Protective Security Development Programme Ref. 3732

Job Description

Flexible working: this role is primarily office-based due to the secure nature of the work, with limited opportunities for home working. Full-time roles are based on a 36-hour week, Monday to Friday. Flexitime, compressed or part-time hours may be possible, but only after the induction period where full-time attendance is required. Travel to UK sites should be expected, with occasional international travel subject to business needs.

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 programme
The National Protective Security Authority (NPSA), is part of MI5 and is the UK’s National Technical Authority for physical and personnel security. What does that mean? It means we protect the UK’s critical national infrastructure, government and other high risk sensitive sectors from threats most people will never see. Our remit spans the entire protective security landscape, including (but far from limited to) advising on safety measures around high-footfall buildings, the disruption of hostile vehicle or drone reconnaissance, and the prevention of incidents involving explosives, weapons, or chemical materials. Put simply, we’re the architects of national resilience. Working outside of the spotlight, we take intelligence, carry out research, and turn that into guidance that keeps the UK one step ahead.

Our Protective Security Development Programme (PSDP) is a brand new, three-year initiative designed to take you from STEM graduate to Protective Security Specialist within one of our technical research and development (R&D) teams. Protective Security Specialists analyse evolving threats, develop evidence-based protective security solutions, and provide expert guidance that helps organisations reduce risk and stay resilient. You’ll learn first-hand how research becomes practical guidance, and how that guidance transforms into long-lasting protective security measures.

Throughout the programme, you’ll complete rotations across different parts of NPSA to gain a wide understanding of the threat landscape and how we operate. You’ll spend dedicated time embedded in a specialist R&D team where you’ll train in a specialism, and as your expertise grows, you’ll begin shaping solutions to some of our most complex challenges. Our areas include chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, blast and ballistic protection, hostile vehicle mitigation, explosives and weapons detection, or electronic security systems. With unparalleled access to intelligence-led research and real-life applications, this is a development programme unlike any other.

And after three years, you’ll have the experience, exposure, skills and deep technical knowledge required to become a specialist in your own right. Why does it take so long? Because, by the end, you’ll become the go-to for your subject area, providing advice and guidance needed to keep people and businesses across the UK safe. It’s the start of a fascinating, rewarding career doing work people will never see, but always depend on.

Your three-year development pathway
As NPSA increasingly works in mixed teams responding to fast-moving threats, you’ll gain exposure to all areas of our operations by completing four-month rotations between different disciplines. In doing so, you’ll understand the wider context of our work and the different challenges we face, while learning alongside senior colleagues keen to support you with their expertise. The result? You’ll see how teams connect, and how intelligence turns into action.

Year one
You’ll begin with a two-week induction period designed to welcome you into NPSA, meet your cohort, and give you greater clarity about what protective security entails. Then, you’ll complete your first three rotations. These will build your foundations and give you a broader awareness of NPSA’s operations and how we work.

Your first rotation will be with the Threats Intelligence Group. You’ll get your first introduction to threat intelligence and intelligence handling, distribute updates to outreach teams and develop a range of skills including analysis, compliance and legal frameworks. Next, you’ll be placed in one of three teams; media, marketing and events, training and digital content, or NPSA ‘Front Door’. By spending time with different functions, you’ll see just how broad our remit is and the ways our varied teams support national security.

Lastly, you’ll be placed with your home R&D team. You might be running projects, experiencing trials and testing, or supporting our wider R&D programme – the aim is to start growing your technical knowledge in specific areas of physical protective security. By the end of your first year, you’ll have a clear picture of how intelligence turns into action.

Year two
In your second year, you’ll complete three more four-month rotations. You’ll start applying what you’ve learned in more technical and operational environments, starting with two rotations in our outreach teams. These teams work directly with organisations to assess risk and advise on security improvements. You’ll go on UK-wide site visits, provide threat picture updates to clients, support security projects and build relationships through meetings, forums and guidance provision.

For your third rotation, you’ll return to your R&D team and further your knowledge of one specific area. Year two is all about applying your knowledge in real settings. As it concludes, you’ll understand how security guidance is used on the ground, how risks are identified at real sites and how our technical teams respond to client requirements.

Year three and beyond
You’ll spend the entirety of your final year embedded within an R&D team aligned to your strengths and our business needs. It’s likely this will be the basis for your long-term employment with us. Taking everything you’ve learned, you’ll manage your own workload and contribute to larger, more complex projects. You’ll also have time to upskill even further in your chosen area, with support to balance this alongside your day-to-day role.

At the conclusion of the programme, providing you’ve met the competency and capability requirements of the role, you’ll be ready to join us full-time. You’ll have all the skills and knowledge needed to transition into work as a fully-fledged Protective Security Specialist, responsible for distinct projects in your technical field. It’s a unique, meaningful career full of purpose – where your work will have a tangible impact on the UK’s national security.

You can find a more detailed breakdown of what the programme involves by visiting the PDSP page of our website. You can also visit our website to find out more about NPSA.

About you
You’ll need to be either a final-year student or already graduated with a degree in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) subject, or a related field such as blast design engineering. Or, you could be a STEM apprentice at Level 6 or 7. Either way, you’ll have considerable scientific understanding in your chosen field and knowledge of different research methods.

You’ll take an analytical approach to tasks and identify where there are gaps in information. Whether you’re evaluating the relevance of data or the effectiveness of security measures, you’ll seek to find areas of improvement and drive positive change. You’ll be a problem-solver and a critical thinker; you’re someone who considers multiple factors before making informed decisions. And of course, you’ll be collaborative and confident communicating technical information to non-technical audiences. You’ll be working with senior specialists and those in industry and academia, participating in trials and providing guidance that shapes decision-making.

Perhaps most importantly, you’ll be someone with an interest in future technologies and emerging trends, who can help keep NPSA and MI5 ahead of growing threats to national security. And, that’ll extend to your own development too. You’ll be conducting your own research, enhancing your skills and continuously developing your expertise in the scientific fields related to protective security.

Training and development
Upon joining, you’ll receive a full induction to NPSA. As this is a development programme, you’ll be given extensive in-person and virtual training as part of the role and be assigned a mentor to help you settle into the organisation. Approximately 70% of your learning will be on-the-job, with 30% provided via formal training, e-learning, reading, independent study, collaborative research, plus site and event attendance.

You’ll also be encouraged to pursue external training and gain qualifications relevant to the discipline you’ll be specialising in. Support in attaining relevant professional memberships and charterships will also be available.

Your work-life balance
We recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance, which is why (on completion of your induction), we’ll offer flexitime and compressed hours, subject to business need. Please note that this role is primarily office-based due to the secure nature of the work, with limited opportunities for home working. You can find out more about our flexible working arrangements on our work-life balance page.

Some of our benefits
You will 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 through the year). We also offer an excellent pension scheme, an interest-free season ticket loan and lots 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:

• those from an ethnic minority background
• women
• people 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, and 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 Pension’s Disability Confident scheme. Being Disability Confident, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that best meet the minimum essential criteria for this position will be 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. Meet the eligibility criteria: complete an initial application form, including pre-screening questions, to ensure you meet our eligibility criteria.
2. You'll be required to reach the minimum pass mark for the online Situational Judgement Test (SJT), which assesses your ability to problem-solve.
3. Pass the online aptitude test: reach the pass mark.
4. Submit a full application: complete all required sections and achieve the minimum pass mark for the motivation and competency questions at application sift stage.

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 complete these stages, you’ll be offered an interview; this is our ‘Offer of Interview’. Please be aware that in some situations where we receive a high volume of applications, 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 support you, read our reasonable adjustments brochure or you can find out more information on our application process page.

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

1. An initial online application form including pre-screening questions to ensure you meet our eligibility criteria.
2. 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.
3. Online cognitive ability test.
4. Full online application form.
5. Online interview.
6. An online assessment centre.
7. Conditional offer of employment.
8. Vetting.

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
Due to the sensitive nature of our work, there are some eligibility criteria you’ll need to meet (as well as our recommendations to aid your application). You will need to:

• be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. Read more on our eligibility criteria
• go through vetting and comply with our no drugs policy. Learn more about the vetting process
• familiarise yourself with our guidance on the use of AI in applications, on our application process page
• complete your application and all subsequent recruitment processes from within the UK

This programme is based in London, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider the financial and practical implications before applying as this role is primarily office-based, with limited opportunities for home working. A relocation loan is available to support those moving to London.

We’d recommend using a different email address (with no identifying features e.g. first and/or surnames and date of birth) for your contact with us. This will help keep your personal and application correspondence separate, and more secure.

You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a 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 hardcopy receipts for reimbursement.

Right to withdraw statement:
Please be aware that we withhold 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.