GCHQ
NCSC Economy and Society Cyber Resilience Lead
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Cheltenham, London, Manchester
Job Summary
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 National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of GCHQ, is the UK Government’s lead authority on cyber security. The organisation is at the heart of the Government’s cyber security strategy and has the aim of making the UK the safest place to live and work online.
Job Description
This role falls within the NCSC’s National Resilience Directorate, responsible for enhancing cyber resilience throughout the UK. More specifically, within the Economy and Society Resilience Team.
As an Economy and Society (E&S) Resilience Lead, you will collaborate across multiple NCSC teams and external stakeholders to deliver initiatives that enhance the cyber resilience of the UK's economy and society. This covers everything from a micro business to a FTSE100 company, academic institutions, charities and individual citizens.
Your work will support one or more of the E&S team's outcomes, which aim to ensure that organisations are making better cyber decisions and, ultimately, the number of attacks that reach potential victims is reduced. These outcomes are underpinned by objectives, key results and more specific workstreams.
Your responsibilities will include:
- Increasing the cyber resilience of UK organisations through collaboration with business representative organisations.
- Building partnerships with industry, law enforcement and other stakeholders to collaborate on the delivery of cyber resilience and security initiatives.
- Working with other government departments to inform their policy development on cyber resilience interventions.
- Working with NCSC colleagues to develop capabilities that protect the UK’s economy and society from cyber-attacks.
- Continued development of personal knowledge and skills to deliver against an ever-changing threat landscape, whilst supporting the upskilling of others within E&S.
Person Specification
The Successful Applicant Will Need To Have
You will have experience in cyber security or organisational resilience. We are also keen to hear from candidates who have experience of delivering successful outcomes in technically challenging environments.
You will be skilled at developing and managing productive relationships with a diverse range of internal and external stakeholders.
As part of the role, you will be expected to represent NCSC externally, acting as a confident and credible ambassador for the organisation.
GCHQ Competencies
As part of the selection process, the NCSC will assess you using competencies aligned with those used across the UK Intelligence Community. These are closely based on the Civil Service Behaviours, so if you’re familiar with those, you’re already on the right track.
At Level 3, we’ll be looking at how you demonstrate the following:
- Seeing the Big Picture (Civil Service Behaviour Equivalent: Seeing the Big Picture)
- Communicating and Influencing (Civil Service Behaviour Equivalent: Communicating and Influencing)
- Working Collaboratively (Civil Service Behaviour Equivalent: Working Together)
- Making Effective Decisions (Civil Service Behaviour Equivalent: Making Effective Decisions)
- Delivering Outcomes (Civil Service Behaviour Equivalent: Delivering at Pace)
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Further information on Civil Service Behaviours
Alongside your salary of £55,758, GCHQ contributes £16,153 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
At NCSC and GCHQ, we are proud of our inclusive and supportive working environment which is designed to encourage open minds and attitudes. As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we are committed to helping you fulfil your potential. With comprehensive training and development opportunities, tailored to your needs and the requirements of your work, we will enable you to flourish in your role and perform to the very best of your abilities.
You’ll receive a starting salary of £55,758 (which includes a concessionary payment of £2,758). For roles based in London, you’ll receive an additional £6,250 London Allowance.
Other Benefits Include
- 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
- Cycle to work scheme
- Facilities such as a gym, restaurant and on-site coffee bars (at some locations)
- Paid parental and adoption leave
- Excellent pension scheme - Civil Service pension
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:
Disability Confident
About
GCHQ is 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. 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 Offer of an Interview.) To secure an interview for this role, the minimum criteria, which will be assessed at the CV sift stage:
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- 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.
- Demonstrate experience in relationship development and management. Assessed at application sift.
- Demonstrate experience in cyber security or operational resilience. Assessed at application 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 reasonable adjustments we can offer Reasonable adjustments
What To Expect
Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:
- Initial online application.
- Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT) rating the appropriateness of your response to a series of short scenarios.
- Applicationsift.
- Online Interview.
- If successful, you’ll 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 to continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer.
Before you apply
To work at NCSC, 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, recommend 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 London, Cheltenham or 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.
The closing date for this role is: 18th August 2026 at 2355hrs
Right To Withdraw Statement
Please be aware that we reserve the right to bring forward the closing date
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