Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
Executive Assistant and Business Support
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Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh, London, Salford
Job Summary
Do you want a career where you can make a real difference? Do you want to have an impact on the UK and beyond? If yes, then a career at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) could be for you.
Here at DESNZ we are delivering our mission to make the UK a clean energy superpower, with clean electricity by 2030 and accelerating the UK’s journey to net zero.
Our work is helping ensure clean energy for all, keep bills down and seize the opportunities to lead the world in new green industries, taking back control of our energy with Great British Energy and encouraging greater energy efficiency across the UK. The work of the department has never been more timely or relevant, and by joining us you will be part of making that difference.
Our work is varied, interesting and most importantly it's impactful. Our DESNZ Values are interwoven into everything we do; we are bold, we are collaborative, we are inclusive, and we learn. As a department we are committed to these values to build a culture where everyone can thrive.
We work in an agile way. This means that, as our priorities evolve, your work may adapt to meet emerging needs and help us deliver our mission. This approach offers opportunities to develop your skills, gain new experiences, and contribute where you can make the greatest impact. This relates to the nature of the work rather than contractual terms, such as location or working pattern.
We offer great working benefits including a world-class pension, flexible working options and a career where your learning and development is taken seriously. We are enormously proud to be a Disability Confident Leader employer. We support candidates with adjustments throughout our recruitment process. Information about disability confidence and just some examples of the adjustments that you can request can be found in the reasonable adjustment section below.
Find Out More
We regularly run events where you can find out more about the department and tips for the application and interview process. You can sign up for upcoming events here: https://forms.office.com/e/pqUhdr3L72
You can also follow our LinkedIn Careers Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/desnz-careers/
Job Description
This position is within Corporate Services in the private office of the Chief People Officer (CPO) and involves working closely with the CPO’s Chief of Staff, Private Secretary, and Assistant Private Secretary to ensure that key tasks are identified and priorities are met.
The CPO office is responsible for delivering corporate support to the CPO and HR Senior Management team, enabling them to effectively deliver their people objectives and priorities. The team is also responsible for coordinating Business Support activities across HR, enabling the directorate to run efficiently.
This is a fast-paced role at the heart of a busy directorate with a wide range of deliverables. This role offers variety, responsibility, and the opportunity to develop key skills and knowledge. The successful candidate will be working closely with senior leaders, gaining a valuable and unique insight into how the senior team operates and how policy decisions are made, as well as understanding how the Department and wider Government operates.
Our directorate believes in investing in the potential of our people and there are many chances to get involved in the valuable work of the directorate and our department.
This position is within Corporate Services in the private office of the Chief People Officer (CPO) and involves working closely with the CPO’s Chief of Staff, Private Secretary, and Assistant Private Secretary to ensure that key tasks are identified and priorities are met.
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The CPO office is responsible for delivering corporate support to the CPO and HR Senior Management team, enabling them to effectively deliver their people objectives and priorities. The team is also responsible for coordinating Business Support activities across HR, enabling the directorate to run efficiently.
This is a fast-paced role at the heart of a busy directorate with a wide range of deliverables. This role offers variety, responsibility, and the opportunity to develop key skills and knowledge. The successful candidate will be working closely with senior leaders, gaining a valuable and unique insight into how the senior team operates and how policy decisions are made, as well as understanding how the Department and wider Government operates.
Our directorate believes in investing in the potential of our people and there are many chances to get involved in the valuable work of the directorate and our department.
Person specification
Key Responsibilities
The successful candidate will be providing a full range of executive personal assistant, administrative and secretarial support to several Deputy Directors, ensuring an appropriate balance of support is provided.
Main Duties Will Include
- Proactively running the Deputy Directors diary and inbox management, arrange meetings and requests from internal and external colleagues and stakeholders. This includes checking availability of attendees; booking rooms; providing conference call details; issuing appointments; rescheduling if necessary; arranging deputies and ordering refreshments and collecting visitors if needed.
- Preparing meeting papers, obtaining background papers, briefing notes and liaising with meeting organisers or others to ensure your Deputy Directors has everything they require.
- Coordinating away-days and events for the team.
- Booking travel arrangements for the Deputy Directors and occasionally the wider team.
- Building strong working relationships with other Deputy Directors in the directorate, their PAs and the wider team.
- Communicating and engaging effectively with internal and external stakeholders, dealing with enquiries promptly and courteously, referring to the relevant lead where appropriate.
- Leading on the allocation of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and Parliamentary Questions (PQs).
- Carrying out Business Support activities, such as updating organisational charts and office locker and stationery management.
There is scope to broaden out these responsibilities within the Business Support team, by leading on areas of work to support the delivery of departmental priorities.
Essential Criteria
The successful candidate will be responsible for organising and controlling their own workload, ensuring deadlines are observed and duties are performed efficiently.
We Are Looking For Someone Who
- Works with an energy and enthusiasm to get things done, showing flexibility when needed and an ability to act at pace to respond to changing priorities.
- Has excellent organisational skills and the ability to balance multiple priorities, making the biggest impact in the time available for a task.
- Has a positive approach when interacting with others and the ability to communicate clearly and effectively orally and in writing.
- Enjoys working as part of a team, establishing and maintaining strong working relationships by building a reputation for producing high-quality work.
- Engages confidently with high-profile partners, including SCS, Ministers' offices and external partners.
- Acts appropriately and independently, managing people-sensitive information with discretion and confidentiality.
- Is proficient in Outlook, Word & Excel.
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Desirable Criteria
Experience as a personal assistant, business support or in private office role is desirable but not required.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Managing a Quality Service
- Delivering at Pace
- Making Effective Decisions
- Working Together
Salary and Benefits
Alongside your salary of £30,940, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero contributes £8,963 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero offers a competitive mix of benefits including:
- A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
- Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
- A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
- An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
- Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.
Office attendance
The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.
As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Please use your personal statement (in no more than 750 words) to tell us why you are a suitable candidate for this role, providing evidence of how you meet the essential criteria.
Please note - the CV incorporated into the application form is for information purposes only and will not be scored.
In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the Personal Statement.
Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.
The interview will consist of behaviour and strength-based questions.
Sift and interview dates
Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.
Further Information
Reasonable Adjustment
We are proud to be a disability confident leader and we welcome applications from disabled candidates and candidates with long-term conditions.
Information about the Disability Confident
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