Based in London for the first three years
Opportunities for overseas work
Salary: £39,709 to £50,160
Despite what films and TV might tell you, MI6 isn’t all about high-octane, action-packed missions. But it is genuinely fascinating and rewarding work – where you’ll use everyday skills to tackle extraordinary challenges.
About the role
So, what will you do as an Intelligence Officer (IO)? Well, you’ll use your intellectual curiosity to help gather, deliver and use secret intelligence to protect the UK and its interests overseas. With your natural people skills, you’ll build strong, trusted relationships. And working with government departments and agents at home and abroad, you’ll help to make the UK a safer place.
IOs work in four main areas. We have Targeters, who analyse data to be turned into real-life intelligence operations. Case Officers, who build and manage relationships with agents (the people who pass on intelligence to us. Reporting Officers, who analyse, validate and test the intelligence before briefing government officials. And finally, there are Operational Managers, who plan and manage the collection of intelligence.
It’s all critical work. You might meet an agent for a chat in a café. Or you might gather intelligence online at our offices. In fact, your work will look much like any other office role – and you’ll usually be contactable throughout the day too, in case your family and friends need you. No matter what, you’ll be supported all the way.
Learning and development
We don’t expect you to be a fully formed IO when you join. We’ll give you all the training you need on our three-year Intelligence Officer Training Pathway, where you’ll learn all about gathering intelligence. In that time, you’ll do both classroom and on-the-job training and experience a few different roles with your own workload to look after. So, when you’re ready to graduate from the Pathway, you’ll be able to apply for a role in an area that best suits your skills and interests. Then every three years or so, you’ll move into one of the other IO areas to broaden your skills and experience even further. Wherever you are, there’s constant access to a mentor and plenty of support around you – from both your colleagues and our many diversity network groups.
Benefits
There’s a lot on offer. Such as opportunities to work overseas, an interest-free relocation loan, 25 days’ annual leave, an excellent pension scheme, financial support for learning and development, and shared parental and adoption leave.
About you
There are a few things we look for in our Intelligence Officers:
- A minimum 2:2 degree or higher
- A knack for solving problems and building persuasive arguments
- Proactivity, adaptability and perceptiveness
- Curiosity and a love of learning new things
- Confident, credible and influential communication
- Inclusive and empathetic collaboration
If you’re an avid learner; a people person; if you throw yourself into learning new things and embracing change, you’ll be welcome here, whoever you are. We value diversity in every sense of the word: different backgrounds, cultures, gender identities, ethnicities and sexual orientations.
To apply, please visit our website >>
At MI6, 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.sis.gov.uk/about-us.html
To be eligible to apply, you must be a British Citizen. If you hold dual nationality, of which one component is British, you will nonetheless be considered. Candidates must normally have been resident in the UK for seven out of the last ten years. This is particularly important if you were born outside the UK. You can apply at the age of 17 years, if successful you will not be offered a start date prior to your 18th birthday. Full eligibility details can be found on our website https://www.sis.gov.uk/eligibility.html
