Associate Solutions Architect Ref. 3735 in Cheltenham

£55,758 to £63,948 comprising a basic salary of £53,000 and a concessionary payment of £2,758. The exact salary offered within this range will depend on your skills and experience. An additional Skills Payment is available once your skills level is confirmed, £3,822 for Level 1 or £8,190 for Level 2. Once in role, there may also be opportunities to qualify for further allowances and additional skills‑related payments.

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. While most of our work is carried out on‑site due to its sensitive nature, occasional home working may be possible depending on business requirements. We also support flexible start and finish times to help you balance your personal and professional commitments.

About us: GCHQ is 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. At GCHQ you’ll do varied and fascinating work in a supportive and inclusive environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.

The role: As one of our Associate Solutions Architects you’ll help design and deliver technology solutions across GCHQ. Our work is unique, often cutting‑edge and designed to support our highly specialised national security mission. As a result, you’ll have exceptional opportunities for training, development and continuous learning within an environment unlike that of any other organisation. This means the opportunity for learning and support in this role is extensive, with plenty of interesting challenges and dedicated support on offer. Guided by one of our experienced Solutions Architects you’ll help shape designs, produce architectural artefacts and be part of the teams that deliver the solutions. It’s an excellent opportunity to step into solutions architecture from a background such as software, infrastructure or systems engineering, or to build on your existing architecture experience and grow your career.

In this role you’ll create solution designs, documentation and models that align with our architectural standards end to end and strategic direction. Experience with at least one modern framework will help you work effectively within our structured ways of working and collaborate with delivery teams, engineers and business colleagues. You’ll play a key role in ensuring our solutions remain robust, scalable and cost‑effective. A big part of the job is understanding business needs and helping to define solutions that take technical constraints, delivery plans, risks and complexity into account. With support from your line manager and mentor you’ll answer questions, clarify designs and adapt solutions as requirements change. Each day brings opportunities to gain practical experience across the lifecycle of our capabilities, learn from experienced architects and build confidence. Occasional travel to sites across the UK will be required so you can work closely with colleagues across the organisation.

About you: You don’t need a degree or any specific qualifications to apply for this role; we’re interested in your experience and your motivation to support our shared mission. A foundational understanding of solution architecture is important, along with experience contributing to the design and delivery of digital or technology solutions. Experience with at least one modern framework such as TOGAF, NIST and ITIL is also valuable, typically gained in roles like software engineering, infrastructure engineering or DevOps. As you’ll be involved in projects from day one an understanding of how business needs, technology choices and delivery constraints shape solution design will be required. You’ll operate independently on moderately complex problems while contributing to broader work led by more senior architects, responsible for delivering architectural design and direction for a specific solution or defined area of delivery.

Effective communication skills combined with a broad technical foundation will help you to explain design decisions to both technical and non‑technical audiences. Being collaborative, comfortable working across teams and confident in influencing and negotiation will help in finding solutions that work for everyone. Because priorities may change depending on business needs you’ll need to be adaptable and able to manage your own time. Your ability to think critically and solve problems creatively means you’ll be able to find holistic solutions to uniquely challenging requirements.

Citizenship: Candidates must be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. Highest security clearance required: Developed Vetting (DV). A strict drug policy applies throughout the application and vetting process.

Training and development: 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. On joining you’ll have a full induction into GCHQ so you can learn more about who we are, what we do and where your role fits in. Once in your role you’ll receive formal and on‑the‑job training and all the support you need to thrive at work. We encourage continuous professional development and are dedicated to allowing you the space and capacity to develop, innovate and experiment. We typically expect 20% of your time to be spent on developing yourself and supporting others. We will invest in your skills and the way you like to learn, from books, study, courses and conferences to stretching work with the support of the team. You’ll be encouraged to drive and shape your own personal development and you’ll have access to learning and development opportunities tailored to your role. We’ll cover the cost and provide you with the time and support to gain professional qualifications and certifications. From day one you’ll have access to mentors and subject matter experts. We’ll help you create a structured development and career plan that’s right for you.

Rewards and benefits: In addition to the salary offered we provide the following benefits: 25 days’ annual leave, rising automatically 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. 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 workforce that truly reflects the society we serve. This includes diversity in every sense of the word: people of 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 individuals from groups that are currently under‑represented in our workforce such as women, people of ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities and those from low socio‑economic backgrounds.

Minimum criteria for the role include:

• Experience interpreting business and user needs and translating them into maintainable architecture designs and artefacts that align with solutions architecture strategy and standards.
• Experience supporting architectural decision‑making by gathering information, analysing options and understanding risks and trade‑offs (for example delivery, impact or technical complexity), while working within governance and standards.
• Ability to work with technical and non‑technical stakeholders within and across teams, communicating architectural concepts clearly and contributing to discussions that support alignment to agreed solutions.

Location: The role is based in Cheltenham. Candidates must live within a commutable distance. Relocation costs are not covered.