Executive Assistant

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

Job summary

A governmental organization is seeking a highly motivated Executive Assistant to support the Director of Regulation in Bristol or London. This role involves managing communications, coordinating meetings, and maintaining administrative systems. Candidates should possess solid executive assistant experience and excellent communication skills. The position offers 25 days of annual leave, a generous pension scheme, and flexible working options.

Benefits

25 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays

Comprehensive learning and development opportunities

Generous Civil Service pension scheme

Health benefits

Qualifications

• Previous experience as an executive assistant or similar role.
• Ability to triage and handle sensitive issues discreetly.
• Solid background in using standard software for office administration.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate and support the work of the Director of Regulation.
• Manage communications with internal and external stakeholders.
• Deliver a high standard of administrative tasks.

Skills

Executive assistant experience

Excellent judgement

Effective networking

Communication skills

Problem-solving ability

Organisational skills

Office administration

Tools

MS Office Suite

Job description

Overview

Location: Bristol or London - regular travel will be required to London if Bristol based

Salary: £37,614 - £38,577

Plus generous Civil Service defined benefit pension and

London weighting: £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 to join the OfS as we embark on our ambitious new strategy focused on quality, standards, and equality of opportunity.

As Executive Assistant to the Director of Regulation, you will act as the central point of contact in the Director’s office, coordinating and supporting the work of the Director as required. Your responsibilities will include:

• Developing a strong awareness of the Director's work and the work of the wider directorate: to understand the subject matter in correspondence, effectively triage queries, identify risks, and inform judgement around priorities

• Co-ordinating communications and correspondence with internal and external stakeholders across the Director’s complex regulatory and operational portfolio

• Stakeholder management: building strong internal and external peer relationships and networks to enable the Director to effectively manage and deliver meetings and engagement with stakeholders

• Delivering a portfolio of administrative tasks to a high standard: including calendar management, email management, travel coordination, preparing briefing materials, drafting correspondence, and minute taking

• Managing and enhancing administrative systems: such as those relating to daily briefing packs and email accounts to meet the Director’s needs

• Team collaboration: working 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; human resources; comms team), in order to triage queries, problem solve, and deliver key pieces of operational and regulatory work.

• Providing peer leadership: to other administrative colleagues in the directorate, with the aim of enhancing business support functions across the Directorate.
  

About you

We are seeking a dedicated and proactive individual who embodies the following qualities:

• Professional experience: You have previous experience of working as an executive assistant to a director (or similar role) and have undertaken enhanced Personal Assistant responsibilities to a high standard

• Excellent judgement: You proactively build understanding of your Director’s (or similar role) work, and are able to triage, prioritise and action correspondence and queries as appropriate. You have experience of handling sensitive issues discreetly.

• Effective networker: You build strong and constructive peer relationships and networks, including with the offices of internal and external stakeholders, to support meetings and engagements

• Communication skills: Your communication skills, both written and verbal, are clear, concise, and you are able to draft and tailor communication to a variety of internal and external audiences

• Problem-solving ability: You are able to proactively identify issues with, and then enhance, the administrative systems that support a Director (or similar role) in their work

• Organisational and time management skills: You have high attention to detail, and can co-ordinate, organise and signpost in context of a consistently fast moving and complex portfolio of activity

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

Benefits

Our Total Reward Framework offers a range of benefits to suit your way of life:

• 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 we 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 and ethnicity, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Flexibility is important to the OfS, as 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 in 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