Executive Assistant to Director, Defence Safety and Support

The post holder is a key member of the Director's Office and provides proactive Executive Assistant support to the Director of Defence Safety and Support, as well as supporting the effective operation of the Chief of Staff function.

The role is responsible for ensuring the smooth and efficient running of the Director's Office through effective diary management, workflow coordination, mailbox handling, engagement activity and communications support. The post holder will play an important role in helping maintain visibility, cohesion and effective information flow across the Directorate.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Director's Office Management

• Provide proactive Executive Assistant support to the Director, ensuring effective management of diaries, meetings, visitors, travel and office requirements.
• Support the prioritisation of Director time and maintain visibility of emerging issues, risks and pressures.
• Ensure Director-facing activity is delivered professionally, accurately and efficiently.

Outer Office & Workflow Management

• Support the effective operation of the Director's Office and Chief of Staff function by managing mailbox activity, workflow and routine business.
• Ensure requests are appropriately triaged, progressed and escalated in line with agreed processes.
• Support the coordination of routine enquiries, commissions, actions and correspondence.

Directorate Engagement & Communications

• Coordinate engagement activity and communications on behalf of the Director.
• Support the planning and delivery of townhalls, leadership communications, directorate updates, briefing material and wider engagement activity.
• Contribute to activities that strengthen connectivity, visibility and collaboration across the directorate.

Meeting Preparation & Business Coordination

• Coordinate inputs and support preparation for key meetings, events and engagements.
• Help ensure information, papers and briefing material are available in a timely manner.

Ways of Working & Office Resilience

• Contribute to the continuous improvement of Director's Office processes, ways of working and administrative discipline.
• Support the effective running of the wider CoS function and provide resilience across the office as required.
• Operate flexibly in response to changing priorities and business requirements.
• Exercise judgement when handling routine business and escalate matters requiring Director or Chief of Staff consideration.

Open to UK nationals only.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

To apply, please provide your CV in the relevant section on the Civil Service Jobs ensuring it clearly demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification. Your CV should also include job history; qualification details and previous skills and experience.

You must also submit a statement of suitability (maximum 500 words) providing evidence of how you meet these criteria.

At sift, Candidates will be assessed against their CV, Statement of suitability and the following Behaviours:

• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions

At interview, Candidates will be assessed against the following Behaviours:

• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions

Further information:

Please find a link to our video, which gives you helpful tips and guidance, on the CS Jobs application process: How to apply for roles on Civil Service Jobs

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.