Salary: £55,758 to £63,948 comprising a basic salary of £53,000 and a concessionary payment of £2,758. The exact salary offered within this range will depend on your skills and experience. An additional Skills Payment is available once your skills level is confirmed, £3,822 for Level 1 or £8,190 for Level 2. Once in role, there may also be opportunities to qualify for further allowances and additional skills‑related payments.
Flexible working
We recognise the importance of a healthy work‑life balance and offer a range of working patterns, including full‑time, part‑time, and compressed hours. While most of our work is carried out on‑site due to its sensitive nature, occasional home working may be possible depending on business requirements. We also support flexible start and finish times to help you balance your personal and professional commitments.
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 and 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 one of our Associate Solutions Architects, you’ll help design and deliver technology solutions across GCHQ. Our work is unique, often cutting‑edge, and designed to support our highly specialised national security mission. You’ll have opportunities for training, development and continuous learning within an environment unlike that of any other organisation. This role offers extensive learning and support, with many interesting challenges and dedicated support available.
Guided by an experienced Solutions Architect, you’ll help shape designs, produce architectural artefacts, and be part of the teams that deliver solutions. It’s an excellent opportunity to step into solutions architecture from a background such as software, infrastructure or systems engineering, and to build on your existing architecture experience.
In this role, you’ll create solution designs, documentation and models that align with our architectural standards, end to end and strategic direction. Experience with at least one modern framework will help you work effectively within our structured ways of working and collaborate with delivery teams, engineers and business colleagues. You’ll play a key role in ensuring our solutions remain robust, scalable and cost‑effective.
A big part of the job is understanding business needs and helping to define solutions that account for technical constraints, delivery plans, risks and complexity. With support from your line manager and mentor, you’ll answer questions, clarify designs and adapt solutions as requirements change. Each day offers opportunities to gain practical experience across the lifecycle of our capabilities, learn from experienced architects and build confidence.
Occasional travel to sites across the UK may be required so you can work closely with colleagues throughout the organisation.
About you
You do not need a degree or any specific qualifications to apply for this role; we’re interested in your experience and motivation to support our shared mission.
A foundational understanding of solution architecture is important, along with experience contributing to the design and delivery of digital or technology solutions. Experience with at least one modern framework, such as TOGAF, NIST, and ITIL, is also valuable and typically gained in roles like software engineering, infrastructure engineering, or DevOps.
An understanding of how business needs, technology choices and delivery constraints shape solution design is required. You’ll operate independently on moderately complex problems while contributing to broader work led by more senior architects, and will be responsible for delivering architectural design and direction for a specific solution or defined area of delivery. You’ll need effective communication skills, a broad technical foundation, collaboration, confidence in influencing and negotiation, adaptability, time‑management and critical thinking to propose holistic solutions to complex requirements.
Training and development
We offer an inclusive and supportive working environment and professional development opportunities. On joining, you’ll receive a full induction into GCHQ and ongoing formal and on‑the‑job training. We encourage continuous professional development, dedicating roughly 20% of your time to personal development and supporting others. We invest in your skills through books, study, courses, conferences and practical work with the team. You’ll have access to learning and development opportunities tailored to your role and we’ll cover the cost of professional qualifications and certifications.
From day one, you’ll have mentors and subject‑matter experts to help you create an appropriate development and career plan.
Rewards and benefits
You’ll receive a starting salary of £55,758 to £63,948, plus other benefits:
- 25 days’ annual leave, rising to 30 days after 5 years’ service, plus an additional 10.5 days of public and privilege holidays
- Opportunities for recognition through our employee performance scheme
- An interest‑free season ticket loan
- An excellent pension scheme
- A 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 essential to our mission. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including individuals from groups that are currently under‑represented in our workforce, such as women, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities, and those from low socio‑economic backgrounds.
Disability confidence
GCHQ is proud to have achieved Leader status within the Department for Work and Pensions’ Disability Confident scheme. We aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants who best meet the essential criteria for this position are offered an interview. When applying, the minimum criteria are:
- Experience interpreting business and user needs and translating them into maintainable architecture designs and artefacts that align with solutions architecture strategy and standards
- Experience supporting architectural decision‑making by gathering information, analysing options, and understanding risks and trade‑offs within governance and standards
- Ability to work with technical and non‑technical stakeholders in and across teams, communicating architectural concepts clearly and contributing to discussions that support alignment to agreed solutions
We provide reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.
Citizenship and security clearance
To work at GCHQ, you must be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. This role requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV).
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