PoliceAI: Executive Assistant (ref.7367)

This post is open to applicants who can meet the College’s nationality, UK residency and vetting requirements.

About us:

PoliceAI is a nationally significant technology and transformation programme in UK policing. Backed by central government investment and positioned at the heart of the police reform agenda, PoliceAI is the new National Centre for AI in Policing, helping to shape how policing uses data, technology and artificial intelligence to tackle crime, protect the public and modernise frontline operations.

We bring together operational policing, technical expertise, product delivery, assurance and the responsible use of AI to develop and scale capabilities that improve public safety outcomes. Our work helps forces respond more effectively to demand, strengthen investigations, identify risk and harm earlier, and free up frontline time for the activities that matter most to communities.

This is an opportunity to contribute to a programme with national reach and meaningful public service impact, helping to define how AI is developed, governed and adopted across one of the UK’s most important public services. The work is varied and complex, moves at pace, and has the potential to deliver better tools for policing, better outcomes for the public, and stronger foundations for the responsible use of AI.

PoliceAI is hosted within the College of Policing.

About the College of Policing:

Our mission is: Leadership, Standards, Performance. This guides our work with individuals, forces, and policing partners towards our vision. We exist to support police officers, police staff and volunteers to deliver the best service to the public. Only through high quality leadership, consistent standards and continual performance improvement can everyone in policing reach their full potential. Our mission guides our work with individual, forces and partners towards our vision.

We offer a supportive and inclusive environment for people to thrive through our extensive flexible-working policy, employee wellbeing support, family friendly policies, and status as a disability confident leader.

For further information visit our ‘Work for us’ page.

Location

This role is available as a designated homeworking role, remote working (anywhere in the UK). Hybrid working opportunities can also be discussed prior to you taking up your post.

Please note some travel will be required.

We are looking for people who are motivated by public service, interested in responsible innovation, and comfortable working collaboratively across organisational, operational and technical boundaries. Joining PoliceAI means contributing to a supportive, multidisciplinary team that is helping to shape the future of policing and ensure AI is used in ways that are effective, responsible, operationally useful and worthy of public trust.

This is an exciting opportunity to provide executive-level support to senior leaders at the College of Policing. As an Executive Assistant, you'll play a pivotal role in ensuring members of the Executive Team or the Chair of the College Board can operate effectively, managing complex priorities, coordinating key activities and helping to maintain strong relationships with senior stakeholders across policing, government and partner organisations. Your work will contribute directly to the smooth running of the organisation and the delivery of its strategic objectives.

We're looking for an experienced Executive Assistant who thrives in a fast-paced environment and can confidently manage competing demands while maintaining the highest levels of professionalism and confidentiality. You'll have a proven track record of supporting senior executives, building effective relationships with a wide range of stakeholders and handling sensitive issues with tact and discretion. Organised, proactive and adaptable, you'll be comfortable working independently and ensuring that senior leaders are fully briefed, well organised and able to focus on their priorities.

Additional Information:

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.

Due to our status as Public Servants, we are not eligible to participate in the Civil Service transfer process. Therefore, while successful candidates can transfer into the organisation on their existing terms and conditions, any move back to the Civil Service may mean that continuity of service is not automatically recognised by the receiving department, and new starter or modernised terms and conditions may apply, subject to the receiving department's policies and arrangements. However, employees who move directly to a Civil Service department without a break in service may retain continuity of service for redundancy and pension purposes.

Any previous service with local government or other external Modification Order bodies will not be carried forward or count when calculating redundancy entitlement.

The College embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we comply with the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) and apply the minimum selection criteria at sift stage of the recruitment process. Where necessary, we may increase the minimum selection criteria to support the effective management of the recruitment process, while ensuring our approach remains fair, transparent and consistent with our Disability Confident commitments.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

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

This post is open to applicants who can meet the College’s nationality, UK residency and vetting requirements.

Please note that in order to work for the College of Policing you must have the Right to Work in the UK with indefinite leave to remain. Any other type of visa cannot be accepted. In addition, you will also be required to provide an address history in the UK for the preceding 3 years. Applications that do not meet these requirements will be rejected at sift stage and will not be progressed to interview.

College vacancy reference: 7367 - please quote in correspondence.

This role is available for 24‑months with the possibility of extension, as a fixed term appointment for external candidates or as a secondment opportunity to:

• colleagues employed directly by the College or the Civil Service. Please note you will be required to obtain the written support of your line manager prior to submitting your application.
• serving police staff at the equivalent rank of Sergeant who have their chief officer's approval. Chief Officer’s approval must be of NPCC rank, i.e., CC, ACC or DCC. Approval for a secondment must accompany an application.

Police Staff and Officers may qualify for a non-pensionable Central Service Allowance (CSA).

Please ensure you return the attached secondment approval form via email to recruitment@college.police.uk quoting the internal reference number 7367. Please note, without this your application will not progress beyond sift, even if your application is successful.

For further information on applying for a secondment please visit the “Secondments into the College” page.

For fixed Term contracts:

This fixed term contract is offered for a set period. However, it could be extended or made permanent should the circumstances allow.

Internal College applicants who are at risk of redundancy or in need of redeployment and pass the recruitment process, will be given priority over other applicants.

How to apply:

As part of the application process, you will be required to complete the following:

• Technical skill – supporting senior executive
• Curriculum Vitae (CV), not exceeding two sides of A4 - include key achievements.
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working together

To ensure you are assessed on merit alone, we ask you to anonymise your application. This means removing personal identifiers such as your name, age, and place of education. You do not need to remove your employment history, job titles, or any information about your work.

Initial Sift

An initial sift based on the Technical skill – supporting senior executive may be conducted if a large number of applications are received.

“Please provide an example of a time when you supported a senior executive or director in a busy environment. Describe the support you provided, how you managed competing priorities, and the impact your actions had on the effectiveness of the individual or organisation”

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or directly to assessment/interview. Please note that each element will be assessed and scored separately. Information included in one will not automatically be considered when assessing the other, so candidates should ensure that all are fully completed and clearly demonstrate the required skills, experience and suitability for the role.

In cases where exceptionally high volumes of applications are received, additional assessment stages may be introduced as part of the selection process. This may include a presentation, technical assessment, or other job-related exercise before candidates are invited to a full interview. Where such stages are used, only the highest-scoring candidates will normally progress to the next stage of the recruitment process.

Interview

Anticipated interview dates: tbc – subject to change due to operational priorities of the panel.

Interviews will be conducted via Microsoft Teams.

Interviews will include questions based on the listed behaviours and experience.

Our vetting

If you are successful at interview, you will be required to undergo pre-employment security checks. A security questionnaire will be issued to you and must be accessed within 24 hours of receipt.

The applicable vetting requirements for this role are NPPV Level 2.

Please note, these checks can take up to 10 weeks. You will only be offered a start date after the checks have been completed. If the outcome of these checks is not satisfactory, your recommendation for employment will be withdrawn.

Contact details and further information

If you would like to discuss the role in more detail please contact Anita Panchal anita.panchal@college.police.uk, Business Coordinator.

The College is committed to support the Greening Government Commitment and reducing our Environmental impact. We have a dynamic Environmental Management Plan in place which encompasses various objectives, including our pledge to reduce business travel. To support our green agenda we have, in phase one, installed Electric Vehicle Charging Points at our sites in Ryton (12 points) and Harperley Hall (4 points). We encourage employees to become an Environment Champion to help with promoting and delivering our Environmental Management Plan. Our One Step Greener approach encourages all College staff to make small changes to create a better future for everyone.

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