Flexible Working: Full-time or part-time positions are available, with flexible working options. Working from home is available up to one day per week – this will depend on work requirements, as your access to mission-sensitive systems will be restricted to the office. Compressed hours are also an option, providing flexibility to help maintain a healthy work-life balance.
About Us
MI5, MI6 and GCHQ are the UK’s Intelligence Services. We work together to safeguard Britain’s people, interests, and businesses from various threats at home, overseas and online, including cyber-attacks, espionage, terrorism, and organised crime. Working across our vital missions, you’ll deliver impact at the heart of national security, all within a supportive and inclusive environment that allows everyone to thrive.
The Role
As an Internal Auditor, you’ll be a key voice within the UK’s Intelligence Services. Drawing on your existing experience, you’ll ensure our work across HR, legal, procurement and more remains compliant. With the opportunity to work across a range of disciplines in an environment that’s truly unique, this is a role that’ll give you the chance to grow your career in an incredibly interesting and meaningful way. All while supporting our work to keep the UK safe.
As part of our supportive Internal Audit team, you’ll help strengthen and enhance our risk management, governance, and internal control arrangements. Whether you’re working as part of a small team on a project, or independently delivering reviews, it’s a great environment to learn and grow in. And a chance to develop a strong foundation as an audit generalist.
Some of the challenges we face are one of a kind – from work that supports the intelligence community, like reviews of mission-focused capabilities, to compliance with the legal framework behind what we do. You’ll find plenty of variety as you work across different departments, as well as opportunities to innovate and develop our work for the better.
This role can be based in London, Cheltenham or Manchester. If you’re interested, there will also be opportunities to travel within the UK and overseas.
About You
Though you’ll be working across HR, legal, finance and procurement/commercial, we don’t expect you to have experience in all these areas before you join. What you will need is a background in internal audit and risk management, gained in either the public or private sector. Your valuable experience might include knowledge of audit testing methodologies, conducting data and root cause analysis, and crafting reports.
Your strong analytical skills mean you’ll be great at developing effective approaches for evaluating controls, along with finding areas for improvement in our systems. You’ll be good at multitasking, and able to work in an agile way to tight deadlines, as you manage a portfolio of diverse audit assignments. Building relationships with stakeholders will be key, so you’ll also be comfortable communicating and working with people at different seniority levels throughout the UK’s Intelligence Services.
Finally, you’ll need to hold, or be working towards, a relevant professional qualification such as the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (CCAB), or equivalent.
Training and Development
We’re committed to nurturing your skills and helping you reach your goals, so we’ll ensure you get plenty of opportunities to grow and develop. We’ll support you to achieve the professional qualifications you need, including funding and allocated study time. You’ll also benefit from opportunities for mentoring and further skill building. When you join, you’ll also be assigned a buddy to help you settle in. And for ongoing support, your line manager and colleagues will be there every step of the way. You’ll also have access to our internal communities and support networks.
Rewards and Benefits
You’ll receive a starting salary of £45,310-£47,560 depending on location, along with additional benefits including:
- 25 days’ annual leave, automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years of service, and an additional 10.5 days of public and privilege holidays.
- Opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme.
- Interest-free season ticket loan (travel).
- 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.
Equal Opportunities
At MI5, MI6 and 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: individuals 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 underrepresented in our workforce, such as women, individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities, and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.
Find out more about our culture, working environment and diversity on our websites:
https://www.mi5.gov.uk/careers/diversity
https://www.gchq-careers.co.uk/life-at-gchq/diversity-inclusion.html
https://www.sis.gov.uk/explore-careers.html
We’re Disability Confident
MI5, MI6 and 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. As a Disability Confident Leader, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants who best meet the essential minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview, if it is practical for us to do so (this is known as Offer of Interview). To secure an interview for this role, the minimum criteria (in order of application process) are:
- Eligibility questions– you will be asked a series of questions relating to the role and working for this organisation. If you meet the criteria here, you will be directed to the initial application form.
- If you pass our initial application form, you will then be invited to an interview.
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 the 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:
- The first thing we will ask you to do is complete our pre-screening questions to find out if you meet our initial criteria. If you do meet these criteria, we will then ask you to fill out a full application form where you will need to create a login and provide your full name, email address and a memorable password.
- Our recruitment team will conduct a sift of your application. Successful applicants will be invited to an interview, where you will have the opportunity to demonstrate key behaviours relevant to the role.
- If you are successful at this stage, we will then start the vetting process, which includes a Security Interview. This interview is an important part of the selection process. It’s an interview to explore your life and experiences, and it’s not a competency or capability-based interview.
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 MI5, MI6 and 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.
For the roles based in London, you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application. An interest-free loan is available to assist with relocating into privately rented accommodation to take up the offer of employment.
For the roles based in Cheltenham and Manchester, you’ll need to live within commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application, as we do not offer relocation costs.
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 more securely.
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 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 reserve 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.
