Navy Command, Business Support Assistant

At Navy Command, we lead, support, and sustain the Royal Navy across every theatre of operations. We coordinate the people, platforms, and missions that keep the Fleet ready for today’s challenges and tomorrow’s opportunities. Together, we uphold centuries of naval tradition while driving innovation that ensures the Royal Navy’s readiness to protect our nation and secure our future.

As the authority for the Royal Navy’s nuclear submarine capability, the Submarine Directorate oversees one of the most complex and critical elements of UK defence. Covering everything from in‑service management to long‑term fleet modernisation, the directorate ensures the Submarine Flotilla remains safe, reliable, and ready to meet national security requirements.

This position is a Reserved Post within the Civil Service, for which only sole UK nationals are eligible. Under the Civil Service Nationality Rules, UK nationals include British citizens, British subjects with the right of abode in the United Kingdom, and British Overseas Territories citizens.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Are you the kind of person who can keep a busy senior leader one step ahead, turn diary chaos into calm, and still greet the unexpected with a smile? This is a brilliant opportunity to sit at the heart of the Submarines Directorate, supporting senior leaders in a fast-paced, high-profile environment where no two days are quite the same. From managing a complex diary and coordinating travel, to working with senior stakeholders across Defence and beyond, you’ll be the organised, confident and trusted person who helps keep things moving. If you enjoy variety, responsibility and being part of a small, friendly team doing work that really matters, we’d love to hear from you.

What you will be doing:

• Diary Management: To be the single point of contact for the management of sernior leaders time, using Microsoft Outlook 365 diary. The Business Support Assistant (BSA) is to respond to meeting requests from multiple stakeholders, organise and schedule meetings required and maintain an up to date diary, responding as required to short notice changes. The BSA is to lead weekly diary meetings and work with senior leaders to ensure maximal efficiency of their time including intelligent sequencing of meetings and allocation of preparation time. They will prioritise commitments. The BSA will proactively deconflict meetings in the diary, taking decisions aligned to business priorities, and ensure alternative arrangements are made where necessary.
• Correspondence: To act as the primary point of contact for all incoming and outgoing correspondence. The BSA will prioritise correspondence and communications with stakeholders to ensure routine engagements and the receipt of any required supporting information for business in a timely manner to allow for preparation. The BSA will ensure that correspondence is distributed to relevant personnel and filed in line with information management best practice.
• Stakeholder Management: Establishing professional relationships with a range of customers and stakeholders, prioritised against objectives. Collaborating with these to share information, resources and support. The BSA will support the team in maintaining stakeholder information and contacts, and provide day to day interaction with stakeholders offices/staff.
• Travel: To arrange duty domestic and international travel requirements using the HRG booking system and local budget control procedures.
• Meet and greet: Meet and greet visitors and escort them to and from the meeting room / building as required. Ensure visitors are booked in at reception and arrange building passes as appropriate.
• Meeting and Conference rooms: The BSA will arrange the booking, rearrangement and cancellation of meeting and conference room facilities. They will proactively ensure that meetings rooms are arranged for any meetings that are managed through the senior leaders calendar. They will also liaise with colleagues to ensure that meetings is managed, for example by booking secure eVTC and other meeting rooms as needed.

Open to UK nationals only.

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

As part of Defence Reform, Navy Command continues to review and evolve its Target Operating Model to support more agile ways of working. In this context, the role and responsibilities of this role may develop over time to reflect changing business priorities and opportunities.

At Sift, you will be assessed against the following;

• Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history and qualification details.
• Candidates will be required to provide a personal statement. This should be a maximum of 500 words that sets out your motivation for applying and shows how your skills and experience meet the essential requirements for the role.

At Interview, you will be assessed against the following success profiles:

• Experience

And the following Behaviour:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

Further information:

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.