About the job

Job summary

The International Strategy and Trade Relations Directorate (ISTR) is a new Directorate within DBT, formed in April 2024 and is responsible for driving economic growth by capitalising on opportunities to open up and protect overseas markets for UK Business.

You’ll be joining ISTR during an exciting time of growth and change and will play a key role in supporting the ISTR Director and their Senior Leadership Team (SLT) in reaching their objectives whilst they settle into their new structures and establish new ways of working.

The Executive Assistant will be responsible for supporting two busy Deputy Directors (DDs) within the ISTR SLT with the day to day running of their teams, through picking up administrative tasks and helping them to prioritise and organise their time effectively. This is a great opportunity to work closely with senior leaders and their teams whilst building relationships, knowledge and your experience in a priority area.

The role sits within the ISTR Directors Office team, which provides similar support to the ISTR Director and other members of the ISTR SLT and manages and co-ordinates corporate support across the wider directorate.

The role would suit someone who is comfortable working at pace whilst maintaining quality. You will need to use your initiative and be able to work with autonomy. As you settle in, your level of responsibility and influence will grow through your work with senior staff across the Directorate. Given the varied nature of this role, an ability and openness to flex and adapt to changing priorities and opportunities is key.

Job description

The role is varied and wide ranging with scope to shape it to your own development areas, but at its core it is about supporting two busy DDs and their wider teams.

Key tasks include:

• Manage the Deputy Directors' Diaries; prioritising requests and demands on their time. Proactively reviewing and resolving clashes as they occur.
• Organising meeting logistics, making sure the Deputy Directors are in the right place with right information at the right time; proactively liaising with people across DBT to make this happen.
• Provide Admin support to the DD and teams, for example (but not limited to), arranging travel, coordinating leave charts, maintaining distribution lists, submitting expenses and responding to transparency requests as required.
• Ensuring an effective management of the Deputy Directors inboxes, ensuring that important emails and clearance requests are flagged for clearance in a timely manner.
• Providing secretariat support to meetings as required, including minute taking and supporting with completion of actions.
• Ad-hoc responsibilities as requested by the Deputy Director, Head of Office or teams across ISTR.

Person specification

Skills and Experience

Essential Criteria

• Excellent organisational skills with proven ability to identify priorities and support senior leaders to oversee their portfolios of work.
• Effective communication skills (written and oral) intelligently tailored to engage the audience.
• Proven ability to prioritise concurrent projects to deliver efficiently to time and quality.
• Ability to work at pace in a constantly changing environment.
• Proficient in using outlook and Microsoft Office.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of diary management, office management, administrative skills.

Personal Attributes & Skills

The successful candidate will be highly organised with the ability to manage competing priorities and deliver them at pace and to a high standard. An important part of your role will be working with private offices, senior civil servants and other key stakeholders and therefore you should be confident in dealing with senior people and you will possess good written and verbal communication skills. We are committed to supporting your personal and career development, through formal and informal learning opportunities. The previous incumbent had the opportunity to work closely with a policy team and in a number of projects over their time in the role.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £27,329, Department for Business and Trade contributes £7,378 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

Interviews for this vacancy will be conducted virtually. We will, however, consider in-person interviews by exception.

Please ensure that you check your emails regularly as all updates from us will be sent to you this way.

To apply for this post, you will be asked to complete the following as part of the online application:  

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Provide employment history that relates to the essential criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 2 x A4 pages.
• A Personal Statement of up to 500 words,  explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential criteria.

It is likely that the sift will take place 1-2 weeks after the closing date and interviews 3-5 weeks after the closing date though this is subject to change.

In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial short sift will be conducted on the Personal Statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview. 

Reasonable Adjustments

We are committed to supporting candidates so they can perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. This includes making reasonable adjustments to our process. In order to request an adjustment:

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section on the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process.

Alternatively contact the Government Recruitment Service at DBTrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. 

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Candidate Support

You may want to join a virtual Candidate Support Session. These sessions include helpful tips and advice on the recruitment process, from application to interview. 

Please see attached Candidate Pack for further information on: Diversity and Inclusion; Benefits; Learning and Development; Working Patterns and what we deliver as a department.

Further Information:

• A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made. Reserve Lists will be for each location and appointments made in merit order based on location preferences.
• Any move to the Department for Business and Trade from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments.
• The Department will not consider sponsoring a visa or issuing a Certificate of Sponsorship. We are unable to offer advice on any Visa and Immigration cases. 
• New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band. 
• Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty. Any applicant who has details held on the IFD will be refused employment.
• A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government. 
• Terms and Conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you. 
• Please note – the successful candidate will be expected to remain in post for a minimum of 18 months before being released for another role.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service /Disclosure Scotland/Access NI on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk

For further information on the Access NI confidential checking service telephone: the Access NI Helpline on 0300 200 7888 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email accessni@ani.x.gsi.gov.uk

Vetting

The requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected.  

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.