Executive Assistant

Office for Students; Bristol; Hybrid; GBP 37,000 - 39,000; Full time

Job summary

A public education regulatory agency in the UK is seeking an Executive Assistant based in Bristol or London. This role requires strong organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills to support the Director's work effectively. You will manage correspondence, coordinate stakeholder communications, and deliver various high-standard administrative tasks. The ideal candidate has experience as an executive assistant, is proactive, and can thrive in a fast-paced environment. The position offers competitive salary and benefits, along with a commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Benefits

25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Comprehensive learning and development opportunities

Generous Civil Service pension scheme

Health benefits

Qualifications

• Extensive experience as an executive assistant or in a high-standard personal assistant role.
• Strong judgement and ability to prioritize correspondence discreetly.
• Excellent communication skills both written and verbal tailored to various audiences.
• Effective problem-solving skills to enhance administrative systems.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail in fast-paced environments.

Responsibilities

• Develop awareness of the Director’s work ensuring effective handling of correspondence.
• Coordinate communications with internal and external stakeholders.
• Manage stakeholder relationships and build strong networks.
• Deliver high-standard administrative tasks including travel coordination and briefing preparation.
• Collaborate with teams to triage queries and solve problems.
• Provide leadership to administrative colleagues enhancing support functions.

Skills

Time Management

Microsoft Office (Word, Outlook, Teams, Excel)

Organisational skills

Personal Assistant Experience

Calendar Management

Microsoft Outlook Calendar

Google Suite

Job description

Executive Assistant

Location: Bristol or London – regular travel will be to London if Bristol based.

Salary: £37,614 – £38,577 (plus generous Civil Service defined benefit pension and London weighting of £3,566 where appropriate).

About us

The Office for Students (OfS) is the independent regulator of higher education in England. We regulate higher education on behalf of all students, ensuring that every student regardless of their background has a fulfilling experience that enriches their lives and careers.

About the role

We are seeking a highly motivated and dynamic Executive Assistant to join the Office of the Director of Regulation within our Regulation Directorate. This is an exciting opportunity as the OfS embarks on its ambitious new strategy focused on quality standards and equality of opportunity.

Responsibilities

• Develop a strong awareness of the Director’s work and the wider directorate, ensuring effective triage of correspondence, risk identification, and priority judgement.
• Coordinate communications and correspondence with internal and external stakeholders across the Director’s complex regulatory and operational portfolio.
• Manage stakeholder relationships, building strong internal and external peer networks to enable the Director to deliver meetings and engagement with stakeholders.
• Deliver a portfolio of high‑standard administrative tasks, including calendar management, email management, travel coordination, briefing material preparation, drafting correspondence, and minute‑taking.
• Manage and enhance administrative systems, such as briefing packs and email accounts, to meet the Director’s needs.
• Collaborate proactively with the Director’s Strategic Advisor, the Regulation Directorate Strategy and Support Team, and the Office for Students central functions (e.g., chief executive’s office, HR, communications team) to triage queries, problem‑solve, and deliver key operational and regulatory work.
• Provide peer leadership to other administrative colleagues in the directorate, enhancing business support functions across the directorate.

About you

Professional experience: You have worked as an executive assistant to a director or in a similar high‑standard personal assistant role.

Excellent judgement: You proactively build an understanding of the Director’s work and can triage, prioritise, and act on correspondence and queries discreetly.

Effective networker: You build strong, constructive peer relationships and networks with internal and external stakeholders to support meetings and engagements.

Communication skills: Your written and verbal communication is clear, concise, and tailored to a variety of audiences.

Problem‑solving ability: You identify issues and enhance the administrative systems that support a Director in a fast‑moving, complex portfolio.

Organisational and time‑management skills: You have high attention to detail and can coordinate, organise, and signpost in the context of a consistently fast‑moving portfolio.

Office administration: You have a solid background in standard software and business processes, particularly within the MS Office suite (Word, Outlook, Teams, Excel, OneNote).

Benefits

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Comprehensive learning and development opportunities
• Generous Civil Service pension scheme
• Health benefits

Working for us

The OfS regulates the higher education sector on behalf of all students. We value diversity and the wealth of perspectives, experience, and ideas that it brings to our work and strive to embed equality of opportunity in everything we do.

We recruit based on fair and open competition and welcome applications from candidates regardless of age, disability, race, ethnicity, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Flexibility is important to the OfS – we recognise that it can enable people to work more effectively. A set of organisation‑wide principles shape our approach to flexible and hybrid working, which our teams then use as guidance on how they deliver their business goals. This would usually mean working from the office for two to three days a typical week.

Application process

Please upload a copy of your CV alongside answers to three online application questions.

Closing date for applications: Monday 13 October at noon.

Interviews: week commencing Monday 27 October.

Key Skills

• Time Management
• Microsoft Office (Word, Outlook, Teams, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Organisational skills
• Personal Assistant Experience
• Calendar Management
• Microsoft Outlook Calendar
• Google Suite

Employment Type

Full‑time

Experience

Years of experience not specified.

Vacancy

1