About the job

Job summary

We are looking for an Executive Officer in the Private Office of the Convenor of the Crossbench Peers to join our Clerk of the Parliament’s Office at the House of Lords. This is an exciting and varied role, where you will be responsible for providing executive support to the Convenor and their private office. This could be through providing diary management, responding to enquiries, preparing papers and briefing documents.

This a great opportunity for someone who enjoys working in a fast-paced environment and has a good understanding of the work of the House of Lords and wider political processes. You will have excellent organisational skills and be able to build strong working relationships in order to provide effective support and resolve issues efficiently.

This is an opportunity to work on-site at Parliament 4-5 days per week, with more flexibility to work from home when the House of Lords are not sitting.

Job description

You’ll be accountable for –

• Managing a central diary for the Convenor
• Providing executive support to the Convenor and their private office, including preparing daily papers and a daily briefing document
• Responding appropriately to a wide and varied range of enquiries from external stakeholders and key internal contacts, including other Crossbench members, some of which will require research, judgement and discretion
• Acting as the first point of contact for the office including responsibility for meeting all visitors and handling enquires from the media
• Providing or sourcing information and circulate notices to members of the Crossbench group and their staff

If this sounds like something you would like to hear more about, please see the full list of duties and responsibilities on the attached job description.

Person specification

What we’re looking for

• Parliamentary Knowledge with an understanding of the role and work of the House of Lords and a good sense of political and parliamentary processes.
• Professionalism, Tact, Discretion and Impartiality including strong interpersonal skills, ability to represent the Convenor’s office appropriately to a wide range of people, and to handle difficult and sensitive situations with tact discretion and impartiality.
• Teamwork and collaboration with experience of working effectively with others as part of a team, demonstrating excellent communication skills and actively assuming extra responsibilities when required to do so in a private office environment, demonstrating reliability and flexibility.
• Organisational Skills and delivering at pace whilst maintaining accuracy including strong organisational and time-management skills, and the ability to manage and prioritise several urgent tasks at once, maintaining attention to detail and accuracy.
• Problem Solving with the ability to respond swiftly and constructively to unforeseen events, showing problem-solving and analytical skills, and experience of using online and other resources to retrieve information and resolve questions or uncertainties.

 

It would be even better if you had…

• Experience of diary management and working in a private office

 

The job description provides full details about the role and what we are looking for.

Benefits

What you’ll get in return

• 30 days annual leave (increasing to 35 after one years’ service)
• Generous pension scheme
• Parliamentary health and wellbeing programme

The work we do is vital to House of Lords, and you will be a pivotal member in the team strengthening the work of the House. The House of Lords is the second chamber of the UK parliament. It is independent from and complements the work of the House of Commons to:

• Make laws
• Check and challenge the actions of the government through questions and debates
• Investigate public policy and provide a forum of independent expertise

 

Things you need to know

Selection process details

Please complete your online application by 23.55 on Sunday the 28th of July.  

If you require any reasonable adjustments during the application process, please contact hlrecruitment@parliament.uk

Job offers are standardly offered at the minimum of the salary range.

 

The House of Lords Administration is committed to increasing diversity and maintaining an inclusive workplace culture. We welcome applications from all candidates regardless of their age, caring responsibilities, disability, gender/sex, gender reassignment/trans status, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation and socio-economic status. The Administration will also consider flexible working arrangements and reasonable adjustments.

We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds. For this role we particularly welcome applications from groups which are currently underrepresented within the team, including applications from Black, Asian and ethnic minority candidates and candidates with disabilities.

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 counter-terrorist 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

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission. 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.