Senior HR Business Partner

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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 an 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 Senior HR Business Partner at GCHQ, you'll work in partnership with two Director Generals on the skills, health, planning, and leadership of their workforce. It's a critical and rewarding role where you'll be at the centre of significant decisions, working to mitigate the greatest workforce challenges our organisation has ever faced and enabling our future success.

The Strategic HR team are making progress on some of our ambitious priorities including career modernisation, psychological wellbeing and equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). And you'll be responsible for everything from supporting effective workforce planning and analysis, to leading and guiding your Director Generals on strategic workforce and people matters.

Aligned to a specific area of the organisation, you'll advise on workforce planning, design and structure, workforce health (such as skills and attrition), leadership, and workforce and people change. You'll also assist your area to work effectively with a shared service model, ensuring this business area is set up for the future. Occasional UK travel should be expected in this role.

About You

This is a principal HR position, so qualifications (MCIPD or Level 7) and a minimum of five years' experience are essential to undertake the role. This experience could be from a strategic HR policy setting, business partnering, or leading HR services. You'll also confidently lean on your skills in planning, negotiation and diplomacy.

You'll communicate and collaborate with fellow Senior Business Partners and Director Generals consistently within your role. So building relationships that can withstand the challenges that come from working at pace is key to maintaining a strong team and keeping up with operational requirements. You'll also have strong organisational skills, be able to manage your workload, and adapt to competing priorities.

Training and Development

We are dedicated to developing our people at GCHQ, in whichever way suits their needs, goals and ambitions. After a full induction to the organisation, and the HR function, you can look forward to encouragement and empowerment to grow your skills, experience, and career from day one.

Not only will you be given the opportunity to achieve Chartered Fellow (FCIPD) status, you'll also be encouraged to seek out other development opportunities in including mentoring, and internal and external training. Plus, you'll be part of, and supported by, a close-knit team of Senior Business Partners.

Rewards and Benefits

You'll receive a starting salary of £80,125 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 (travel and parking)
• 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.
Find out more about our culture, working environment and diversity on our website:

https://www.gchq-careers.co.uk/life-at-gchq/diversity-inclusion.html

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:
• We will interview all candidates that identify as disabled who apply for the role.

What to Expect
Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:
• Your Application form, including a statement of suitability and CV.
• Application sift
• Competency interview, together with a provided case study question.
• 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.

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 practise and will help you manage your application with us more discretely.

The role is based in Cheltenham, 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.