About the College/Department

The Executive Services team provide professional, executive level assistance and support to members of the University’s Executive Board (“UEB”), the senior leaders of the University. This is a busy yet exciting and diverse team to be a part of, working with colleagues within both the University and externally.

 

About the role

We are seeking a highly organised and proactive Executive Support Officer to join our Executive Services team, playing a pivotal role in supporting senior leadership and driving key institutional priorities.

 

In this dynamic and varied role, you will provide a comprehensive, high-level support service to members of the University Executive Board (UEB) and the wider Executive Team. Your responsibilities will include complex diary management, coordinating and servicing meetings and committees, organising events, arranging travel, and monitoring action plans to ensure timely delivery of key objectives.

 

Acting as a central point of contact, you will liaise across the University, building strong working relationships and helping to resolve inter-departmental matters efficiently. You will also use a range of digital tools to gather, analyse, and present information, producing high-quality briefing papers and presentations to support strategic decision-making.

 

The role also involves project coordination, financial administration, and occasional out-of-hours support to ensure the smooth delivery of executive priorities.

 

As part of the Executive Services team, you will contribute to the University’s research and knowledge exchange agenda. This includes supporting activities related to funding opportunities, knowledge transfer partnerships, researcher development, ethics processes, impact initiatives, postgraduate research, and external frameworks such as Research Excellence Framework (REF) and Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF).

 

About You

The ideal candidate will thrive in a fast-paced environment and are confident working with colleagues across the University. You’ll communicate clearly and professionally, with a strong focus on accuracy and customer service.

 

You will be highly organised, detail-oriented, and able to manage competing priorities while meeting deadlines. You’ll also be able to handle sensitive and confidential information with discretion and sound judgement.

 

You’ll need to bring proven experience supporting senior colleagues, ideally in a large, complex organisation, and can produce high-quality minutes and reports to tight timescales. You will be able work collaboratively, build effective relationships, and be confident influencing and negotiating with stakeholders.

 

You should be proactive and inquisitive, willing to question, investigate, and improve processes. Adaptable and resilient, you’ll respond positively to changing priorities and challenges.

 

You will be digitally confident, with strong Microsoft Office skills and an understanding of data protection; as well as have experience in event support and delivering service improvements based on feedback.

 

To be successful, you will hold an HND (or equivalent qualification/professional experience) and GCSE Maths and English (grade C/4 or above, or equivalent qualification).

 

Principal accountabilities

To provide a full confidential support service working in the Executive Services team and providing cover where required.

To act as a key contact point for the department and to provide support to Executive and senior leaders.

Liaise with other Colleges/Departments of the University as required.

To undertake key project work to support portfolio activities, developing project plans, servicing meetings, preparing briefing papers, following up on actions and drafting reports and presentations.

To co-ordinate departmental events, providing support for the publicity and invitations, set up and running on the day.

To maintain diaries and co-ordinate appointments as appropriate. To arrange and organise meetings, acting as Secretary to internal Committees and Groups e.g. Meetings with the Executive, Senior Management Team.

To fulfil the full range of support tasks including managing electronic mail and files, distributing documents, dealing with telephone queries and liaison with internal/external clients and organisations.

To demonstrate a high level of digital capability, employing a large range of IT skills e.g. spreadsheets, E-mail, SharePoint, web-based research, databases, PowerPoint etc to manage and progress work efficiently.

To develop and maintain mechanisms for the recording, updating and retrieval of statistical information as required

To provide assistance with the coordination and completion of health and safety work & audits on behalf of the Department.

To provide support for absence management across the department.

To provide co-ordination for activities across the department, ensure effective circulation of information to staff in the portfolio

 

Person specification

Essential Criteria

Qualifications

Hold a HND qualification or equivalent qualification/professional experience

GCSE Maths and English at grade C or above or equivalent qualification

Experience

Proven administrative experience of supporting at a senior level, preferably in a large and complex organisation

Experience of handling sensitive situations, recognising confidential issues and dealing with them appropriately and with discretion

Experience of producing professional standard minutes and reports in a timely manner

Experience of managing a diverse workload with the ability to meet deadlines, effectively manage own time and competing demands, prioritise and react swiftly when these change

Working collaboratively across boundaries to achieve common goals

Experience of understanding and applying data protection requirements

Experience of working in a service setting and responding to feedback by improving service provision

Experience of organising, supporting with the publicity and running of events

Skills, knowledge and abilities

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to continuously develop effective relationships with individuals and stakeholders both internally and externally

Ability to react positively to frequently changing priorities and deadlines, and deal with unforeseen circumstances

Excellent attention to detail, including proof reading skills and the ability of maintain a high level of accuracy

Digital and data literacy and excellent computing skills including Microsoft Office and use of administrative business systems

Minute taking skills

Does not take things at face value is confident to question and investigate beyond first impressions to make informed decisions on actions

Able to be flexible and adaptable, with the ability to work across teams building and developing effective relationships to ensure the best result for the team and Institution

Able to think outside the box and look for more efficient ways of doing things, instigating change in a considered manner

Consistently act as a positive role model to the team

Business requirements

Out of hours working may be required to support the SLT as and when needed for meetings and events

Requirement to visit other campus locations and third-party sites

Desirable Criteria

Qualifications

Educated to degree level standard or equivalent significant work-based experience

IT qualifications e.g., word processing, spreadsheets, web development etc.

Customer Service Qualifications

Experience

Experience of working in the Higher Education sector