Executive Assistant

NHS; Manchester; On-site; GBP 31,000 - 38,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare research authority based in Manchester is seeking an Executive Assistant to provide high-quality administrative support to senior management. The ideal candidate will have excellent organizational skills, experience in diary management, and a commitment to inclusivity. This permanent, full-time role offers a salary range of £31,049 to £37,796 per year.

Qualifications

• Experience in providing support to senior teams, including agendas and minutes.
• Extensive experience in complex diary management.

Responsibilities

• Providing high calibre administrative support to management.
• Liaising with stakeholders and organising events.
• Booking travel and accommodation for the team.

Skills

Excellent keyboard skills

MS Office 365 proficiency

Organisational skills

Diary management

Education

Degree or equivalent portfolio

Job description

Job Summary

Reporting to the Business Operations Manager, the Executive Assistant is responsible for providing comprehensive high calibre administrative support to the Approvals Service Directorate and EA support to the Director, Deputy Director and senior management team. The postholder will undertake multiple requests relating to work activities and manage deadlines appropriately. This will include providing effective, proactive diary management and prioritising high-level competing demands. The postholder will organise travel, accommodation and events for the Directorate and provide support to recruitment processes and external stakeholder events. They will also provide secretariat support to a variety of internal and external meetings, producing agendas and high-quality minutes, monitoring risk registers and action and decision logs and liaising with action or risk owners. The role will require collaborative working with a range of internal and external stakeholders in areas that may be sensitive, confidential and complex and the post-holder will be required to work under their own initiative and to problem solve under general oversight and direction from their line manager, displaying a high level of tact, diplomacy, sound judgement in when to seek further opinion.

Main Duties of the

• Providing comprehensive high calibre administrative and executive assistant support to the Director, Deputy Director and wider Approvals Management team. Proactively managing diaries, anticipating and addressing conflicts
• Providing secretariat support to a wide variety of meetings, drafting agendas, circulating papers, taking minutes and following up on actions.
• Interpreting complex and sensitive requests for information, ensuring these are answered appropriately and promptly, prioritising where urgent contact needs to be made with the Director, Deputy Director or other managers.
• Liaising with HRA colleagues and communicating with a variety of stakeholders and organisations, often at high level, on behalf of the Directorate management team.
• Supporting the face-to-face event programme for REC members, organising venues, materials and catering alongside other ad hoc tasks relating to the event programme.
• Booking travel and accommodation as required for the Approvals Directorate.
• Supporting the management team, and working with colleagues to ensure that the business and administrative aspect of Approvals Directorate work is sustained at all times.
• Supporting the Business Operations manager in facilitating the recruitment process for staff across the Approvals Directorate.

About Us

Working at the HRA, we are reminded daily of how important life is. As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for you, not just us and the work we do. We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. We know from experience that different ideas, perspectives and backgrounds create a stronger, more creative workplace that helps us to deliver the best services. We welcome applications which represent the rich diversity of our community: age, disability, gender identity and expression, ethnicity, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and other diverse characteristics, and we have policies in place to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process. When applying to work here, speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement - if it works for us, we will do our best to make it work for you. Please note, if applying to our Manchester, Nottingham or Bristol locations, we are only able to offer the role as home based.

Details

Date posted: 06 November 2025
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 5
Salary: £31,049 to £37,796 a year
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 980-HRA7591901
Job locations: HRA Centre Manchester, 3 Piccadilly Place, Manchester, M1 3BN

Responsibilities

• Delivering HRA Approval
• Supporting the Confidentiality Advisory Group and advising on the use of confidential patient information without consent
• Working to refine the systems and processes researchers need to follow to ensure a swift, robust and simple experience
• Providing guidance to applicants
• Providing training
• Working collaboratively with external partners to improve the research environment
• We do not hold a sponsorship licence and are unable to offer employment under any sponsorship arrangement. Where applicants fail to demonstrate how they meet any one of the essential criteria of the person specification, the application will not be shortlisted. CVs will not be considered. The HRA reserves the right to close this vacancy early should it receive a sufficient number of applications.

Person Specification

Essential Qualifications

• Degree, or portfolio of evidence demonstrating ability to work at this level

Knowledge, skills and expertise (Essential)

• Excellent keyboard skills and competent use of MS Office 365

Experience (Essential)

• Experience of providing support to senior teams, including compiling agendas and taking minutes to a high standard with the ability to record detailed complex and sensitive information accurately and clearly
• Excellent organisational skills with extensive complex diary management skills and experience

Desirable

• Experience of working within the NHS, higher education, and/or clinical research
• Experience of organising events

Other

• Commitment to inclusivity and valuing diversity

Employer Details

Health Research Authority
HRA Centre Manchester
3 Piccadilly Place
Manchester
M1 3BN
Website: https://www.hra.nhs.uk/