Business Analyst

Department Technology Roles
Location(s) Cheltenham
Salary £53,496

Job description 

Flexible working: We recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance and offer a range of working patterns, including full-time, part-time, and compressed hours. Homeworking may be possible depending on business needs, but it is limited due to the nature of our work. We also support flexible start and finish times to help you manage your personal and professional commitments.

About us

At GCHQ, we unlock the complex world of data and communications to keep the UK and its citizens safe, both in the real world and online. Working closely with our British Intelligence partners in MI5 and MI6, we protect the UK from threats including serious organised crime, terrorism, and cyber-attacks. A role in GCHQ means you’ll have varied and fascinating work in a supportive and encouraging environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.

The role

As one of our Business Analysts, you’ll be at the heart of delivering change across GCHQ. Leading analysis for a portfolio of projects and contributing to larger, more complex initiatives, the focus is on understanding and defining problems, then recommending and supporting the delivery of solutions. The work involves collaborating within a multidisciplinary team and engaging a wide range of stakeholders to understand strategic goals, assess options, and translate business and user needs into clear, actionable outputs. The aim: solving the right problems, in the right way, and delivering value for colleagues who depend on this insight.

On a day-to-day basis, the role centres on producing clear, high-quality analysis such as business models, process designs, option appraisals, requirements artefacts, and written briefings. These include eliciting, understanding, and prioritising the needs and goals of different colleagues and business areas, while managing differing perspectives and constraints. As an experienced practitioner, there is also the opportunity to contribute to higher-level strategic work, translating policy and wider organisational objectives into practical impacts on services, teams, and delivery plans.

The role involves a blend of independent work, acting as a primary business analysis contact within a team, and collaborating with external partners such as suppliers and government departments. Line management may come later, but mentoring and supporting colleagues is an important part of the role from the outset. As involvement in more complex projects grows, so does the responsibility for guiding less-experienced team members, sharing knowledge, helping them develop their skills, and strengthening the wider business analysis community.

You could be working within departments such as technology, facilities, or information, giving you a varied workload that spans both vital internal systems and new technology supporting mission-critical activity. It is an opportunity to be part of significant projects across GCHQ that keep the UK safe, applying analytical skills to meaningful and unique challenges.

About you

Extensive practical experience as a Business Analyst is essential, including independent delivery analysis across a range of projects and programmes. Sound business-modelling skills mean confidence in leading process analysis and improvement, and in creating high-level organisation, process, system, and data models to support decision-making. A solid background in requirements management, process improvement, stakeholder engagement, digital systems, assurance activity, and cross-organisation working is important.

The environment can be complex, with shifting priorities and ambiguous requirements, so adaptability and resilience are crucial. Robust capability in eliciting and managing user requirements is vital, along with the ability to tailor outputs to different audiences and collaborate effectively across multiple teams.

Leadership potential is also important, particularly the motivation to progress into line management over time, with training and support provided where needed. Confidence working independently and representing the business analysis community in conversations with senior stakeholders will also contribute to success in the role.

A degree or specific qualifications are not required; the focus is on skills and experience. Business analysis expertise may have been gained in any sector from government to large private enterprises.

Training and development

When you start, you’ll receive an organisation-wide induction and be assigned a buddy to help you settle in. We’re proud to offer an inclusive and supportive working environment, and as an organisation that values and nurtures our colleagues both professionally and personally, we’re dedicated to helping you fulfil your potential.

Progression opportunities exist within business analysis, and your ongoing learning and development will be fully supported, with 20% of your working time protected for professional development activities. You’ll have access to internal and external training courses, along with opportunities to be supported by a mentor or coach within the organisation.

Rewards and benefits

You’ll receive a starting salary of £53,496 plus other benefits including:

• 25 days’ annual leave, automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years' service, plus an additional 10.5 days of public and privilege holidays
• opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme
• 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 GCHQ, 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: people 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, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, those with disabilities, and individuals from low socio-economic backgrounds.

We’re Disability Confident

GCHQ 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 known as the offer of an interview. The essential criteria below are assessed at application sift stage. To secure an interview for this vacancy, the essential criteria (in order of the application process) are:

• experience eliciting, analysing, challenging, and documenting business and user needs, and translating these into structured requirements or analysis artefacts.
• ability to understand business context, define problems, analyse processes, evaluate options, and make evidence-based recommendations.
• experience managing stakeholder relationships, communicating analysis to a range of audiences, and working within multidisciplinary teams to build shared understanding and consensus.
• A wide range of support is also available throughout the recruitment process to help you perform at your best.

What to expect

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

• Application sift.
• Virtual interview (assessing your technical skills and the organisational competencies).
• If successful, you’ll receive a conditional offer of employment.

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 continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer.

Before you apply

To work at GCHQ, you need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. 

This role requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes. 

Please note we have a strict drugs policy, once you start your application, you must not take any recreational drugs, and you’ll be required to declare any previous drug use 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 using identifying features in your email address, such as your first or surname or date of birth. This is good practice and will help you manage your application more securely.

The role is based in Cheltenham, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before applying, as we do not offer relocation costs.

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.

You should only launch your application from within the UK. If you are overseas, please wait until you visit the UK before applying, as submitting an application from outside the UK may affect our ability to process it. You should not discuss your application except 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 once a certain number of applications have been received. We encourage you to submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.