The Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ) is currently recruiting for a number of roles in Manchester.
Whether it’s something you’re aware of, or it’s rather fittingly been kept under wraps, the country’s intelligence and security organisation actually has an office base right here in Manchester city centre.
GCHQ is responsible for providing signals intelligence and information assurance to the government and the UK’s armed forces.
In a nutshell, the main goal is to “keep our country safe”.
We're not always looking for qualifications – we're also looking for potential.
A career with us opens the door to our excellent training and development programmes to allow you to flourish.
While the main hub of the over 100-year old organisation is actually based down in Cheltenham, other office locations include London, Scarborough, Lincolnshire, Cornwall, and of course, Manchester.
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Working alongside MI5 and MI6, the organisation combines technology and intelligence to counter sophisticated threats such as terrorism, cyber attacks and more – and you can now apply to be a part of the action at “the heart of the nation’s security” as GCHQ is recruiting for roles in our region.
Here’s some of the jobs currently up for grabs.
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Specialist Technical Analyst
Salary – £28 642 + the opportunity to qualify for specialist skills payments ranging from £5,000 to £23,000+ per annum in the role.
Role – According to the job description on the GCHQ website, this position is an operational role within GCHQ that is responsible for analysis of industrial systems data and making recommendations.
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This post is part an analytical team, and the successful candidate will play a role in informing and shaping HM government outcomes.
“This is a unique and exciting opportunity to work at the centre of intelligence.”
You can find more information about the role of Specialist Technical Analyst, and stick an application in here.
The main hub of the over 100-year old security and intelligence organisation is based in Cheltenham / Credit: GCHQ
Senior and Lead Software Engineer
Salary – £37,639 – £59,210 (depending on skills, experience and job role – package includes basic salary and concessionary payment).
Role – According to the job description on the GCHQ website, successful candidates will be passionate about developing software, have a curiosity for new technology and new ways of solving problems, thrive working in diverse teams with other highly capable software engineers, have potential to be a future leader on technology, design, feature development or teams, and be interested in a role that gives them space to innovate and learn new skills.
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“You’ll be central to our work to keep the country safe.”
You can find more information about the role of Senior and Lead Software Engineer, and stick an application in here.
European Language Graduate
Salary – £30,831 (which includes a concessionary payment).
Role: According to the job description on the GCHQ website, successful applicants will be talented, flexible, and committed individuals from all backgrounds with a 2:1 degree in at least two languages – French, German, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish – and a linguistic ability of a very high order to carry out the duties of transcription, translation, analysis and research.
The role is available to graduates who are “keen to use their existing language skills and for those interested in learning a new language.”
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You can find more information about the role, and stick an application in here.
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Haven’t found a role suitable for you?
GCHQ is offering Mancunians the chance to register interest for a variety of roles that will become available in our region over the upcoming months, with the organisation’s website stating that “it doesn’t matter where you are in your career, as long as you’re interested in learning or have experience of working in a more technical role.”
We employ people with a variety of experience, skills and qualifications in a wide range of roles, from project management and finance to HR and procurement.
The roles that GCHQ will be hiring for in upcoming months are:
Infrastructure Engineer
Network Engineer
Information Assurance
Software Developer and Engineers
You can keep your eye out and register your interest via the GCHQ website here.
Featured Image – GCHQ
UK News
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Tesco are introducing ‘VAR-style’ self-checkouts in the UK
Danny Jones
Many people think VAR has already gone too far and want it gone from football full stop, and we’re here to tell you that you’re a fool; your hopes are in vain, and the technology is only going to become more common as time goes on. Sorry.
So much so, in fact, that Tesco look are bringing in their own virtual referee into self-checkout systems in shops. You could say the ‘game’s gone…’
Of course, we’re being a bit flippant here, but if you have seen ‘VAR’ and ‘Tesco‘, you’re not seeing things: this is genuinely a thing that is being rolled out here in the UK, with video footage of the supermarket chain’s next self-checkout technology going viral online.
Thought you’d got away with sneaking an extra little something in the bag without paying? Think again.
— UB1UB2 West London (Southall) (@UB1UB2) May 28, 2025
We’ll admit, this was the first time we’d come across the technology, but as it turns out, the updated self-checkout service has been in place for a while.
Similar VAR checkouts have already been installed at other retailers, Sainsbury’s and ASDA, although some reports claim that while stores capture footage of shoppers to check if they’ve scanned all of their items, it is thought that not all of these self-service tills show a playback when an error is detected.
Although this particular speculation has sparked some uproar and debate online, many have quite rightly pointed out that CCTV records your movement in any given shop.
Regardless, it’s fair to say that aside from the obvious memes and people poking fun at the new system, many on social media have shared some pretty strong opinions on the matter.
Not that it matters much – it’s likely this will soon become increasingly the norm, with the likes of Sainsbury’s having already introduced barriers which require customers to scan their receipt in order to leave at branches such as the site on Regent Road Retail Park over in Salford.
As yet, it’s unclear how many of these new self-service tills are in operation and whether they are limited to larger supermarket locations of their Express convenience stores, but don’t be surprised if you come across one.
Put simply, if a barcode isn’t registered before being put on the scale and/or set aside to be packed away, the Tesco till will read: “The last item wasn’t scanned properly. Remove from bagging area and try again.”
Addressing these new VAR-style checkouts in an official statement, a company spokesperson said: “We are always looking at technology to make life easier for our customers.
“We have recently installed a new system at some stores which helps customers using self-service checkouts identify if an item has not been scanned properly, making the checkout process quicker and easier.”
What do you make of the new Tesco and their new VAR self-checkout technology?
The Manc -
30th June 2021 
