Department Languages Location(s) Manchester Hours of Work Part Time Part Time Hours of Work With language coaching work expected to be done on-site during standard office hours (9-5). Some opportunity for non-standard hours, including remote or home working, e.g. to prepare training material Salary £35.00 per hour, with travel costs reimbursed Job description
About Us
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 in 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 nurturing and encouraging people to learn and grow.
The Role
As a part-time Mandarin Linguist, you’ll work on a flexible basis to bring your language and cultural expertise to our team. This is a role for those passionate about language and developing others, as you’ll be providing language training and support to less experienced Language Specialists. You’ll share your knowledge of Mandarin language and culture to create training and assessment materials, and translate and transcribe materials to develop our language technology tools.
You’ll work as part of a friendly, supportive and thriving community of Language Specialists who share your passion for Mandarin. In this unique language environment, you’ll take on individual projects combined with training other linguists, so there’ll be plenty of interaction and knowledge-sharing. Your training and mentoring will help enhance our language capabilities in support of the UK’s national security, and you’ll be welcomed and valued for the expertise you bring.
The role is flexible, however you will be expected to carry out your language coaching work on-site within standard office hours. There’s also the opportunity for remote or home working, such as when you’re preparing your teaching materials, and this could be outside of standard office hours depending on your preference. Occasionally, you may also be required to travel to London or other locations.
About You
You’ll speak and write Mandarin to a minimum of good as well as being fluent in English. No specific professional requirements are necessary, however you will have some experience of teaching, mentoring or training in a language-based environment. For example, you might already work in academia, tutoring or as a translator. This role could complement a portfolio of other employment.
You’ll be supportive and encouraging of others, and bring a genuine passion for language to the role. With a good eye for detail, you’ll give timely and targeted feedback to support your colleagues’ ongoing language development. You’ll be IT literate and will enjoy the challenge of learning how to work independently on language technology projects.
Training and Development
Upon joining, you’ll attend a team induction where you’ll meet your new colleagues and learn more about the role and the organisation. After this, you’ll meet the linguists you’ll be coaching.
You’ll be assigned a line manager who’ll be responsible for any support or guidance you need. Though this role is with GCHQ, it’s based as part of a team that operates across all three of the UK’s Intelligence Agencies meaning there’s a possibility it could be extended to MI5 or MI6 in future.
Rewards and Benefits
You’ll receive an hourly rate of £35.00 per hour, plus paid travel expenses to our Manchester office.
The role is based in Manchester City Centre, and you will be able to claim reasonable public transport costs as an expense. You will be expected to use the most cost-effective travel route and ticketing arrangements. Please note we do not offer relocation costs.
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, ethnicity, 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.