Researcher - Cheltenham, United Kingdom - GCHQ

GCHQ

Verified Company

Cheltenham, United Kingdom

2 weeks ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter

Description

About us

At GCHQ, we unlock the complex world of data and communications to keep the UK and its citizens safe, both in the real world and online.

Working closely with our British Intelligence partners in MI5 and MI6, we protect the UK from threats including serious organised crime, terrorism, and cyber-attacks.

A role in GCHQ means you'll have varied and fascinating work in a supportive and encouraging environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.

The Role
This is a chance to join a specialist team investigating non-Western technology stacks.

As a Researcher, you'll be trained to design research tasks and explore features, characteristics, and dependencies within global software, focusing on non-Western software.

The field of software analysis is large, and there's scope to bring your own area of interest to the advancement of software analysis techniques.

Your work will add to our understanding of the non-Western software ecosystem, including cultures, practices, and technical capabilities. With this insight, we can make informed decisions about potential future direction and intentions.

Day-to-day, you'll be designing and implementing techniques for software analysis; conducting experiments on data using cloud technology; and evaluating tools and techniques.

Some roles are focused on mobile devices, so you could also be analysing eSIM capabilities.

Whether working independently, with colleagues, with international research agencies, or with industry partners, you'll share findings, and stay up to date with research in the field.

We accommodate hybrid flexible working; however, you will need to be office based at least 2-3 days per week. We may also ask you to travel occasionally to overseas and domestic locations for workshops, conferences, training, and meetings. Longer stays (up to around 8 weeks) for workshops may be possible at international locations.

About You
This is a junior role, and we're committed to providing all the training you need. However, you must have an interest in either software/firmware analysis techniques or mobile enabled embedded devices (for eSIM research).

Additional expertise in any of the following would also be beneficial:

Software testing using static and dynamic analysis tools
Reverse engineering and vulnerability research
Mobile devices (apps and kernels) and Network protocols
SDKs for embedded hardware development

You'll need a STEM degree (Bachelors, Masters or PhD) or equivalent professional experience, plus programming and software development skills in a modern language (e.g.

Python, Java, C, C++). You'll approach work innovatively but with a disciplined approach to developing and testing ideas.

Perhaps you've worked in software testing, reverse engineering, synthetic data generation, or vulnerability research. Whatever your background, you'll bring a questioning mindset and a gift for critical thinking.

Training and Development
Join us, and you can expect a full welcome pack and introduction to our team. We also offer 'early days' training to help you get up to speed in specific areas (e.g. software reverse engineering, data science, cloud development). In our multi-disciplinary team, you'll enjoy on-the-job training in new areas, while sharing your own expertise. We'll even give you a buddy or mentor to help you settle in.

We offer an extensive range of training and development courses, as well as support for external courses/online learning and workshops.

To help you expand your knowledge into other areas of cybersecurity, there may be the chance to attend industry conferences.

All training is tailored to your specific requirements, thanks to your continuous personal development programme. There's also the potential to gain qualifications if they'll help you in your role.

Benefits

You'll receive a starting salary of between £32,092 - £35,234 with potential to qualify for specialist skill payment of up to £7,800 per annum in the future.

You will receive an additional one-off recruitment bonus, 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
Interestfree season ticket loan
Excellent pension scheme
Cycle to work scheme
Facilities such as a gym, restaurant and onsite coffee bars (at some locations)
Paid parental and adoption leave.

Equal Opportunities
Find out more about our culture, working environment and diversity on our website:

We're Disability Confident

STEM graduate qualification, 2:2 or above, or equivalent period of professional experience
Post graduate experience, or an extended period of professional experience : in a relevant field to software analysis
Able to demonstrate proficiency in high level language programming (e.g. skills in Python, C, C++ or J