Flexible working: we support a variety of flexible working patterns including full time, part time, compressed hours and flexible start and finish times. Due to the sensitive nature of the role, home or remote working opportunities are not possible.
About us
MI5 keeps the country safe from serious threats like terrorism and attempts by states to harm the UK, its people and way of life. We carry out investigations by obtaining, analysing, and assessing intelligence, and then work with a range of partners including MI6 and GCHQ to disrupt these threats. Through our protective security arm, we provide advice and guidance to government, businesses and other organisations about how to keep themselves safe. A role in MI5 means you’ll do unique and challenging work in a supportive and encouraging environment, making a real difference to UK national security.
The role
As a Regional Estates Manager, you’ll ensure our estate supports operational needs across London and regional sites across the UK (around 3 days travel per month). Acting as the central point of coordination, you’ll work with customers, suppliers and internal teams to ensure facilities services are delivered in line with requirements.
This is a relationship‑led role, where success comes from understanding customer needs, maintaining strong partnerships and ensuring the right people are engaged at the right time. You won’t be expected to diagnose or fix issues. Instead, you’ll take ownership of problems, working with facilities management providers, contractors and stakeholders to coordinate responses and drive resolution.
Operating with a high degree of autonomy, you’ll oversee service delivery across your portfolio. This includes monitoring performance against service levels, managing supplier relationships and ensuring contracts deliver value and meet agreed standards. You’ll act as an escalation point for issues, bringing together the right expertise to resolve problems and maintain continuity of service.
Day to day, you’ll engage a wide range of stakeholders, contribute to governance forums and provide clear updates on performance, risks and priorities. You’ll also provide leadership to your team, supporting consistent delivery across the estate while ensuring services remain safe, compliant and aligned to business needs.
About you
You’re an experienced estates or facilities professional with a strong focus on relationships, service delivery and getting things done through others. Your background may include estates management, facilities management, property or a similar environment where you’ve worked across supplier and stakeholder networks.
You can understand business related challenges, take ownership and connect the right people to resolve them effectively. You’re comfortable managing facilities management contracts, holding suppliers to account and ensuring agreed standards are met.
You’re confident operating in a complex organisation, where priorities can shift and there are often multiple ways to achieve an outcome. You apply sound judgement when balancing customer needs with operational requirements, cost and compliance.
You’re a clear, practical communicator who can build trust with a wide range of stakeholders, from on‑site users to senior leaders and external partners. You’re organised, reliable and able to manage competing demands while maintaining a high standard of delivery.
You may already have experience leading others or be ready to take that next step. In either case, you’re comfortable providing direction and support, contributing to a collaborative team environment while taking full accountability for your own work.
Training and development
We’re committed to supporting your development as you build your experience across estates management within a complex operational environment. When you join, you’ll receive a structured induction to the organisation, your team and the estate you’ll be responsible for. This will help you understand how services are delivered and where your role adds value.
You’ll be supported by your line manager and colleagues to develop confidence in managing supplier relationships, navigating governance processes and delivering through others. As part of your role, you’ll also have access to training aligned to estates and safety practice, including areas such as working at height, water systems management and health and safety.
Ongoing development is shaped through experience as much as formal learning. You’ll build knowledge by working across a varied estate, engaging with stakeholders and handling operational challenges. Over time, you’ll strengthen your ability to manage contracts, balance competing priorities and make sound, proportionate decisions.
There are also opportunities to develop leadership capability, whether you’re new to managing others or looking to build on existing experience. This includes access to leadership and management training, alongside peer support and learning from others across the estates community.
Rewards and benefits
You’ll receive a starting salary of £64,844 plus other benefits including:
- 25 days of 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
- dedicated development budget
- interest‑free season ticket loan (travel and parking)
- 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 MI5 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.
We’re disability confident
MI5 is proud to have achieved Leader status within the Department for Work and Pensions 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 fair and proportionate number of person‑to‑person interviews 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:
- You’ll be required to reach the minimum pass mark for the online Situational Judgement Test (SJT), which assesses criteria important for all roles in our organisation
- Working knowledge of Estates Management in the corporate environment. To be assessed at application form sift
- Ability to safely access and work in plant rooms with restricted access, including climbing ladders and navigating uneven or confined environments, using appropriate equipment and following safety procedures. To be assessed at application form sift
There is a wide range of extra support available throughout the recruitment process to enable you to do your best, visit our application process page for information on 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:
- An initial online application form including pre‑screening questions to ensure you meet our eligibility criteria
- Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT) in which you rate the appropriateness of responses to a series of short scenarios
- Application sift reviewing your motivation, skills and a competency question
- A competency‑based interview
- If successful, you’ll 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 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, you need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. Read about our eligibility criteria.
This role requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes. Find out more about the vetting process.
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 practice and will help you manage your application with us more discretely.
The role is based in London, 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.
We offer reasonable reimbursement of travel costs for candidates attending in person interviews or assessments during the recruitment and vetting process. Full details will be provided with your interview or assessment invitation.
Reimbursement is discretionary and will only be made in line with the Candidate Expenses Policy, as amended from time to time. Candidates must book their own travel, using the most economical option, and provide original hardcopy receipts for reimbursement.
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.
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