The Church of England
Head of the Private Office of the Archbishop of York
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Job Description
The Archbishop of York’s office is based at Bishopthorpe Palace on the outskirts of York, offering a unique and pleasant working environment. Staff at Bishopthorpe Palace form a close-knit and collaborative team, supporting the Archbishop’s ministry across the Province of York, nationally, and internationally.
The role of the Head of the Private Office of the Archbishop of York is to provide strategic oversight and operational leadership for the Archbishop's Private Office, ensuring the highest standards of organisation, communication and administrative support.
The postholder serves as a trusted adviser and principal point of coordination, providing exceptional executive support while exercising sound judgement, discretion and emotional intelligence in a complex and fast-paced environment. Responsible for the smooth and effective operation of the Private Office, the role manages highly sensitive matters with integrity and professionalism, maintains strict confidentiality, and supports the wider mission and ministry of the Archbishop through effective planning, stakeholder engagement and leadership.
A Basic DBS Check Is Required For The Role.
Interviews will be held in person on 29 September 2026
Responsibilities
Strategic Diary and Programme Management
- Be responsible for the strategic planning and management of the Archbishop's diary, ensuring alignment with agreed priorities and objectives.
- Be responsible for the day to day management of the Archbishop’s diary.
- Assess requests, invitations and opportunities, making recommendations on the effective use of the Archbishop's time.
- Balance strategic priorities with pastoral, diocesan, national, ecumenical, civic, public and international commitments.
- Identify risks, conflicts and emerging opportunities, adapting plans as required.
- Ensure timely and appropriate responses to requests and correspondence relating to the Archbishop's programme.
Engagement Planning and Delivery
- Coordinate the planning and delivery of meetings, visits, events and speaking engagements, ensuring they are well organised and achieve agreed outcomes.
- Monitor briefing deadlines.
- Manage relationships with internal and external stakeholders to ensure effective delivery and communication.
- Ensure all logistical, administrative and safeguarding requirements are met.
Partnership with the Chief of Staff and Senior Leadership Team
- Work closely with the Chief of Staff, who is ultimately responsible for the Archbishop’s schedule, and Senior Leadership Team to align the Archbishop's programme with the Archbishop’s strategic objectives.
- Support the implementation of decisions and ensure effective coordination across the Archbishop's Office, with Lambeth Palace, with the Diocese of York and, in particular, the Bishop of Selby’s Office.
Briefing and Correspondence
- Commission, coordinate and quality-assure briefings for meetings, visits and engagements.
- Draft and review correspondence, briefing notes and other materials as required.
- Ensure the Archbishop receives accurate, timely and concise information to support decision-making and engagement preparation.
Private Office Leadership
- Lead and continuously develop the operation of the Private Office, ensuring it delivers a professional, responsive and high-quality service.
- Line-manage the Correspondence & Private Office Assistant (1 post).
- Develop and maintain effective systems, processes and workflows to support diary management, correspondence and engagement planning.
- Be the budget holder for the Private Office and associated Archbishop’s costs and participate in the annual budget setting process.
- Monitor actions and commitments, ensuring high standards of service, professionalism and continuous improvement.
- Build strong working relationships with the Lambeth Private Office to ensure effective coordination and alignment.
- Build strong working relationships with the Bishop of Selby’s office, together with the offices of the Bishops of Hull and Whitby and the York Diocesan Office to ensure effective coordination and alignment.
- Build strong working relationships with the Bishop to the Archbishops, and their office, together with other NCI leadership teams and departments.
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Stakeholder and Relationship Management
- Build and maintain effective relationships with senior church leaders, diocesan colleagues, civic leaders, ecumenical partners and other key stakeholders.
- Act as a trusted point of contact, exercising sound judgement when handling sensitive matters and enquiries.
- Support the Archbishop in maintaining productive relationships across a broad range of networks, including the Bishopthorpe Charitable Partners Trust.
Support, Travel and Hospitality
- Coordinate the involvement of the Archbishop's spouse in engagements and events where appropriate.
- Oversee domestic and international travel, visits, hospitality and related logistics.
- Ensure visitors, guests and stakeholders are welcomed warmly and professionally.
This role profile outlines the principal responsibilities but is not exhaustive. The postholder may be asked to undertake other duties in line with the general nature and level of the role and occasional out-of-hours or weekend working might be necessary. Any reasonable adjustments or changes will be discussed in advance.
All staff working at Bishopthorpe Palace share responsibility to promote and maintain a strong safeguarding culture with regard to children and vulnerable adults, including identifying the key actions they should take given their role and responsibilities. Training and compliance with safeguarding policies are mandatory.
Qualifications
Essential
Experience
- Experience supporting a senior leader, public office-holder or equivalent figure in a complex and high-profile environment or comparable environment.
- Experience managing complex priorities, portfolios of activity and stakeholder relationships on behalf of a senior leader.
- Experience leading an executive support, Private Office or equivalent function, including responsibility for people, systems and service standards.
- Experience coordinating high-profile engagements, visits and events involving multiple internal and external stakeholders.
Leadership and Professional Capability
- Excellent judgement and the ability to balance competing priorities, assess opportunities and make well-founded recommendations.
- Ability to anticipate issues, identify risks and ensure the effective coordination of complex activity.
- Ability to operate effectively in situations of ambiguity, adapting plans and priorities in response to changing circumstances.
- Outstanding organisational and planning skills, with the ability to translate strategic priorities into coherent and deliverable programmes of activity.
- Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build effective working relationships with senior leaders and partners.
- Ability to budget and hold expenditure to agreed budget frameworks.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare concise briefings and communicate with clarity and diplomacy.
- Strong leadership and people management capability, fostering a professional, collaborative and high-performing culture.
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Personal Attributes
- Highly trustworthy, discreet and diplomatic.
- Emotionally intelligent and politically aware.
- Calm, adaptable, resilient and effective under pressure.
- Clear proactive communicator.
- Collaborative and highly organised, with a strong commitment to supporting others' success.
- Committed to excellence, continuous improvement and the effective stewardship of the Archbishop's time and priorities.
Knowledge
- Strong understanding of the demands of supporting a senior leader in a complex and fast-moving environment.
- Proficiency in Microsoft 365 and digital collaboration tools.
- Ability to work effectively within the mission, values and public ministry of the Church of England.
Desirable
- Knowledge of the Church of England, its governance structures and wider ecclesiastical context.
- Experience supporting a faith leader, senior public figure, elected office-holder or equivalent.
About Us
Please note that you will not be able to view the role description after the closing date. We suggest that you save a copy of this page before you submit your application.
About The NCIs
The National Church Institutions comprises a wide variety of teams, professions and functions that support the mission and ministries of the Church of England in its vision to be a church, centred on Jesus Christ, for the whole nation - a church that is simpler, humbler, bolder.
We Include. You Belong.
Our Belonging and Inclusion Strategy aims for everyone in the National Church Institutions (NCIs) to feel that they belong, and are valued for who they are and what they contribute. Together, our people contribute in different ways towards our common purpose, whichever NCI they work in and whatever their background.
Living out our values in all that we do, we:
- Strive for Excellence
- Show Compassion
- Respect others
- Collaborate
- Act with Integrity
We believe our commitment to belonging and inclusion fuels our progress and drives us forward. The NCIs are a safe, inclusive workplace for people of all backgrounds and walks of life. We welcome applications from people of all faiths and of no faith. We want to encourage applications from a diverse group of people who share our values. Even if you have never thought about working for us before, if you have the skills and experience we’re looking for then we would like to hear from you.
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