Flexible Working Hours: We understand the importance of work-life balance and offer flexible working options to suit your needs. While homeworking is limited and not guaranteed due to the nature of the role, we support full-time, part-time (minimum 3 days) and compressed hours working patterns.
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 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 Role
As a Project Control Officer, you’ll join our award-winning Programme Management Office and provide support that’s crucial to our success. Operating at the heart of this office, you’ll apply your numerical skills to a wide range of projects that are as varied as our missions.
Every day is different: you might be involved in tasks such as preparing data for meetings, keeping information accurate and up-to-date, conducting financial risk workshops, or becoming a subject matter expert in various techniques.
This role has a strong focus on risk, planning and finance. You’ll be responsible for bringing structure to the delivery of transformational projects, including planning, budgets and resource management. Liaising with project managers, you’ll identify risks and trends, and ensure teams have the essential spending to mitigate any potential issues. You’ll analyse, interpret and provide insights on project progress, determine the best ways to set up and maintain processes, and complete various monthly financial governance tasks.
Working together is essential in this role. You’ll have the chance to collaborate closely with project managers, stakeholders, and customers, ensuring that the right information reaches the right people. From the latest figures to financial control implementation, you’ll be the go-to person for reliable support. And as your experience grows, there’ll be opportunities for promotion or progression into the Service Management Team, Project Management Team or other areas within the organisation.
About You
You don’t need any specific qualifications for this role. Our team members come from diverse professional backgrounds, including teaching and customer service. With a genuine interest in numbers, you’ll enjoy problem-solving and be keen to work with others to find solutions to unique challenges.
You’ll bring a positive approach to numerical tasks, and flexibility is key, as you’ll work on various projects with different managers, adapting your working style to achieve the best results.
A strong proficiency in MS Office along with a solid understanding of budgets and financial reports is essential. Since you’ll be collaborating with colleagues, customers, stakeholders, and visitors, being a confident communicator who enjoys working with others is important.
Additionally, having a proactive attitude and the ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously will be beneficial.
You’ll be adept at securing support from stakeholders by clearly communicating tasks and risks, and you’ll be able to clearly explain financial details, supporting senior colleagues in resolving any challenges or issues.
Training and Development
When you join us, you’ll receive a comprehensive induction into our organisation, helping you to understand how we operate. This will be followed by a team induction to give you a well-rounded introduction to Project Control, then on-the-job training to help you settle in.
We’re dedicated to developing our staff and understand that everyone requires different levels of support and training. Our exceptional, friendly community of colleagues, with a diverse range of skills, perspectives, and experiences, is there to share their expertise with you.
You’ll benefit from tailored training, coaching, and mentoring alongside opportunities to pursue career pathways that cover a range of specialisms. We recognise that everyone has unique professional goals, and we’re committed to working with you to build the skills you need to excel in your role and throughout your career.
Our supportive environment ensures that you receive the guidance and the resources necessary to thrive. Whether you’re looking to deepen your expertise in a specific area or explore new specialities we provide the tools and opportunities to help you succeed.
Rewards and Benefits
You’ll receive a salary of £34,663 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
* 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.
We’re Disability Confident
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 person-to-person interview 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:
* Able to evidence skills applicable to the role including processing and presenting data in a report – assessed at application sift.
* Able to evidence how to approach a situation where there is a need to obtain key information from a key person in order to meet an upcoming deadline – assessed at application sift.
* Able to describe an interest in working with financial data – assessed at application sift.
What to Expect
Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:
* Application sift
* Technical and Competency-based Interview
If successful, you’ll receive the conditional offer of employment, subject to a drugs test and vetting.
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.
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 manage your application with us more discreetly.
The role is based in Cheltenham, Manchester or Samlesbury 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.
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.
Right to Withdraw Statement:
Please be aware that we withhold the right to bring forward the closing date for this role from the original closing date once a certain number of applications have been received. Please be mindful of this and submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.
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