Intelligence Officer

**About Us**

We’re MI6, also known as the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). Our mission is to protect the security and economic wellbeing of the UK from overseas threats such as regional instability, terrorism, and cyber-attacks. Working across the globe and in close partnership with MI5 and GCHQ, we help the Government to counter these threats through the provision of secret intelligence. A role in MI6 will see you providing vital support to this work, within a supportive and encouraging environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.

**About the role**

As an Intelligence Officer (IO), you’ll be central to our mission. Our IOs gather secret intelligence from around the globe to protect the UK and its interests overseas. It’s a fascinating and diverse role where you’ll use everyday skills, including communication, influencing and empathy to tackle extraordinary challenges. It’s genuinely interesting and rewarding work.

We don’t expect you to be a fully trained IO when you join; it’s your skills and potential that we’re interested in. Your initial training course will help prepare you, exploring all four of the IO roles (more on that below) and building a range of strengths. Then, you’ll join one of our operational teams to continue your development.

IOs work across four main business areas:
**Operational Managers**: plan operations, while identifying and managing risks.

**Targeters**: turn information, such as data, into operations alongside our partner agencies.

**Reporting Officers**: link us with Whitehall (UK Government) and our intelligence customers and are responsible for validating and testing the intelligence, as well as briefing ministers.

**Case Officers**: build and manage relationships with agents - the people who pass us the intelligence we need.

This is critical work that keeps the UK safe. Depending on the business area you’re in, you might meet a contact for a chat in a café to brief them on an intelligence requirement or debrief them if they have intelligence for you. You could be discussing the intelligence with a customer in Whitehall, or you could be gathering intelligence online at our offices using a range of data tools to build an intelligence picture. And, like any other job, you’ll be contactable if your family and friends need you.

You can find out more about what it’s like to work as an IO by listening to some employee profiles.

**The Intelligence Officer Training Pathway**

You’ll begin by completing the three-year Intelligence Officer Training Pathway,** **where you’ll learn the language and methodology of intelligence. You’ll benefit from 8 weeks of initial classroom-based training where you’ll be allocated a role within one of the four business areas (see above). With continuous support and a personal mentor, you’ll enjoy on-the-job learning. As you become more experienced and your confidence grows, you’ll be given a portfolio of work to own and manage with support. You’ll then complete additional training at a higher level, before continuing in your role for the remainder of the Pathway.

For the remainder of your career, you’ll benefit from moving into a different role approximately every three years, increasing your knowledge and skills across our core work. So, it’s important that you demonstrate aptitude and interest in at least two of the four business areas during the recruitment process. (However, if you specialise in a particularly niche area, there may be an opportunity to stay within this area of work for longer than three years.) The breadth of opportunity, as well as learning, really does make this a role like no other.

**About you**

We’re looking for people with a keen interest in foreign affairs, technology and travel - open to new experiences, cultures and languages. We need people who can take a wealth of information and enjoy making sense of it. These people will come from a variety of backgrounds and bring diverse life experiences and deep intellectual curiosity.

At the same time, we’re looking for people who can build good relationships with those around them, are curious about what makes people ‘tick’ and are able to connect and be empathetic with others by understanding how they feel.

As well as demonstrating a strong motivation for joining the organisation and doing the IO role, you’ll also be able to demonstrate key competencies, further details of which can be found here.

Ultimately, the skills we’re looking for are the ones you use every day - and not just at work. Maybe your people skills come from volunteering. Your love of learning from a hobby. Maybe you can coach your friends through a tricky escape room, or you know just how to calm your kids down. Those are just a few examples of the diverse range of people skills we are looking for.

**Salary**

Between £39,709 - £50,160, based on skills assessment and professional experience:

- If you have 3 or more years of professio