If you have a degree or another higher qualification, we welcome your application and you’ll be just as engaged in exciting work you’ll not find anywhere else – your qualifications are just the starting point!
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This opportunity is expected to attract significant interest and may close within a short time frame, so early applications are encouraged.
Training and development
You’ll be automatically placed onto our comprehensive Analysis Development Programme, which you’ll begin directly after induction to the organisation. This is an outstanding bespoke training and development programme, tailored to new entrants with no previous intelligence data analysis experience. You’ll learn alongside other new analysts in the training room, virtually and in the workplace. You’ll be guided by knowledgeable tutors and supported by analyst mentors. In the workplace, you’ll soon be dealing with real-life problems with support from colleagues too. Continuous professional development is also a key aspect of the analyst role.
Rewards And Benefits
You’ll receive a starting salary of £37,892 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
- 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
During your initial 9-month training period, you'll need to commit to full-time hours, Monday to Friday (37 hours per week). However, after this period you may be able to adjust your hours. We offer flexitime, part time, job-share and compressed hours. Please note, due to the nature of the work, this role is fully office-based.
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 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 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:
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- we require you to hold a GCSE (or equivalent Level 2 qualification) in English Language and Maths at Grade 4/C or above
- 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
- meet the minimum pass mark in both of our application questions at assessment sift
- meet the minimum pass mark in our online bespoke analysis exercise
- meet the minimum pass mark in our online bespoke analysis test prior to being invited to interview
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.
What To Expect
Our recruitment selection process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:
- Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT) in which you rate the appropriateness of responses to a series of short scenarios.
- An initial, short, online bespoke analysis test.
- A sift, assessing answers to two questions on the application form. (Sifting is conducted without any knowledge of an applicant’s personal information)
- A longer, online bespoke analysis test.
- Virtual interview.
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.
Before you apply
To work at GCHQ you need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. Read about our eligibility criteria on our website.
This role requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes. Find out more about the vetting process on our website.
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.
The role is based in Cheltenham, Manchester, or Samlesbury, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance of one of these locations. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application, as we do not offer relocation costs.
We expect successful applicants to join us between July and September 2027. Please note that we’re unable to offer deferrals, so you’ll need to be available
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