MI5
Department – Specialist Roles
Location(s) – London
Salary – £58,152 – £59,792
Job description
Flexible working: Part-time, job-share, and compressed hours are possible with these roles, in so far as requirements for service provision allows. There is a minimum requirement of 60% of working hours to be in the office. In practice, most team members have potential for 1 day per week of home working, but tend to be in the office for 80-100% of the time.
About Us
MI5 and MI6 are part of the UK’s Intelligence Services. We work together to safeguard Britain’s people, interests and businesses from various threats at home, overseas and online, including cyber-attacks, espionage, terrorism, and organised crime. Working across our vital missions, you’ll deliver impact at the heart of national security, all within a supportive and inclusive environment that allows everyone to thrive.
The Role
We’re currently looking for a number of enthusiastic and experienced Principal Clinical/Counselling Psychologists to join MI5 and MI6. While you’ll be doing a role you know well, the context will be unlike any other. You’ll join a well-established, dynamic and supportive team, who you’ll be able to work with, learn from, and rely on every day.
You’ll work in our most challenging and fascinating corporate and mission areas, using your skills and expertise to translate complex information for our non-technical audiences. You’ll provide advice related to risk and resilience in multiple contexts, supporting individuals and teams who deliver impact at the heart of national security.
You’ll be committed to rigorous ethical and professional guidelines, working on projects that will be familiar in method, but unique in content, such as risk assessment and risk management, mental health and wellbeing. Every day will be varied as you support colleagues preparing to work in high-risk areas and deliver training sessions to stakeholders.
Your responsibilities will be similar, whichever agency you work at, but will have a distinct set of customers and unique challenges. These will include:
Formulation-driven, direct and indirect, assessment of individuals, drawing on psychometrics as appropriate.
Consultation to teams, including Personnel Security, Occupational Health, Employee Assistance/Health & Wellbeing, on psychological aspects of staff security and wellbeing issues, including complex casework.
Development, delivery, and evaluation of psychologically informed training sessions.
Engagement with the wider behavioural and social science community (nationally and internationally) to facilitate sharing of ideas and skills.
Participation in small-scale research and audit projects to inform and develop best-practice approaches.
Adherence to local policies and procedures, clinical governance processes, and professional practice guidelines.
Occasional travel between UK agency sites should be expected. There may also be some opportunities to travel overseas. Whilst the available roles have very similar day to day responsibilities, their work across two different organisations will mean working with a distinct set of customers and unique challenges. Both organisations offer an ever-changing environment, where you will fully use your curiosity and a strong commitment to learning to safeguard Britain’s people, interests and businesses. Should you be shortlisted, you will have an opportunity to find out more before you choose which environment will most suit your preferences.
About you
Essential criteria include a master’s or doctorate in Clinical/Counselling Psychology (or equivalent for charterships with BPS) and registration with the Health and Care Professions Council, as well as post-qualification experience of working as a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist. You’ll also be skilled in interpreting a range of information from clinical interview and psychometrics into accessible, formulation-driven reports.
You’ll have knowledge of professional ethics and risk frameworks and you’ll work with a high level of integrity and with a clear commitment to inclusion. You’ll also be comfortable working autonomously on clinical assessments, risk assessments, and management plans, and supporting decision making.
Other important skills and attributes we look for include:
Curiosity – you’ll thrive on learning about our environment and how your skills and expertise can best contribute to our mission.
The ability to manage uncertainty – you’ll be comfortable working in a fast-paced and volatile global, national, and organisational climate.
The ability to translate complex information to a non-specialist audience – you’ll provide clear, compelling information to non-psychologists tasked with making decisions in high-risk and complex situations.
Credibility and enthusiasm for your profession – you’ll be an advocate for practitioner psychology and the impact it can have on key mission areas.
A commitment to learning and development – you’ll draw on the wider behavioural and social science community to share knowledge and ideas.
Consultancy – you’ll be skilled in identifying customer needs and providing consultancy to a range of individuals to support decision-making across the organisation. Gaining a deeper understanding of issues and offering bespoke advice will be a daily occurrence.
Please do not deselect yourself if you feel you do not have any direct experience working in Government, Intelligence or Security. If you’re a competent Clinical/Counselling Psychologist, with strong formulation, risk assessment, and interpersonal skills, we’re keen to receive your application.
Training and Development
At MI5 and MI6, we’re proud of our inclusive and supportive working environment, which is designed to encourage open minds and attitudes. As organisations that value and nurture talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential. So, when you join, you’ll have an organisation-wide induction to familiarise yourself with the context and work of the organisation.
You will then focus on getting to know your team and their priorities. You’ll be supported to work out what you’ll need to fill in any knowledge gaps, make sure you’re trained in the organisational basics, and set your performance goals. You will also have the chance to shadow others and meet wider specialists from different areas.
As your career progresses, there will be a wide range of in-house and external opportunities for personal and professional development. Training and development in specialist skills related to the role is actively supported, and there are frequent continued professional development (CPD) opportunities. Peer supervision, with ethical practice reflection, is embedded within the team. There will also be opportunities for active participation in UK and international conferences.
Rewards and Benefits
You’ll receive a starting salary of £58,152-£59,792 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.
Personal Learning Budget.
Interest-free season ticket loan.
Excellent pension scheme.
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 and 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 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 and MI6 are proud to have achieved Leader status within the DWP’s 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. Being Disability Confident, we aim to offer a person-to-person interview to any candidate who self-identifies as disabled and meets the essential criteria for the role. This is our ‘Offer of Interview’ (OOI). To secure an interview for this vacancy, the essential criteria, assessed at application sift are:
Masters or Doctorate in Clinical/Counselling Psychology (or equivalent, conferring eligibility for chartership with BPS) and registration with HCPC.
Post-qualification experience of working as a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist. You will be skilled in interpreting a range of information from clinical interview and psychometrics into accessible formulation-driven reports.
You will be comfortable working autonomously on clinical assessments, risk assessment and management plans and supporting decision making. – With skills in consultancy and working with multidisciplinary colleagues you will be open to learning and innovation and to taking on new challenges.
. click apply for full job details
