Identity & Access (IAM) Engineer Ref. 3741

Job Description

Salary: £44,142, including a concessionary payment of £2,758 and £6,250 London weighting. You may also qualify for a skills payment ranging from £4,513 to £9,812 and a recruitment bonus of £2,000, both dependent on technical ability and successful assessment during the interview process.

Flexible working: This role is based on full-time hours (36 hours per week) with flexibility around start and finish times within core working hours. While our preference is for full-time working, in exceptional circumstances we may consider part-time arrangements, subject to business needs. We also offer hybrid working, typically involving one day per week working from home and the remainder in the office. This may vary depending on operational requirements.

You can find out more about our flexible working arrangements on our work-life balance page.

About us
GCHQ are an intelligence cyber and security agency with a mission to keep the UK safe. We use cutting-edge technology, ingenuity and partnerships to identify, analyse and disrupt threats. Working with our intelligence partners, MI5 and MI6, we protect the UK from terrorism, cyber-attacks, and espionage. You’ll do varied and fascinating work in a supportive and inclusive environment that emphasises teamwork.

The role
As an Identity and Access Management (IAM) Engineer, you’ll play a vital role in keeping the UK safe by ensuring secure access to sensitive systems. Your work will help guarantee that the right people have the right access at the right time, supporting both our organisation and colleagues across our organisation, as well as trusted partners in the UK and around the world. Complex work is not expected immediately; the focus is on learning and building situational knowledge across multiple platforms.

Day-to-day work includes managing user accounts, resolving access and certificate issues, and monitoring platform health to maintain compliance and reliability. Close collaboration with internal teams supports a clear understanding of access requirements, the delivery of effective solutions, and ongoing improvements to how identity services are delivered.

Occasional travel to Cheltenham and Manchester is required, with limited opportunities for international travel.

Your responsibilities will include supporting day-to-day identity operations, such as incident resolution and service requests. You’ll also contribute to product development and roadmap planning for identity services, working with internal and external stakeholders to improve access management across multiple systems. Sharing knowledge and delivering training on secure access practices is also a key part of the job.

About you
We’re looking for individuals with an infrastructure background and a passion for identity and access management. Practical experience with Windows or Linux infrastructure is essential, alongside core skills in Active Directory. Familiarity with Oracle Identity and Access Management (IAM) is desirable. A solid foundation of applied IT experience, gained in infrastructure or support environments is important, with sufficient exposure to confidently apply these skills in this role.

Success in this role requires exceptional interpersonal and communication skills alongside technical ability. This includes clear written communication for documentation, the ability to explain technical concepts to stakeholders, and effective relationship-building across user communities. A collaborative mindset and a proactive approach to learning will further support success.

Learning and development
From day one, you’ll be supported through a structured induction and a tailored development plan designed to help build capability and confidence. Whether new to identity and access management or looking to deepen existing expertise, your training will combine practical experience with access to formal learning and mentoring.

You’ll develop skills in:

• Technical Delivery: managing end-to-end delivery of cloud platforms and ERP systems, driving digital transformation and operational efficiency
• Product Development: contributing to the roadmap and lifecycle of IAM services
• Collaboration: engaging with internal teams and external partners across the UK Intelligence Community
• Certification: pursuing qualifications from Microsoft, Linux, CyberArk, and others

You’ll learn alongside experienced colleagues, with access to workshops, peer-led sessions and internal conferences. As your confidence grows, greater responsibility is taken on, with opportunities to help shape the future of identity services. Progression from this role to Infrastructure Engineer typically follows a structured pathway, allowing broader product exposure and deeper subject matter expertise.

Some of our benefits
You’ll enjoy 25 days annual leave, rising to 30 days after 5 years' service, alongside 8 bank holidays and 2.5 additional leave days (set dates throughout the year). We also offer a competitive pension, with employer contributions of at least 28.97%, an interest-free season ticket loan, and much more. Discover more about our full range of benefits.

Equal opportunities
To protect the UK, we need a truly diverse workforce that reflects the society we serve. We welcome and encourage applications from all individuals, particularly those who are currently under-represented in our workforce, such as:

• women
• people from ethnic minority backgrounds
• individuals with disabilities or neurodivergent conditions
• those from low socio-economic backgrounds

This is part of our commitment to building a culture that is welcoming and inclusive of people with different identities, lived experiences, and perspectives, where everyone has the confidence to bring their whole self to work. Find out more about our commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Offer of Interview
We’re also proud to have achieved Leader status within the Department of Work and Pensions’ Disability Confident scheme. As part of this we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants who best meet the minimum essential criteria for this position are offered an interview where practicable; this is known as the ‘Offer of Interview.’

For this role, the minimum criteria (in order of application process) are:

1. You’ll be required to reach the minimum pass mark for the Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT), which assesses your ability to problem-solve
2. Meet the minimum pass mark in all technical questions – assessed at application sift
3. Demonstrate analytical and problem-solving skills as well as an awareness of up-and-coming technologies - assessed at application sift.

As part of your application, you can declare if you have a disability or long-term health condition and would like to be considered for an ‘Offer of Interview’. If you opt into the Disability Confident scheme and successfully meet the criteria, you’ll be offered an interview, this is our “Offer of Interview” scheme. Please note that, where a high volume of applications is received, we may not be able to interview all candidates, including those with disabilities, who meet the minimum criteria.

If you have a disability, are neurodivergent, have a long-term health condition or require reasonable adjustments for any other reason, please let us know so we can support you. To learn more about how we can help, read our reasonable adjustments brochure, or visit our how to apply page.

Application process
Our selection process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Each stage must be passed to progress further. The Identity and Access Engineer recruitment process consists of:

1. Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT), rating the appropriateness of your responses to a series of short scenarios. The SJT tests criteria important for all roles in our organisation.
2. An initial online application form, including pre-screening questions to ensure you meet our eligibility criteria.
3. Combined interview stage, which includes a technical interview and skills assessment, followed by a competency-based interview. This stage may be delivered virtually or in person.

The entire process can take 9 to 12 months, so if you are currently employed, we recommend staying in your existing role until you receive a final offer.

Before you apply
Due to the sensitive nature of our work, you must meet certain eligibility criteria (and we have some recommendations to support your application):

• be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. Read more on our eligibility criteria
• complete vetting and comply with our no drugs policy. Read more on our vetting process
• familiarise yourself with our guidance on the use of AI in applications, on our how to apply page
• complete your application from within the UK

We’d recommend using a different email address (with no identifying features such as your name or date of birth) for contact with us. This helps keep personal and application correspondence separate and secure.

Applications should not be discussed with anyone other than a partner or close family member.

We offer reasonable reimbursement of travel costs for candidates attending in-person appointments 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 hard copy receipts for reimbursement.

Right to withdraw statement:
We reserve the right to close applications once a certain number have been received. Please submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.