Scottish Canals
Personal Assistant
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Salary: £32,367 - £35,218
Closing Date: 18/09/2026
Department: People
Location: Falkirk
Hours Per Week: 35
Where to find us
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Job Description
Help Shape the Future of Scottish Canals
Scottish Canals are the custodians of the nation’s canal network and surrounding estates. Our vision is to invest in the canal network to generate lasting benefit for people and communities; celebrating their industrial heritage, ensuring they offer quality green and blue spaces for people and communities and contribute to Scotland’s resilience in tackling climate change.
Our success is rooted in valuing the contributions of our entire team - we care, we create, and we collaborate to continue to deliver a whole range of activities and services, from boating, and mooring, paddling, walking and wheeling, to living and playing and improving what the canals have to offer to our visitors and communities. We also work collaboratively with our partners and stakeholders to contribute to a wealthier, fairer, greener and more resilient Scotland.
As an employer we offer a truly unique opportunity to be part of our team, help us realise our vision and contribute to safeguarding our heritage and ensuring our canals flourish now and in the future.
About The Role
We currently have an exciting opportunity for a Personal Assistant to the Director of People & Strategy to join our People team based at The Falkirk Wheel, with hybrid working arrangements available.
This is a key role at the heart of the organisation, providing proactive, confidential and professional support to the Director of People & Strategy. You will help ensure the effective management of executive priorities, coordinate key governance meetings and provide high-quality administrative support across the People team.
The successful candidate will be a trusted advisor and first point of contact for the Director, managing a varied workload involving diary management, meeting coordination, stakeholder engagement and the handling of highly sensitive information. Working closely with colleagues across the organisation, you will help ensure the smooth operation of the People & Strategy Directorate while contributing to Scottish Canals' wider administration network.
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The role is offered on a permanent basis, working 35 hours per week, Monday to Friday.
Primary Responsibilities Of The Role
- Provide proactive and confidential Personal Assistant support to the Director of People & Strategy.
- Manage a complex and frequently changing executive diary, ensuring priorities are effectively coordinated and managed.
- Act as a key point of contact, triaging correspondence, requests and enquiries and ensuring appropriate action is taken.
- Coordinate meetings, events and travel arrangements, ensuring all logistics, papers and supporting information are organised in advance.
- Provide comprehensive secretariat support for key governance forums, including the National Health & Safety Committee, Joint Negotiating Committee and other meetings chaired by the Director.
- Prepare agendas, collate papers, record accurate minutes and maintain action and decision logs.
- Monitor actions arising from meetings, following up with stakeholders and escalating issues where appropriate.
- Draft and quality-assure correspondence, reports, briefing notes, presentations and other documentation on behalf of the Director.
- Support confidential People team administration, ensuring sensitive information is handled securely and in accordance with data protection requirements.
- Build effective working relationships with Executive Management Team members, trade union representatives, colleagues and external stakeholders.
- Contribute to the wider administration network through collaborative working and the provision of flexible cross-cover when required.
About The Reward
Salary £32,367 – £35,218 (Band C).
Starting salary will be determined in accordance with Scottish Canals’ pay arrangements and the successful candidate’s experience.
Scottish Canals offers a generous annual leave entitlement of 224 hours, plus 6 public holidays, alongside enhanced sick pay, discounted shopping vouchers, a health cash plan and a contributory pension scheme with up to 10% employer contribution.
About You
Qualifications and Knowledge
- Relevant qualification in business administration, executive support or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.
- Excellent knowledge of Microsoft 365 applications, including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams and SharePoint.
- Understanding of confidentiality, data protection, records management and information governance principles.
- Knowledge of effective committee administration and governance processes.
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Skills And Experience
- Significant experience providing Personal Assistant, Executive Assistant or senior administrative support at a senior level.
- Experience managing complex diaries and coordinating competing priorities.
- Experience preparing agendas, managing papers and producing accurate minutes for senior meetings and committees.
- Excellent organisational, planning and prioritisation skills.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to draft correspondence, briefings and reports.
- Proven ability to build effective relationships with a wide range of stakeholders.
- Excellent attention to detail and ability to maintain high levels of accuracy.
- Ability to work independently, use initiative and anticipate requirements.
- Experience supporting employee relations, trade union or governance meetings (desirable).
- Experience working within a shared administrative support model and providing cross-cover support (desirable).
Qualities And Abilities
- Highly professional, discreet and trustworthy when handling confidential information.
- Calm, resilient and able to make sound judgements in a fast-paced environment.
- Proactive and solution-focused, with the ability to anticipate needs and identify priorities.
- Collaborative and flexible, with a willingness to support colleagues across the organisation.
- Politically aware and confident working with senior stakeholders.
- Committed to delivering high-quality customer service and administrative excellence.
- Motivated to contribute to continuous improvement and organisational success.
Scottish Canals reserve the right to close this vacancy before the closing date if a sufficient number of applications are received.
Take a look around the company https://www.scottishcanals.co.uk/business-governance/careers/work-with-us
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