Private Secretary

We are advertising for a rewarding and critical role working in the private office for a Minister at the Department for Education.

This is an opportunity to work in the heart of government, supporting the Minister as they make decisions and drive forward the Department’s policies.

Successful applicants will be joining small and friendly teams, working in a fast-paced and dynamic environment. These positions offer a unique insight into the Department and provide a superb opportunity for people to develop skills that will support progression in the Civil Service.

Responsibilities

• Directly advising and working with Ministers to support them to deliver their priorities.
• Setting direction to and work with senior civil servants and teams across the Department to ensure they provide high quality advice and briefing on policy and operational issues.
• Supporting the Minister to fulfil their duties, supporting them in a wide range of meetings and events, and ensuring they are well briefed for parliamentary debates and select committees.
• Setting strategic direction on how the Minister spends their time.

Person specification

• Excellent organisational skills, and be able to prioritise competing priorities effectively to resolve difficult issues, and achieve shared goals in high pressure situations.
• Ability to establish and maintain relationships with a diverse range of people, including working with senior stakeholders to influence others and find consensus.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills and confidence articulating and delivering complex and sometimes difficult messages.
• Work effectively in a team, being flexible and adaptable to support the wider team and division, and complete all work to a high standard.
• Ability to process and analyse large amounts of information, draw conclusions and weigh up conflicting evidence to make clear recommendations.

Behaviours

• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £41,537, Department for Education contributes £12,033 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. You will have 25 days leave, increasing by 1 day every year to a maximum of 30 days after five years’ service. In addition, all staff receive the King’s Birthday privilege holiday and 8 days’ bank and public holidays. We offer flexible working arrangements, such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.