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Please submit your application as soon as you can. We may bring forward the closing date once a certain number of applications have been received.
Location: Central London
Salary: £77,242 plus a recruitment and retention allowance of £6,251. This sum includes allowances and a skills-related payment to be assessed under the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability (GDDPC) Framework - formerly known as DDaT.
Flexible working
We support full time, part time, compressed, job share and other flexible working patterns. Due to the sensitive nature of our work, this role is fully office-based with no option for remote or home working.
Essential requirements
You need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. You should also only apply when you’re in the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you visit the UK.
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. You’ll provide vital support to this work, within a supportive and encouraging environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.
MI6 Tech
We are looking for experienced professionals to collaborate on some of the biggest challenges facing the UK.
Operating at the heart of the mission, you’ll use your technical skills to protect the UK, disrupt the activities of hostile states, and exploit opportunities in the digital space.
Almost all of MI6’s operational work is underpinned by technology; from keeping our officers safe overseas, to the secure platforms that connect our global partnerships. The challenges we face are complex, varied, and vast.
You will share our vision and values, and will work on seemingly impossible puzzles, to make the country safer and more prosperous.
This is what we do, every day, at MI6.
The role
Our architects are critical to MI6’s success. They work directly with operational teams on some of the biggest challenges to national security. There is a constant need to develop and maintain capabilities that provide us with mission advantage in a rapidly changing, technology- and data-driven world. Using agile and lean methodologies to innovate, deliver, and upgrade products, our architects tackle unique and fascinating challenges across data analytics, knowledge systems, operational communications, and technical operations capabilities - problems you are unlikely to have encountered before.
Working in multi-disciplinary teams alongside engineers, product owners, and business analysts, our architects provide design authority across the organisation. They lead the systems-engineering approach for specific product areas, balancing tactical delivery with strategic goals to create new capabilities and continually improve existing ones. This involves shaping solutions by tailoring architecture processes to address product risks at scale, developing and communicating technology roadmaps and key design decisions, managing technology risk throughout the product lifecycle, and ensuring coherence across the wider product ecosystem through integration and release oversight.
Many of our architects are deployed directly into mission teams, working closely alongside operational officers to develop deep subject matter expertise in specific geographical areas. This may involve opportunities to travel and work with our overseas intelligence partners.
You will also find opportunities in enterprise roles - building shared capabilities, collaborating with partners on data and technology sharing, and creating the platforms that allow us to rapidly onboard new capabilities. You will generally move between different teams throughout your career in line with your aspirations and organisational priorities.
You will be given the time to explore, prototype, and test emerging technologies, and to develop new skills. You will build a solid background in applying enterprise and domain architecture, influencing stakeholders, and conducting trade-offs across requirements and solution spaces - developing the well-honed soft skills of curiosity, teamwork, and problem-solving essential for leading multi-disciplinary teams.
About you
Ideally, you’ll have led significant elements of product and system delivery and change. Experience as a technical domain subject-matter expert is important, and you should have worked as a Solutions Architect or as part of a solutions architecture team on complex solutions. A solid background in applying enterprise and domain architecture, influencing stakeholders, and conducting trade-offs across requirements and solution spaces is essential. Knowledge of multiple architecture and delivery frameworks, along with experience of embedding these tools and techniques, is also expected.
Well-developed soft skills are key to supporting communication and decision-making, including curiosity, teamwork, and problem-solving. Being an effective communicator and influencer, with experience negotiating trade-offs across requirements and solution spaces, is important. A commitment to continual learning and development is also important.
Training and development
You’ll be joining a community that invests in helping people to grow their skills.
When you join, you’ll receive an induction, then ongoing opportunities for tailored training, coaching, and mentoring. You will have access to a wide range of online and classroom learning, as well as external accredited training options.
Our Training and Development pathway is underpinned by the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework. You’ll be able to benefit from personalised development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring, alongside access to specialist development routes such as Agile Delivery. You’ll also have opportunities to pursue professional qualifications.
Rewards and benefits
The benefits include:
Equal opportunities
At MI6 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 those with different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, ways of thinking and those with disabilities or neurodivergence. 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 lower socio-economic backgrounds.
Offer of Interview
We are committed to providing equitable opportunities throughout the recruitment process to support candidates with disabilities. As part of this, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants, who best meet the essential minimum criteria for this position, will be offered an interview if it is practical for us to do so. (This is known as the ‘Offer of Interview’.)
To secure a first-stage telephone interview for this role, the minimum criteria (in order of application process) are:
There is a wide range of extra support available throughout the recruitment process to enable you to do your best.
What to expect
Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. You must successfully pass each stage of the process to progress to the next. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:
Your application may take around 6 to 9 months to process, including vetting, so we advise you to continue with any employment unless you receive a confirmed job offer.
This role requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). Find out more about the vetting process.
Before you apply
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 any previous drug usage at the relevant stage.
Familiarise yourself with our guidance on the use of artificial intelligence in applications.
We advise you to consider setting up a dedicated 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 name and/or surname and date of birth.
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 do not discuss your application with anyone, apart from your partner or close family member.
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