Corporate Leadership Assistant

Job introduction

Do you relish the challenge of working at pace with senior leaders to deliver the Council Plan to build a better Brighton and Hove for all?

Do you want to make a difference to people’s lives and help communities to grow?

Do you have the resilience to work in a fast paced, often political environment, juggling priorities and managing up with confidence?

If so, we want to hear from you!

The Corporate Leadership Office is looking to expand our new, dynamic team.

We are excited to offer the opportunity for you to become one of the Corporate Leadership Assistants, working full or part time in our centrally located offices in Hove Town Hall.

For an informal discussion, please contact Sophia Harvey, Head of Corporate Leadership Office on 07826 951809.

Interview date: To be confirmed

About the role

As one of our Corporate Leadership Assistants, you will carry out varied work and no two days are ever the same. We work with senior leaders, delivering administrative and business support across a range of services.

Due to the nature of our politically focused workload which often involves multitasking, it can be challenging, but also very rewarding.

We work with Directors, Corporate Directors and Cabinet Members to deliver a range of services. Examples of activities that you would be involved in:

• Provide a time management/diary service
• Arranging and coordinating meetings with a diverse range of internal or external stakeholders
• Organising appropriate, cost-effective travel itineraries
• Maintain an effective ‘bring-forward’ system for the collation of papers
• Develop and promote customer focused thinking to improve the customer experience, working across teams and coordinating cross-service responses

All our posts involve a degree of one-to-one interaction with Directors, Corporate Directors and/or elected Member and so manage up. We are also looking for flexibility as we on occasion adjust our work schedule to fit meetings outside of office hours and at a range of location at short notice.

We are also looking for the following skills:

• Strong organisational and time management skills to work effectively under pressure, meet deadlines and prioritise own workload within a clear framework.
• Ability to use initiative and judgement to identify urgent matters or resolve more varied or complicated problems.
• Ability to communicate straightforward information clearly and deal with challenging people and situations calmly and confidently whilst providing a courteous and efficient service, exercising sensitivity, diplomacy and tact.
• Literacy, numeracy, research and analytical skills.
• Ability to review current systems and processes and suggest new ways of working to improve efficiencies.
• Ability to provide support to other members of staff e.g. induction and guidance to new starters.

Extensive ongoing training and support is a key part of the Corporate Leadership Assistant role. Within the new structure, there are also opportunities to deputise for the Corporate Leadership Senior Assistants. You'll build links with staff from across the organisation becoming the ears and eyes of the organisation keeping the Corporate Leadership Office relevant and responsive to the culture change.

We care about our staff, providing a continuous programme of management and peer led support. As, as a Council employee, you will have access to a wide range of welfare and wellbeing resources, including membership of self-managing staff forums and networks such as the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Workers Forum and the Disabled Workers and Carers Network. For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us

This is a new service area and now is a great time to join and help shape how we develop in the future.

Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.

As part of your application, you will need to complete your education and work history and provide answers to some shortlisting questions. Your answers to the shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our guidance here (Application form guidance) and Shortlisting questions guidance as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.

Additional information

Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.

We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.

For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us

Company information

Encouraging a diverse workforce

Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.

Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).