Principal Solutions Architect REF - 3028

Department Technology Roles

Location(s) Cheltenham

Contract Type Permanent

Hours of Work Full-time and part-time opportunities (flexible working hours available)

Shift Work No

Job title: Principal Solutions Architect
Location: Cheltenham

Salary: £62,592 - £68,246, plus skills payment of £7,500 - £14,000 (depending on experience which will be assessed at interview, and revalidated every 2 years). A recruitment bonus of £5,000 is also payable in two instalments of £2500 - on starting and after 6 months

Hours: Hybrid working and full-time/part-time/compressed hours available. Limited remote working may be possible, depending on business needs.

About Us

At GCHQ, we unlock the complex world of data and communications to keep the UK and its citizens safe, both in the real world and online. Working closely with our British Intelligence partners in MI5 and MI6, we protect the UK from threats including serious organised crime, terrorism, and cyber-attacks. A role in GCHQ means you'll have varied and fascinating work in a supportive and encouraging environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.

The Role

As a Principal Solutions Architect, you'll join our growing IT Infrastructure community and adopt a mission-driven focus. This is your opportunity to test your skills in a role with real purpose, applying technology in more creative ways.

You'll be part of a team that's providing additional technical oversight to ensure high-quality outcomes. But rather than being aligned to a component of our IT infrastructure baseline, or a technical specialism, you'll be working across a series of fast-paced deliveries.

You'll be accountable for one or more tasks that surpasses traditional technical boundaries. Working with complex integration points, you'll negotiate and trade against information assurance, risk, resource, cost and mission policy, at a system level. In response to changing priorities and investment decisions, you'll adapt and evolve your focus.

We'll rely on you to share your technical knowledge to help upskill others, and you could adopt line management duties as part of this role. You might also undertake work at various offsite locations, depending on the assignment. So, you could enjoy opportunities for UK and occasional overseas travel.

About You

It's not essential that you're an experienced technical leader. What matters is that you're an enthusiastic and skilled software engineer who can do strong design work. As well as a sound technical background, you bring the ability to work collaboratively and inclusively on multidisciplinary teams.

You must be able to demonstrate the ability to provide flexible technical leadership across a diverse portfolio. You'll enjoy working with evolving requirements, cutting across technical boundaries and uncertainty, while delivering consistently at scale and pace.

You're also used to investigating problems and comfortable with making decisions, where there is no precedent. Crucially, you have the ability to develop creative and innovative solutions to solve some of our more unique challenges.

In addition, you're a sound communicator and able to translate deep technical requirements and strategy into clear business outcomes. You're confident in presenting technical and business arguments to seniors, peers and staff alike.

Training and Development

GCHQ has a culture of supporting continuous personal development, especially when it comes to technical knowledge and skills. In this role, you'll find plenty of opportunities to develop or extend your skillset on the job, via online learning or in-person courses.

As a leader in your field, we'll ask you to attend technical conferences and research future technologies. This will ensure you have the knowledge and tools to introduce, test and de-risk emerging technologies.

We'll also encourage you to gain certifications in relevant topics, and develop leadership, management, interpersonal and other business skills, alongside your technical skillset.

Rewards and Benefits

You'll receive a starting salary of £62,592 - £68,246, 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
- Opportunities to work flexibly, subject to business needs
- Interest-free season ticket loan
- Excellent pension scheme
- Cycle to work scheme
- Facilities such as a subsidised gym and restaurant, and on-site coffee bars (at some locations)
- Paid parental and adoption leave

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.

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:

• Evidence of a range of technical delivery and experience as a technical specialist
• Evidence of managing a portfolio of work with competing priorities
• Evidence of making decisions as a technical leader

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 for the role and the organisation
• Assessment Centre, including situational role-plays, tasking exercise and interview
• 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 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.

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.