Executive Assistant - Office for Students

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

Job summary

A government regulatory body in the UK is seeking a highly motivated Executive Assistant to support the Director of Regulation. This role involves managing communications, providing administrative support, and maintaining strong relationships with stakeholders. Candidates should have professional experience as an executive assistant, excellent communication skills, and proficiency in MS Office tools. The salary ranges from £37,614 to £38,577 with various benefits, including flexible working options.

Benefits

25 days' annual leave plus bank holidays

Comprehensive learning and development opportunities

Generous Civil Service pension scheme

Health benefits and employer pension contributions

Flexible working options

Inclusive culture and diversity

Qualifications

• Previous experience as an executive assistant or similar role.
• Ability to understand Director's work and manage sensitive issues.
• Proficient in drafting and tailoring communications.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate and support the Director's office.
• Manage communications with stakeholders.
• Deliver high-quality administrative support.

Skills

Professional experience

Excellent judgement

Effective networking

Communication skills

Problem-solving

Organisational and time management

Office administration

Tools

MS Office (Word, Outlook, Teams, Excel, OneNote)

Job description

Overview

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.

Responsibilities

• Act as the central point of contact in the Director's office, coordinating and supporting the Director as required.
• Develop a strong awareness of the Director's work and the wider directorate to understand subject matter in correspondence, triage queries, identify risks, and inform judgement around priorities.
• Coordinate communications and correspondence with internal and external stakeholders across the Director's regulatory and operational portfolio.
• Stakeholder management: build strong internal and external peer relationships and networks to enable the Director to manage and deliver meetings and engagement with stakeholders.
• Deliver a portfolio of administrative tasks to a high standard, including calendar management, email management, travel coordination, preparing briefing materials, drafting correspondence, and minute taking.
• Manage and enhance administrative systems, such as daily briefing packs and email accounts, to meet the Director's needs.
• Collaborate with the Director's Strategic Advisor, the Regulation Directorate Strategy and Support Team, and central functions (e.g. Chief Executive's Office; Human Resources; Communications team) to triage queries, solve problems, and deliver operational and regulatory work.
• Provide peer leadership to other administrative colleagues in the directorate to enhance business support functions.

Qualifications and qualities

• Professional experience: previous experience as an executive assistant to a director (or similar role) with enhanced Personal Assistant responsibilities to a high standard.
• Excellent judgement: ability to understand the Director's work, triage, prioritise, and action correspondence and queries; experience in handling sensitive issues discreetly.
• Effective networking: ability to build strong peer relationships with internal and external stakeholders to support meetings and engagements.
• Communication skills: clear, concise written and verbal communication; ability to draft and tailor communications for diverse audiences.
• Problem-solving: proactively identify and enhance administrative systems that support a Director.
• Organisational and time management: high attention to detail; ability to co-ordinate, organise, and prioritise within a fast-moving, complex portfolio.
• Office administration: solid experience with standard software and business processes, particularly MS Office (Word, Outlook, Teams, Excel, OneNote).
• Security: Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Baseline security checks are required for those working with government assets.

Salary and benefits

Salary: £37,614 - £38,577 per annum. Plus generous Civil Service defined benefit pension and London weighting £3,566 where appropriate. The Office for Students offers a Total Reward Framework including:

• 25 days' annual leave plus bank holidays
• Comprehensive learning and development opportunities
• Generous Civil Service pension scheme
• Health benefits and employer pension contributions (Civil Service Pension scheme)
• Learning and development tailored to your role
• Flexible working options
• Inclusive culture and diversity

About the Office for Students

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.

Selection and working arrangements

Selection process details will be provided. 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 OfS. A set of organisation-wide principles guide flexible and hybrid working, typically requiring office presence two to three days per week.