Job title: Commercial Lawyer
Location(s): London
Salary: £94,144
Flexible working: flexible working such as compressed hours is encouraged and supported. We also welcome applicants who wish to job-share and/or work part-time. Working from home is not possible due to the sensitive nature of the work
About Us
We’re MI6, also known as the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). Our mission is to protect the security and economic wellbeing of the UK from overseas threats such as regional instability, terrorism, and cyber-attacks. Working across the globe and in close partnership with MI5 and GCHQ, we help the Government to counter these threats through the provision of secret intelligence. A role in MI6 will see you providing vital support to this work, within a supportive and encouraging environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.
The Role
Our dedicated team of Lawyers are central to the work of MI6, playing a vital role in enabling our operations, whilst ensuring we stay within the law. We work closely with MI6 mission teams to ensure that they operate safely and securely in the field, providing advice on complex issues of domestic and international law. This role gives you the opportunity to apply your legal experience and continue to develop your skills in an environment where you will have a direct impact on our mission.
You’ll join a small, professional team providing commercial and corporate law advice to support MI6 operational activity. Using your knowledge and expertise, you’ll give guidance to teams and work closely with other MI6 legal teams. The work is as varied as the operations we run, and you will gain unique insights into the heart of what we do. All our legal teams work closely with operational and policy colleagues, building effective relationships and liaising with colleagues in other government departments, such as the FCDO, Home Office, MI5 and GCHQ.
A creative and innovative lawyer, you’ll bring novel legal solutions to complex and sensitive matters and providing sensible, practical and risk-based advice in support of MI6’s work. You’ll have responsibility for a varied, interesting and challenging portfolio of work, and you’ll advise on a range of commercial legal issues. You’ll also draft and advise on contracts for: goods, works and services; consultancy and contractor arrangements; NDAs; construction and property agreements; and software licenses. You’ll also play a key role in training – all of our lawyers contribute and support the training of our operational teams.
We welcome candidates with a diverse range of experiences and backgrounds who bring with them experience in these areas or other transferable skills. You will be able to work independently, responsible for managing your own workload. However, you’ll be part of a supportive, friendly legal department who regularly work together on projects. There are often opportunities to work with other external partners and departments across wider Government. There may also be the requirement for some occasional overseas travel.
About You
The successful candidate will value integrity, respect, teamwork, professionalism and have a creative and enthusiastic approach. A confident communicator, you’re comfortable articulating complex legal terminology in a clear and consistent way to people without a legal background, and you demonstrate sound legal judgement. Your client care skills and the ability to build effective working relationships will enable you to gain a deep understanding of your work, whilst taking into account the broader context and objectives of MI6’s work.
Within this role you will represent MI6 legal advisers both inside and outside MI6 with senior stakeholders. You will have a growth-mindset and a desire to learn, ensuring that you stay up to date with legal developments and can actively contribute to building legal awareness and skills amongst the team.
You will need to be a lawyer (solicitor, barrister or legal executive) fully qualified to practice in England and Wales (a current Practicing Certificate is required). You will also have experience of effective delivery in areas of law relevant to the role. We will consider all applications, but would normally expect applicants to be able to show experience of effective delivery in the relevant areas of law with a PQE of approximately 5 years or more.
Ideally, you will also have a general working knowledge of Data Protection, IPR, Technology Law, Company Law and corporate transactionsand you will represent MI6 legal advisers within and outside the organisation alongside senior stakeholders.
Training and Development
MI6 is a learning organisation; we value your skills and we invest in our people. As part of the legal team you will receive bespoke training to help you orientate yourself within the organisation, and you will be encouraged to pursue continuous learning through a range of informal and formal development activities. There is a great deal of variety in the different legal roles in MI6, and in the future you could have the opportunity to move between teams as your career in MI6 progresses. In addition, joining our legal team can be an excellent springboard for a career within Government more generally as a national security lawyer.
Rewards and benefits
You’ll receive a starting salary of £94,144 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
- 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 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.mi6.gov.uk/explore-careers.html
We’re Disability Confident
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 (in order of application process) are:
- Meeting the eligibility criteria
- Meeting the qualification criteria
- Demonstrating the skills referenced for the role at the CV and covering letter sift
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 motivation for the role and the organisation
- If successful, you will receive an invitation to attend an in person competency based 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 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.
This role is based in Central and West 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.