GCHQ Pashto Language Specialist
Cheltenham
£30,831 (rising to £33,831 after successfully completing a 6 month probationary period
Full-time or Part-time (3 days per week)
We’re GCHQ, the UK’s intelligence, security and cyber agency. We unlock the complex world of communications to make a real difference to the safety of the nation. Working closely with our partners in the intelligence community, we safeguard Britain’s people, interests, and businesses from threats such as serious organised crime, people and drugs trafficking, terrorism and cyber-attacks.
As a Pashto Language Specialist, you’ll use your linguistic skills as well as your wider knowledge of Afghan culture to identify, contextualise and deliver key intelligence insights, triaging Pashto language material against customer requirements. With your analytical abilities and keen eye for detail, you’ll be an integral part of an operational team. You’ll ensure colleagues understand different threats by ensuring intelligence is accessible and understandable. In doing so, you’ll influence the decisions that safeguard our national security.
This role is about more than simply translating and transcribing. You’ll be a great collaborator, who’ll play an active role in directing projects, driving forward operations and shaping UK government policy. Importantly, your judgement will be supported by your well-rounded knowledge of Afghan culture, history and politics.
You’ll be encouraged to develop your own career path as you focus on the areas that most interest you. It could be assessments, investigations or agent running – we’ll help you fulfil your potential, offering a structured comprehensive training and development package in Language (both classroom-based learning and hands-on training) across language, analysis and technology, which will enable you to grow your skills and perform to the best of your abilities. Whatever your career path, you’ll be working alongside and learning from talented Language Specialist committed to protecting the UK and its interests.
In return for your expertise, we offer a range of benefits including 25 days’ annual leave (rising to 30 days after 5 years’ service), an excellent pension scheme, interest-free season ticket loan and access to our on-site facilities. We’re proud of our inclusive, welcoming and supportive culture. In addition to our sports and social societies, we have a growing number of affinity groups including gender, ethnic minority, faith, mental health, disability and LGBTQ+ networks – so you can feel confident bringing your whole self to work.
To join, you’ll need language skills in Afghan or Pakistani Pashto. Knowledge of Dari is ideal, but not essential. You might have grown up in a multi-lingual family, or undertaken language training as part of your higher education or military experience. You’ll undergo language tests where you’ll need to comfortably read and translate newspaper articles and news broadcasts in Pashto.
This is a unique opportunity to work as part of a community of linguists – and to make a
significant contribution to our national security. Find out more and apply here.
At GCHQ 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:
To be eligible to apply, you must be a British Citizen. If you hold dual nationality, of which one component is British, you will nonetheless be considered. Candidates must normally have been resident in the UK for seven out of the last ten years. This is particularly important if you were born outside the UK. You can apply at the age of 17 years, if successful you will not be offered a start date prior to your 18th birthday. Full eligibility details can be found on our website https://www.gchq-careers.co.uk/how-to-apply.html
