Executive Officer

Kent County Council; Maidstone; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Kent County Council in Maidstone seeks an Executive Officer to deliver comprehensive executive and business support to director-level colleagues and divisional leadership teams. The role enhances governance, decision-making and delivery of priorities within Infrastructure (Property) and Technology divisions.

You will prepare high-quality briefings, reports and summaries, ensuring timely briefing and follow-up, and you may represent leaders at internal and external meetings with external

Qualifications

• Significant experience of providing executive or senior business support in a complex organisation.
• Excellent organisational, diary management and prioritisation skills.
• Strong written and verbal communication, including drafting clear correspondence.
• Ability to supervise business support staff and ensure consistent processes.
• Confidence working with senior leaders and a wide range of stakeholders.
• Sound judgement and discretion handling confidential information.
• Strong IT skills, including Microsoft Office and digital collaboration tools.

Responsibilities

• Provide executive support to director-level colleagues and divisional leadership teams.
• Prepare high-quality briefings, reports and summaries; manage timely delivery.
• Represent and support directors at internal/external meetings; capture actions and follow-up.
• Coordinate communications with external partners and stakeholders.
• Work across Infrastructure (Property) and Technology divisions to enable governance.
• Maintain calendars, prioritise tasks and enable timely decision-making.
• Contribute to a proactive, responsive and professional support service.

Skills

Executive support

Diary management

Stakeholder engagement

Written communication

Discretion

Team supervision

Tools

Microsoft Office

Digital collaboration tools

Job description

We are looking for a highly organised and proactive Executive Officer to provide a comprehensive, coordinated and high-quality executive and business support service to director-level colleagues and the divisional leadership teams. This is a key role supporting effective governance, communication, decision-making and delivery of divisional priorities. Whilst no one day is the same, on a typical day you will need to provide a professional executive support service to director-level colleagues, ensuring they are fully briefed on key issues, decisions and priorities within appropriate timescales. The role requires excellent judgement, discretion and the ability to work at pace in a complex, high-profile environment across Infrastructure (Property) and Technology divisons. You will be required to prepare high quality written briefings, reports and summaries, drawing together information from across the Council. You will need to be able to represent and/or support the director and senior managers at internal and external meetings where required, capturing actions and ensuring follow-up. The role will involve regular communications with and provide meeting support to external partners. The role necessitates working in an office environment at our headquarters office in Maidstone, supplemented by hybrid working arrangements where business needs allow.

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.

• Significant experience of providing executive or senior business support in a complex organisation
• Excellent organisational, diary management and prioritisation skills, with the ability to manage multiple competing demands
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to draft clear, accurate and sensitive correspondence
• Ability to proactively supervise business support staff members on a regular basis and ensure consistency in processes applied.
• Confidence working with senior leaders, Members and a wide range of stakeholders
• Sound judgement, discretion and the ability to handle confidential and sensitive information appropriately
• Strong IT skills, including confident use of Microsoft Office and digital collaboration tools
• The ability to work proactively, solve problems and take ownership of issues through to resolution
  Work that works for you and us - let's talk flexibility!

KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county's working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, faiths and those with caring responsibilities, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.

The closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.