Flexible working: full-time, with compressed hours considered. Home working is possible, however office attendance is required a minimum of 3 days per week, occasionally more, subject to business needs. It will not be possible to remote work from other office sites.
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
As a Learning and Development (L&D) Specialist, you’ll support the design and delivery of fascinating training solutions that support our operations. Supported by and working with part of an established team, you’ll bring new ideas and approaches (plus your existing expertise) to a diverse range of projects and challenges. In doing so, you’ll play a critical role in how the team shapes MI5’s learning and development strategy.
Day-to-day, you’ll be bringing together stakeholders and other Learning and Development experts to elicit training needs. You’ll be running workshops or other processes to understand that requirement and then lead the design, delivery and evaluation of new learning interventions, ranging from e-learning modules, instructor-led sessions and other innovative learning resources. You might be reviewing and updating existing materials to ensure they’re relevant or delivering training sessions both in-person and virtually to various groups of learners, providing additional support as required.
As you seek to enhance our colleagues’ knowledge, you’ll also identify areas for improvement within the Learning and Development team’s operations. You’ll maintain the data on our Learning Management Systems (LMS) and evaluate the effectiveness of our existing training programmes. Plus, you’ll stay up to date with the latest trends and seek to implement these, particularly the role of AI in future L&D operations.
It’s an exciting mix of collaboration, design, delivery and evaluation. Your work will have tangible impact as you deliver learning experiences that support the goals and objectives of teams across MI5.
About you
You’ll have demonstrable experience of working in a similar role where you had sustained responsibility for leading the full learning cycle in a professional environment. This will be supported by a formal L&D or HR-related qualification such as CIPD, City & Guilds or ILM, or evidence of equivalent professional knowledge gained through practice.
You’ll have experience of using modules and methodologies such as ADDIE, Kolb or Kirkpatrick to create, deliver and evaluate learning that meets a range of needs. Plus, you’ll have knowledge of different learning technologies and LMS, as well as the ability to track and evaluate analytics, data and feedback to improve customer experiences.
Collaborative, organised and proactive, you’ll bring proven stakeholder engagement skills as you’ll be working with managers and subject matter experts to identify capabilities and propose solutions. With your emotional intelligence, adaptability and genuine love for learning, you’ll understand how adults develop skills and seek to deliver engaging, effective training opportunities that inspire confidence.
Training and development
Upon joining, you’ll receive an initial induction and complete onboarding with peer support. You’ll also be enrolled on a bespoke L&D Professionals pathway with a mix of in-person, digital learning and other methods to provide plenty of opportunities to further your skills and knowledge.
Plus, there’s support for funded external qualifications such as CIPD, with some provided in-house via specific training relevant to your personal and professional needs.
Rewards and benefits
You’ll receive a starting salary of £59,028 in London or £56,962 in Cheltenham, plus, other benefits including:
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25 days of annual leave automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years' service, and an additional 10.5 days of public and privilege holidays
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opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme
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a dedicated development budget
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an interest-free season ticket loan
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an excellent pension scheme
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a cycle to work scheme
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facilities such as a gym, restaurant and on-site coffee bars (at some locations)
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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.
We’re Disability Confident
MI5 is proud to have achieved Leader status within the Department for Work and Pension’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. 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 is known as the Offer of an Interview.) To secure an interview for this role, the minimum criteria (in order of application process) are:
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You’ll be required to reach the minimum pass mark for the Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT), which assesses your ability to problem-solve
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Meet the minimum benchmark at application sift, this will assess your motivational fit and experience leading the full learning cycle (needs analysis, design, delivery and evaluation) in a professional environment - assessed using application form
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 is a brief overview of each stage, in order:
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Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT) rating the appropriateness of your responses to a series of short scenarios. The SJT tests criteria important for all roles in our organisation
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An application sift, looking at your motivational fit for the role and experience leading a full learning cycle and communication skills
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Face-to-face interview
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If successful, you will 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 to 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. Read about our eligibility criteria.
This role requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes. Find out more about the vetting process.
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 practise and will help you manage your application with us more securely.
The role is based in London or Cheltenham, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application, as we do not offer relocation costs.
We offer reasonable reimbursement of travel costs for candidates attending in person interviews or assessments 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 hardcopy receipts for reimbursement.
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.
Right to withdraw statement:
Please be aware that we reserve the right to bring forward the closing date for this role from the original closing date once a certain number of applications have been received. Please be mindful of this and submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.
