Working in Government
Science and Engineering

About Us

Headed up by Dame Angela McLean, the Government Science & Engineering (GSE) Profession is a diverse cross-government group of people with one goal in common: to make a real difference through science and engineering in government.

To do this, we want to help embed science and engineering into government decision making, and raise the capability of individual scientists and engineers in government. Whether you are a scientist or engineer, or a decision maker who is interested in utilising expertise in these areas – the GSE Profession welcomes you and can provide you with tools to support your career.

Join Us

There are a huge variety of science and engineering roles in government, covering many
technical areas and job levels. Explore the range of technical areas, departments and read
colleague case studies in GSE Careers.

Most departments advertise through Civil Service Jobs and you can check departmental
websites too. Alternatively, the Science and Engineering Fast Stream Scheme will develop
you into a confident and inspiring future senior leader in the civil service – supporting our
ambition to put science and engineering at the heart of government policy. 

The GSE Profession Strategy encourages those with specific, high-demand skills,
particularly scientists and engineers, to consider a career in the civil service. Our goal is to
support building a more scientific civil service, helping scientists and engineers move more
easily within government and between academia, industry and the third sector. This will help
develop science capability on a large scale.

Careers

Having a skillset that combines technical expertise with leadership and adaptability of working in both technical and non-technical environments will make you widely employable across the civil service.

You may wish to specialise in specific areas or take on technical leadership and oversight roles, possibly influenced by your previous academic qualifications and experiences. You may want to apply your scientific or engineering mindset to a policy or operational delivery role by helping shape robust policy questions, and future-proofing solutions. 

Alternatively, you may decide to go into more direct leadership and management roles in non-technical environments, but still be affiliated with the science and engineering profession and continue to help promote science and engineering and the use of evidence-based decision making across government.

Whichever path you eventually choose, the GSE Profession will develop you into a confident and inspiring future senior leader in the civil service – supporting our ambition to put science and engineering at the heart of government policy. Explore GSE Careers to find out about your technical area in government.

If you are wishing to start or develop your career in GSE Profession, you might also find it useful to refer to the GSE Career Framework, which sets out a standard for careers in GSE and includes the technical skills, knowledge and experience required.