Principal Psychology Consultant

Principal Psychology Consultant

Job description

Department - Specialist Roles

Location(s) - London

Salary - £58,152 - £59,792

Job description

Flexible working : Part-time, job-share, and compressed hours are possible with these roles, in so far as requirements for service provision allows.

There is a minimum requirement of 60% of working hours to be in the office. In practice, most team members have potential for 1 day per week of home working, but tend to be in the office for 80-100% of the time.

About Us

MI5 and MI6 are part of the UK’s Intelligence Services. We work together to safeguard Britain’s people, interests and businesses from various threats at home, overseas and online, including cyber-attacks, espionage, terrorism, and organised crime.







Working across our vital missions, you’ll deliver impact at the heart of national security, all within a supportive and inclusive environment that allows everyone to thrive.

The Role

We’re currently looking for a number of enthusiastic and experienced Principal Clinical / Counselling Psychologists to join MI5 and MI6.

While you’ll be doing a role you know well, the context will be unlike any other. You’ll join a well-established, dynamic and supportive team, who you’ll be able to work with, learn from, and rely on every day.

You’ll work in our most challenging and fascinating corporate and mission areas, using your skills and expertise to translate complex information for our non-technical audiences.

You’ll provide advice related to risk and resilience in multiple contexts, supporting individuals and teams who deliver impact at the heart of national security.

You’ll be committed to rigorous ethical and professional guidelines, working on projects that will be familiar in method,





but unique in content, such as risk assessment and risk management, mental health and wellbeing.

Every day will be varied as you support colleagues preparing to work in high-risk areas and deliver training sessions to stakeholders.

Your responsibilities will be similar, whichever agency you work at, but will have a distinct set of customers and unique challenges. These will include :

Formulation-driven, direct and indirect, assessment of individuals, drawing on psychometrics as appropriate.

Consultation to teams, including Personnel Security, Occupational Health, Employee Assistance / Health & Wellbeing, on psychological aspects of staff security and wellbeing issues, including complex casework.

Development, delivery,





and evaluation of psychologically informed training sessions.

Engagement with the wider behavioural and social science community (nationally and internationally) to facilitate sharing of ideas and skills.

Participation in small-scale research and audit projects to inform and develop best-practice approaches.

Adherence to local policies and procedures, clinical governance processes, and professional practice guidelines.

Occasional travel between UK agency sites should be expected. There may also be some opportunities to travel overseas. Whilst the available roles have very similar day to day responsibilities, their work across two different organisations will mean working with a distinct set of customers and unique challenges.







Both organisations offer an ever-changing environment, where you will fully use your curiosity and a strong commitment to learning to safeguard Britain’s people, interests and businesses.

Should you be shortlisted, you will have an opportunity to find out more before you choose which environment will most suit your preferences.

About you

Essential criteria include a master’s or doctorate in Clinical / Counselling Psychology (or equivalent for charterships with BPS) and registration with the Health and Care Professions Council, as well as post-qualification experience of working as a Clinical / Counselling Psychologist.

You’ll also be skilled in interpreting a range of information from clinical interview and psychometrics into accessible, formulation-driven reports.







You’ll have knowledge of professional ethics and risk frameworks and you’ll work with a high level of integrity and with a clear commitment to inclusion.

You’ll also be comfortable working autonomously on clinical assessments, risk assessments, and management plans, and supporting decision making.

Other important skills and attributes we look for include :

Curiosity you’ll thrive on learning about our environment and how your skills and expertise can best contribute to our mission.

The ability to manage uncertainty you’ll be comfortable working in a fast-paced and volatile global, national, and organisational climate.

The ability to translate complex information to a non-specialist audience you’ll provide clear,





compelling information to non-psychologists tasked with making decisions in high-risk and complex situations.

Credibility and enthusiasm for your profession you’ll be an advocate for practitioner psychology and the impact it can have on key mission areas.

A commitment to learning and development you’ll draw on the wider behavioural and social science community to share knowledge and ideas.

Consultancy you’ll be skilled in identifying customer needs and providing consultancy to a range of individuals to support decision-making across the organisation.

Gaining a deeper understanding of issues and offering bespoke advice will be a daily occurrence.

Please do not deselect yourself if you feel you do not have any direct experience working in Government, Intelligence or Security.







If you’re a competent Clinical / Counselling Psychologist, with strong formulation, risk assessment, and interpersonal skills, we’re keen to receive your application.

Training and Development

At MI5 and MI6, we're proud of our inclusive and supportive working environment, which is designed to encourage open minds and attitudes.

As organisations that value and nurture talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential. So, when you join, you’ll have an organisation-wide induction to familiarise yourself with the context and work of the organisation.

You will then focus on getting to know your team and their priorities. You’ll be supported to work out what you’ll need to fill in any knowledge gaps,





make sure you’re trained in the organisational basics, and set your performance goals.

You will also have the chance to shadow others and meet wider specialists from different areas.

As your career progresses, there will be a wide range of in-house and external opportunities for personal and professional development.

Training and development in specialist skills related to the role is actively supported, and there are frequent continued professional development (CPD) opportunities.

Peer supervision, with ethical practice reflection, is embedded within the team. There will also be opportunities for active participation in UK and international conferences.

Rewards and Benefits

You’ll receive a starting salary of £58,152-£59,792 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.

Personal Learning Budget.

Interest-free season ticket loan.

Excellent pension scheme.

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 MI5 and MI6, 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 / diversity

https : / / www.mi6.gov.uk / explore-careers.html

We’re Disability Confident

MI5 and MI6 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 person-to-person interview 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, assessed at application sift are :

Masters or Doctorate in Clinical / Counselling Psychology (or equivalent, conferring eligibility for chartership with BPS) and registration with HCPC.

Post-qualification experience of working as a Clinical / Counselling Psychologist. You will be skilled in interpreting a range of information from clinical interview and psychometrics into accessible formulation-driven reports.

You will be comfortable working autonomously on clinical assessments, risk assessment and management plans and supporting decision making.

With skills in consultancy and working with multidisciplinary colleagues you will be open to learning and innovation and to taking on new challenges.

You will have knowledge of professional ethics and risk frameworks, and work at a high level of integrity with a clear focus on ethics and a commitment to inclusion.

What to Expect

Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order :

Application sift, looking at your relevant skills and experience.

Assessment centre, including role-play exercise and interview.

If successful, you will receive a conditional offer of employment, subject to vetting.

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 or MI6, 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 role is based in London, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. 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.

Right to Withdraw Statement :

Please be aware that we withhold 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.

▶️ Principal Psychology Consultant
🖊️ MI5
📍 Belsize Park