Senior Software Engineer

Salary:£50,354 to £60,036. This includes a basic salary, skills payment, and a concessionary payment of £2,758. The final amount will depend on your skills and experience. You’ll also receive a one-off recruitment bonus of £3,500, split into two payments: £1,750 on joining and £1,750 upon successful completion of your probation period.

In the future, there may be an opportunity to qualify for a higher skill level. Following a successful skills assessment, your salary could increase by £9,766.

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. Hybrid working, which combines working on-site and from home, may be more limited due to the nature of the work. However, some homeworking may be available depending on business needs. We also support flexible start and finish times, where possible, to help you manage your personal and professional commitments.

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 emphasises teamwork.

As a Senior Software Engineer, you’ll play a pivotal role in solving mission-critical challenges. You’ll contribute to the architecture and design of both new and existing systems, establish and promote best practices, and deliver high-quality software solutions. Drawing on your expertise in a range of software engineering methodologies, you’ll introduce fresh ideas and innovative approaches that make a real impact at the core of our mission: keeping the UK safe, both in the real world and online.

For our Cheltenham roles, we are particularly interested in candidates with experience in technologies and practices such as C++, Golang, Python, Rust, CMake, HELM, YAML, JSON, containerisation, VCPkg, observability, Dev Ops, Kubernetes, systems administration and Linux. However, we also welcome applications from candidates whose experience aligns with any of the technologies and disciplines outlined above.

You’ll bring a pragmatic approach to adopting new software engineering practices, using them to improve quality, productivity and delivery, and helping others do the same. As part of a wider network of peers, you’ll collaborate and learn from others. With your experience, you’ll set the standard, introduce innovative ways of working, and help shape technical priorities.

Whether leading and mentoring a team or acting as the technical expert within a high-performing group, you’ll draw on your knowledge of diverse methodologies to deliver impactful solutions. Confidently engaging with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, you’ll make a positive contribution to the wider engineering community.

As a Senior Software Engineer, you will bring expertise in the frameworks and technologies mentioned above, along with experience working with cloud platforms AWS, Azure, and GCP. You’ll have successfully led Agile project teams, evaluated customer business requirements, and delivered high-quality software solutions that make a real impact.

Strategic and self-driven, you’ll serve as a bridge between teams, communicating technical information with clarity and confidence. You’ll thrive in a fast-paced, innovative environment where creativity is key to solving complex and unprecedented challenges.

Experience of generative AI would be advantageous, whether through using AI assisted software development…