Finance Officer

Department

Finance, Audit and Procurement

Location(s)

Central Manchester, Cheltenham, London

Salary

London: £37,281 or £38,602 (specialist pay band), Cheltenham and Central Manchester: £34,777 or £36,178 (specialist pay band)

Flexible Working: Due to the sensitive nature of the role, you’ll be based in the office five days per week. However, we know how important a good work/life balance is, which is why we offer part-time (minimum 4 days) and compressed hours, with flexibility around start and finish times. And you won't take your work home with you. Full time hours are up to 37 hours, depending on location.

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

Our finance teams keep our internal spending on-track. Which makes them critical to our work. Whether you’re just starting out in your career or looking to progress, our team offers numerous opportunities to grow your skills and build a long-term career in finance. We currently have roles across a variety of teams, including Financial Analysis, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Financial Operations.

As one of our Finance Officers, you’ll be a key part of managing our annual expenditure. Depending on where you join, your work will have a slightly different focus. In Financial Analysis, you’ll provide vital insights that help us make decisions across the agencies. In Financial Accounting and Reporting, you’ll summarise, analyse and detail the UK Intelligence Services’ financial transactions. Or there’s Financial Operations, where you’ll ensure we’re able to respond to ever-evolving business needs.

Whichever team you join, you’ll be involved in the overall running of our finance function. You’ll build and maintain effective relationships with stakeholders, both internal and external, working closely with them to ensure a consistent approach to financial advice and processes. And you’ll use your communication skills to help you explain finance requirements to colleagues and customers who might not be familiar with financial concepts.

You might be producing reports and completing analysis on them, offering financial advice, or ensuring purchase orders are actioned and requisitions are raised correctly. And you’ll be involved in month and year-end processes, helping your colleagues across mission teams, enabling functions and beyond to get their finances in order and meet requirements.

And you’ll do it all as part of a welcoming, supportive workplace that’s committed to helping you fulfil your potential. We offer and fund a generous study package to support you in gaining your professional qualifications, so you can develop your finance career in the long term. To see the kinds of opportunities you could grow into, take a look at our finance careers page - https://www.mi5.gov.uk/careers/finance.

About You

To apply, you’ll need to either have experience in a similar role, have achieved/be actively studying AAT or higher, or hold/be expecting a 2:2 or higher in a Finance/Accounting/Maths/ Economics/Business degree.

You’ll enjoy solving problems and working with others, and you’ll have the skills to develop collaborative relationships with key stakeholders and negotiate effectively with them. Inclusivity and teamwork will be important to you, as will learning new things and developing your skills. You’ll also have a passion for what you do, attention to detail, and a drive to contribute to our overall mission of keeping the UK safe.

Training and Development

If you’re passionate about professional development and skill building, we’ll fund your training and support you in gaining qualifications with AAT, ACCA, or CIMA.

While you study, you’ll benefit from a generous paid leave package, which varies depending on the qualification you’re studying for. Additionally, you’ll be assigned a dedicated buddy, receive guidance from your line manager, and have access to internal communities, support networks, and mentors.

Rewards and Benefits

Along with your starting salary, you’ll also have access to 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
• Interest-free season ticket loan
• Excellent pension scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Facilities such as a gym, restaurant, and on-site coffee bars (depending on your location)
• 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: https://www.mi5.gov.uk/careers/working-at-mi5/diversity.

We’re Disability Confident

MI5 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 fair and proportionate number of person-to-person interviews 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 (in order of application process) are:

• Passing the eligibility stage
• Meeting essential criteria for the role at the application form stage

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’s a brief overview of each stage, in order:

• Initially, we’ll ask you to complete our pre-screening questions to find out if you meet our criteria. If you do, we’ll invite you to begin an application
• You’ll need to create an account and provide your full name, email address and memorable password. Once you’ve successfully created a personal account, you’ll be asked to complete a registration form, providing contact details and equal opportunities information
• You’ll then be invited to complete an online application form
• If successful at this stage, you may then be invited to a final interview, which will include competency-based questions and further exploration of your motivation to work for the UK’s Intelligence Services

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process to progress to the next. Your application may take around 6-9 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 MI5, you need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. You can read our full eligibility criteria here.

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 here.

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 discretely.

The roles are based in London, Cheltenham or Manchester so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance of the location you choose. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application. A loan is available to support people relocating to London.

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.