You have experience delivering projects across varied environments and are ready to take on more complex and impactful work. You’ve led significant workstreams, engaged with senior stakeholders, and maintained momentum when challenges arise. You understand the fundamentals of project management including planning, reporting, financial tracking, risk, issue and change management, and can apply these confidently where sound judgement, attention to detail and clear communication are essential.

You know how to influence, negotiate and collaborate with a wide range of colleagues, from technical specialists to business generalists. You adapt your communication style to suit different audiences, presenting information clearly to support informed decision-making.

Your credibility, consistency and reliability help you build trust quickly across teams.

Experience delivering projects in environments such as agile delivery, digital or engineering settings, Government Digital Service (GDS) frameworks, cyber security, or emerging technologies (including artificial intelligence) would be beneficial, though not essential.

You bring qualities that define successful project managers at this level: flexibility in shifting environments, calmness under pressure, a proactive approach to problem-solving, and curiosity about how to deliver the best possible results. You value collaboration and shared learning, and you’re committed to your own development, ready to further develop your leadership skills and continue progressing your career.

Training and development

A structured induction will help you understand our mission, ways of working, and the delivery community you’ll be joining. From day one, you’ll be supported by your line manager and a dedicated buddy, helping you settle in, build your confidence, and navigate the organisation.

Development continues through a blend of internal and external training, practical experience, and community support. As a corporate member of the Association for Project Management (APM), we encourage you to explore relevant courses, frameworks, and accreditation pathways. Access to mentoring, coaching and project management forums will provide opportunities to share learning and strengthen your professional network.

Ongoing development is integral to the role. Support is available to deepen expertise across planning, risk management, financial management, reporting and benefits, as well as to build the leadership capabilities needed for increasingly complex delivery. Whether the aim is to broaden experience, specialise in a particular area or progress into more senior project roles, guidance and opportunities are in place to help you grow with confidence. Throughout your journey, you’ll be part of a supportive project management community that encourages shared learning and professional growth.

Rewards And Benefits

You’ll receive a starting salary £53,000, plus other benefits including:

• 25 days’ annual leave, rising automatically to 30 days after 5 years' service, plus an additional 10.5 days of 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

Equal Opportunities

At GCHQ, diversity and inclusion are critical to our mission. To protect the UK, we need a workforce that truly reflects the society we serve. This includes diversity in every sense of the word: people of 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 individuals from groups that are currently under-represented in our workforce, such as women, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Visit our website to find out more about our culture, working environment and diversity.

We’re Disability Confident

GCHQ is proud to have achieved Leader status within the Department for Work and Pensions’ Disability Confident scheme. The scheme encourages employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people. As a Disability Confident organisation, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants who best meet the essential criteria for this position, assessed at sift, are offered an interview, if it is practical for us to do so. This is known as the Offer of Interview. To secure an interview for this role, the minimum criteria (in order of application process) are:

• 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 for your motivation and skills for the role and organisation - to be assessed at application sift

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

What to expect

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

1. An initial online application form including pre-screening questions to ensure you meet our eligibility criteria.
2. Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT) in which you rate the appropriateness of responses to a series of short scenarios.
3. Application Sift, looking at your motivation and skills for the role and the organisation.
4. Virtual Interview, including technical and competency-based questions.
5. 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 to 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 must be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. Read about our eligibility criteria.

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.

Please note we have a strict drugs policy, so once you start your application, you can’t take any recreational drugs, and