Closing Date - 23:00 on Wednesday 27th August 2025

Corporate Services

You will receive remuneration of up to £148,746 annual salary; plus a non-concessionary payment of £4200 (subject to security compliance) and London Pay Addition of £6250 if contracted to a London work location

Working Pattern: Requests for flexible working patterns will be considered and should be discussed with the Hiring Manager upon application. A small amount of home working is possible but there is an expectation that most of this role will be office based.

Location: The role can be based in Cheltenham, London or Manchester, but the successful candidate would be expected to spend time in each of the three locations.

Clearance: The successful candidate will be required to undergo Developed Vetting (DV)

About us

GCHQ is the nation’s intelligence, cyber and security agency. We work to make the UK the safest place to live and work online; connect the national security community securely; and provide insights and counter threats through SIGINT and effects. Our people work closely with MI5 and SIS as well as defence, international, and industry partners across a variety of locations, with major hubs in Cheltenham, London and Manchester as well as other sites in the UK and overseas. We live by the values of ingenuity, integrity, impact and teamwork as we work to keep the UK safe, resilient and prosperous in an uncertain world. A role with us means you will do unique and challenging work in a supportive environment, making a meaningful difference to national security.

About the Role

GCHQ is seeking an exceptional Chief People Officer to shape and lead our future-focused People Blueprint, which will fulfil GCHQ’s Strategy, Vision and Purpose with our people (our greatest asset) at the centre. Our People Blueprint will deliver transformation and reform to keep GCHQ at the cutting edge of technology, continuing to deliver national security impact in a fast-moving technical and volatile geopolitical context. This will ensure that we can develop, retain and attract the diverse talent we need for the future.

This is a unique opportunity to build and nurture a high performing organisation, supporting and developing our amazing people who do extraordinary things on a daily basis to help keep our country safe.

The key responsibilities of the CPO are the organisational development and transformation required to implement GCHQ’s People Strategy. This includes overseeing the policies and frameworks that support and develop our people, leading the GCHQ people team, championing our Diversity and Inclusion agenda and building effective partnerships with our Trade Union and stakeholders in the wider National Security Community and Whitehall. The CPO is responsible for ensuring strong partnerships with the shared UKIC Corporate Service, and MI5 and SIS People leaders, who are jointly accountable for UKIC people strategy delivery including pay, T&Cs, and workforce reform and efficiencies.

The CPO reports to the Director General for Strategy and is a member of the Executive Board. The CPO is accountable to the Director of GCHQ for ensuring that GCHQ people services meet Government Functional HR Standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Developing and delivering the GCHQ People Strategy, which will enable the delivery of GCHQ’s refreshed Strategy and invest in our people to build an inclusive, diverse workforce, and ensure we are a well-run organisation.
• Being a key leadership voice where you will lead a progressive people strategy aligned to our mission to change lives, empower individuals and connect communities.
• Ensuring effective industrial relations with the Government Communications Group (GCG), our Union.
• Driving forward GCHQ’s Diversity and Inclusion agenda, including holding the leadership accountable for ensuring an inclusive culture. Leading initiatives to build a representative and inclusive workforce.
• Overseeing recruitment and ensuring we maximise the opportunities to attract, recruit and support talent available to us across all our locations in the UK (centred in three hubs in Cheltenham, Manchester and London) and abroad.
• Implementing programmes that promote morale, psychological safety, health and wellbeing.
• Developing systems to identify and develop senior talent across the business.
• Leadership of the GCHQ People team and providing direction and oversight for people and resourcing hubs across GCHQ.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria, qualifications and experience

• A strong strategic thinker who has significant experience in aligning workforce strategy with overall business objectives and the organisation’s culture.
• A proven track record in successful delivery of strategic HR solutions and change.
• Experience of being a key leadership voice in a role with significant influence to enact people and cultural change.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to create and maintain positive relationships and trust with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to thrive and stay resilient under pressure, managing competing priorities and changing deadlines with sound professional knowledge, experience and judgement.
• Experience of delivering people transformation in tech or industry.
• Chartered Fellow of CIPD.
• Experience across the full range of HR disciplines (Organisational Development, workforce planning and resourcing, systems, pay and pensions, conduct and capability, learning, leadership and management, talent, employee and industrial relations) in a leadership capacity and a proven track record in managing change effectively.

SCS Competency Framework

The role is broad and varied in scope, but particularly focused on the following SCS2 Behaviours (Level 6):

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Driving Innovation & Change
• Communicating & Influencing
• Leading Inclusively
• Providing Customer Value

Please visit the link below for more information regarding our competencies:

To apply, you will need to copy and paste the following into the relevant sections of the application form:

• A statement of suitability outlining how your personal skills, qualities and experiences demonstrate your suitability for the role. We ask that you structure your statement with a sub-heading for each of the essential criteria listed above and, below each, include evidence of how you meet that criterion.
• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.

It is important that through your CV and supporting statement, you give evidence and examples of proven experience of each of the elements of the essential criteria.

Please note – the application form consists of two stages; an initial eligibility check, followed by a full application form. It is at the full application form stage that you will have the opportunity to input your suitability statement and CV information.

If you have any questions about the role and/or would like to discuss the role in more detail, please email confidential@recruitmentoffice.org.uk who will direct your enquiry appropriately.

What to expect

Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:

1. Your application will be sifted to assess your evidence against the essential criteria above.
2. If longlisted, you will participate in a telephone interview with our recruitment partners.
3. If shortlisted at telephone interview, you will be invited to participate in a Staff Engagement Session with a small group of GCHQ staff and complete some psychometric testing. Full details of the assessment process will be made available to shortlisted candidates.
4. You will be invited to attend a panel interview, where your motivational fit, values and competency evidence will be assessed.

Please note, 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. For secondees/transfers these timescales may be reduced, dependant on any currently held level of clearance.

Terms & Conditions

• This role is open on transfer of employment to GCHQ or secondment from another agency if you are already part of the Civil Service.
• You will receive remuneration of up to £148,746 annual salary; plus a non-concessionary payment of £4200 (subject to security compliance) and London Pay Addition of £6250 if contracted to a London work location.
• The role requires UK Intelligence Community Developed Vetting which includes validation checks, induction, and drug and alcohol tests.
• This post may be subject to ministerial approval.

Rewards and Benefits

A range of benefits will be available to you, including the following:

• 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.
• 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:

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 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 criteria (in order of application process) are:

• Meet the eligibility criteria
• Meet the criteria set out as essential to the role
• 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.

Before You Apply

To work at GCHQ, you need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. You can read 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 to manage your application with us more securely.

The role can be based in Cheltenham, London or Manchester, but the successful candidate would be expected to spend time in each of the three locations. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities associated with the location and travel require for the role before submitting an application, as we do not offer relocation costs.

To view the candidate pack for this role, please click here.

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.