Diary Manager and Assistant Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary

Department for Culture, Media and Sport; City of Westminster; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A government department in the UK is seeking a Diary Manager and Assistant Private Secretary to support the Permanent Secretary. This fixed-term role involves diary management, travel coordination, and ensuring efficient office processes. The successful candidate will work collaboratively within a close-knit team and engage with senior leadership to deliver high-quality service in a dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• Excellent diary management skills.
• Strong organisational skills to coordinate travel arrangements.
• Ability to maintain office processes efficiently.
• Experience handling advice and briefings as a Private Secretary.
• Collaborative mindset to work across teams.

Responsibilities

• Manage the Permanent Secretary's diary and logistics.
• Organise travel arrangements ensuring cost-effectiveness.
• Ensure accurate and timely responses for office processes.
• Handle advice and briefings for the Permanent Secretary.
• Work collaboratively with the Private Office team.

Job description

This is a fixed-term role for two years, which is available on level transfer only.

Responsibilities

• Diary management: you will be responsible for the Permanent Secretary's day to day logistics, working closely with your immediate team, other private offices and external stakeholders to arrange meetings and events.
• Organising travel: you will work closely with the team to coordinate the Permanent Secretary's travel arrangements, helping organise transport and accommodation while ensuring cost effectiveness and compliance with relevant departmental policies.
• Office processes: you will take responsibility for a set of core office processes, likely to include coordinating invites and correspondence. This will involve working across the team to ensure accurate and timely responses.
• Assistant Private Secretary: as Private Secretary for one of the directorates in DCMS, you will be responsible for the day-to-day handling of advice, briefings and general information management between the Permanent Secretary and the directorate.
• Cross team work: we operate as one private office team, so as part of your role you will work collaboratively both within the Permanent Secretary's office and more broadly across the Private Office group.

Disability Confident

A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to .

Private Office is one of the most dynamic teams in DCMS involved in all aspects of departmental business, supporting the Department's Ministers and senior leadership team with a high quality service. The Permanent Secretary's office is a close-knit, friendly team working across the whole breadth of the department's work. Working closely with DCMS senior leaders, ministerial private offices and policy officials, you will be part of a fast paced team, where you will need to engage regularly with the most senior parts of the department and have a good strategic eye. We are a team of four, with a Head of Office, Senior Private Secretary, a Private Secretary and a Diary Manager and Assistant Private Secretary (this role). We support the Permanent Secretary in everything she does both internally in the Department and across Whitehall, and externally with DCMS' many stakeholders. Our portfolios shift regularly to reflect key priorities and issues, and we work flexibly across the office to ensure everything is covered.