Pensions Team Leader Ref. 3759

Job Description

Flexible working: due to the sensitive nature of the work, this is an office-based role with little to no opportunities for home working. We recognise the importance of a good work-life balance and offer part-time and compressed hours, with flexibility around start and finish times.

About us
MI5 keeps the country safe from serious threats like terrorism and attempts by states to harm the UK, its people and way of life. We carry out investigations by obtaining, analysing and assessing intelligence, and then work with a range of partners, including MI6 and GCHQ to disrupt these threats. Through our protective security arm, we provide advice and guidance to government, businesses and other organisations about how to keep themselves safe. A role in MI5 means you’ll do unique and challenging work in a supportive and encouraging environment, making a real difference to UK national security.

The role
As Pensions Team Leader, you’ll oversee a growing team and drive change across our Pensions department. You’ll identify ways to strengthen our processes and motivate your team to provide a great service, growing their knowledge and experience along the way.

It’s a data-driven role where continuous improvement is key. From data reporting and day-to-day projects to system development and change, your primary focus will be on future succession and planning. You’ll have a varied workload and work with a range of colleagues, stakeholders and external organisations such as HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office. Managing multiple inboxes and sharing insights into the department’s work, you’ll lead by example and collaborate on projects designed to improve our pension service.

The work will be fast paced. So, maintaining team wellbeing is of high importance. Whether you’re compiling data and providing MI to stakeholders, giving advice on challenging cases or being the go-to for complaint escalation, you’ll nurture a supportive environment where everyone’s input and ideas are welcomed. Plus, it’s an expanding team, so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to share your knowledge with those keen to learn and build a career in this field.

This is an opportunity to apply your knowledge to the challenge of leading a busy, high-pressure department, where you can embed new and improved processes that’ll impact our work for years to come.

About you
You’ll have a minimum of 3 years’ experience in a similar role, plus at least 12 months’ experience in a leadership position. This will be supported by an existing knowledge of pensions, project management, and operational planning and delivery, as well as managing and optimising pension systems to ensure efficiency, data cleansing and MI reporting. You’ll also have a minimum of 2 GCSEs at Grade 4 /C or above in mathematics and English language (or an equivalent Level 2 qualification).

You’ll be confident in the technical side of things, used to working with numbers, and comfortable training and advising your team on performing calculations. You’ll be passionate about continuous improvement; someone who values quality and knows how to drive it within a team. Whether you’re identifying training needs, supporting your team’s development or having a say in future pensions system design, you’ll be proactive and future-focussed in your approach. And of course, you’ll be IT systems literate.

Training and development
We’re passionate about your personal development, so we have lots of ways to help grow your skills. You’ll have the option to complete internal and external training courses, including CIPD (subject to places), and we’ll support you with funding and time away from work to study if needed.

As a line manager, you’ll be offered a Management Training Pathway. Plus, you’ll have access to internal training courses available from any of the UK’s Intelligence Services, as well as access to internal communities, support networks, and mentors.

You’ll be expected to stay within Pensions for your first 4 years, after which time, you’ll be able to apply for roles across the organisation.

Rewards and benefits
You’ll receive a starting salary of £59,028 rising to £63,814 after 3 years, plus other benefits including:

• 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
• a dedicated development budget
• an interest-free season ticket loan
• an excellent pension scheme
• a 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 MI5 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.

We’re Disability Confident
MI5 is proud to have achieved Leader status within the Department for Work and Pensions' 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. As a Disability Confident Leader, 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 an Interview.) To secure an interview for this role, the minimum criteria (in order of application process) are:

• you'll be required to reach the minimum pass mark for the online Situational Judgement Test (SJT), which assesses criteria important for all roles in our organisation
• you are able to demonstrate experience working in Pensions as well as an understanding of project management, reporting and system efficiency from previous work undertaken – assessed at application sift
• meet the minimum pass mark for motivational questions - assessed at application sift

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 reasonable adjustments we can offer.

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

1. Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT) in which you rate the appropriateness of responses to a series of short scenarios.
2. Application sift, looking at your motivation and skills for the role and the organisation. There will also be a competency question.
3. An interview, assessing competencies, skills and experience relevant to the role.
4. If successful, you will receive a conditional offer of employment and then proceed to the vetting stage.

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process to progress to the next. Your application may take around 6 to 9 months to process including vetting, so we advise you to continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer.

Before you apply
To work at MI5, you need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. You can read our full eligibility criteria on our website.

This role requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes. You can find out more about the vetting process on our website.

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 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. An interest-free loan is available to assist with relocating into privately rented accommodation to take up the offer of employment.

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 hardcopy receipts for reimbursement.

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 reserve 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.