Senior Software Engineer

Salary and Rewards

£50,354 to £60,036 base salary, including a skills payment and a concessionary payment of £2,758. The final amount depends on your skills and experience. You’ll receive a one‑off recruitment bonus of £3,500, split into two payments of £1,750 on arrival and £1,750 after completing probation. A future skills assessment may increase your salary by £9,766.

Other benefits include:

• 25 days of annual leave, automatically increasing to 30 days after five years’ service, plus 10.5 days of public and privileged holidays.
• Opportunities for recognition through the employee performance scheme.
• Interest‑free season ticket loan (for parking and travel).
• Cycle‑to‑work scheme.
• On‑site facilities such as a gym, restaurant and coffee bars (available at some locations).
• Paid parental and adoption leave.

About the Role

As a Senior Software Engineer you will play a pivotal role in solving mission‑critical challenges. Your responsibilities include designing and evolving both new and existing systems, establishing and promoting best practices, and delivering high‑quality software solutions. You will bring innovative ideas and approaches to enhance the safety of the UK, both in the real world and online.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Software Engineer, with a genuine enthusiasm for discovering and applying new engineering techniques.
• Strong knowledge of software engineering methodologies, including ability to act as a technical expert or mentor a team.
• Experience in data‑intensive software engineering or data engineering, working with big data technologies and cloud platforms (required for Cheltenham roles).
• Evidence of ownership of a technical project or workpiece and experience working in an Agile technical project team.
• Demonstrated competency as a Software Engineer (including relevant certifications such as AWS Developer, Certified Scrum Master, or similar is a plus).
• Ability to communicate technical information clearly to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.

Training and Development

From the moment you join GCHQ, you will receive a comprehensive induction and ongoing support from mentors and subject‑matter experts. We invest in your development, allowing up to 30% of your time to be dedicated to personal development. You will have access to books, online courses, conferences, real‑world projects and formal qualifications funding, as well as subscriptions to learning platforms such as Cloud Academy, Pluralsight and O’Reilly.

Equal Opportunities

At GCHQ, we value diversity and inclusion, encouraging applications from all groups, especially those under‑represented in our workforce such as women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and individuals from low socio‑economic backgrounds.

Disability Confidence

GCHQ is a Disability Confident Leader. We commit to offering fair and proportionate opportunities, ensuring that a proportionate number of disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria are offered an interview, where practicable.