Pensions Team Leader Ref. 3421
Stonewall Top Employer Award
Social Mobility Foundation Award
The Times Top 100
Disability confident leader
Department Specialist Roles
Location(s) London
Salary £57,165
Job description
Flexible working: Due to the sensitive nature of the role, most of your work will need to be done from the office. Regular home working can’t be guaranteed. We also offer part-time and compressed hours, with flexibility around start and finish times.
About us
MI5 keeps the country safe from serious threats like terrorism and attempts by states to harm the UK, its people and way of life. We carry out investigations by obtaining, analysing and assessing intelligence, and then work with a range of partners, including MI6 and GCHQ to disrupt these threats. Through our protective security arm, we provide advice and guidance to government, businesses and other organisations about how to keep themselves safe. A role in MI5 means you’ll do unique and challenging work in a supportive and encouraging environment, making a real difference to UK national security.
The role
As our Pensions Team Leader, you’ll oversee our Pensions department, providing leadership that inspires your colleagues. As you look after this growing team, you’ll need to drive and embed change that improves our processes. And as you do so, you’ll motivate your team to provide a great service, growing their knowledge and expertise along the way.
Your main area of focus will be on continuous improvement with an emphasis on future succession and planning. Since the team is expanding, you’ll need to bring your knowledge and experience of pensions to establish a foundation that’ll allow the department to grow and ensure quality stays high.
The work in your teams will be fast paced. So, maintaining team wellbeing will be really important. You’ll establish a supportive team environment, where everyone’s input and ideas are welcomed. And where your team can come to you for advice about escalated or challenging cases.
Along with your line management responsibilities, you’ll have a varied workload involving developing stakeholder relationships with internal teams and external organisations like HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office. You’ll meet with senior leaders to keep them informed on your department’s work. And you’ll design and deliver projects that improve our pension service.
This is an opportunity to apply your knowledge to the challenge of leading a busy, high-pressure department, where you can embed new and improved processes that’ll impact our work for years to come.
About you
You’ll have a minimum of 2 GCSEs at Grade 4 /C or above in mathematics and English language (or an equivalent Level 2 qualification). You’ll have existing knowledge of pensions, project management, and operational planning and delivery. And you’ll be a proven leader, someone who can inspire a team and embed meaningful change, as well as nurture a supportive environment where everyone can thrive.
You’ll be confident in the technical side of things, used to working with numbers, and be comfortable training and advising your team on performing calculations. Finally, you’ll be passionate about continuous improvement; someone who values quality and knows how to drive it within a team.
Training and development
We’re passionate about your personal development, so we have lots of ways to help grow your skills. You’ll have the option to complete internal and external training courses, including CIPD (subject to places), and we’ll support you with funding and time away from work to study if needed.
As a line manager, you’ll be offered a Management Training Pathway. Plus, you’ll have access to internal training courses available from any of the UK’s Intelligence Services, as well as access to internal communities, support networks, and mentors.
Rewards and Benefits
You’ll receive a starting salary of £57,165, 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
Personal Learning Budget
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 MI5 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:
https://www.MI5.gov.uk/careers/diversity
We’re Disability Confident
MI5 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 fair and proportionate number of person-to-person interviews 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:
A minimum of 2 GCSEs at Grade 4/C in mathematics and English language (or an equivalent O-Level, BTEC or Level 2 qualification)
You must demonstrate an understanding of pensions from previous work undertaken
You will be required to meet the minimum pass mark for the questions which explore your motivation to work for the organisation and this particular role
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 process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:
Application sift, looking at your motivation and skills for the role and the organisation. There will also be a competency question
An interview, examining your responses to different situations typical to the role
If successful, you will 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 continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer.
Before You Apply
To work at MI5, 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 to manage your application with us more discretely.
The role is based in London, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application. A loan is available to support people relocating to London.
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.