Executive Assistant and Deputy Head of Director’s Office

Executive Assistant and Deputy Head of Director’s Office
Director’s Office
Full-time
Permanent
£56,195 per annum (TBC)
Application deadline: 12pm (midday) on Friday 13 December 2024

The British Museum is the oldest national public museum in the world. Its mission is to house, curate, conserve, research and exhibit a collection that spans the history of humanity. With a collection of around 8 million objects, the British Museum is a museum of the world for the world. It brings together under one roof the cultures of the world, allowing people to explore the extraordinary diversity of human culture, to discover the many forms and expressions human beings have given to every aspect of life, and to realise how closely they are interconnected.

About the role:

The Director of the Museum, Dr Nicholas Cullinan, is its Chief Executive. He is responsible for the strategic direction and the overall running of the Museum, and he is its principal representative in public. The role of Executive Assistant to the Director is essential to ensuring that his time is managed efficiently; that he is appropriately briefed for all engagements and meetings; that the speeches and talking points that are drafted for him are appropriate to the occasion and reflect his voice; that the events he hosts within and outside the Museum meet his standards and support the Museum’s strategic objectives; and that he has the support he needs to engage and maintain relationships with a wide range of important stakeholders, including donors and supporters.

The Executive Assistant is part of the Director’s Office team. The Executive Assistant is the second most senior role in office, but they will spend more time with the Director than anyone else in the team. They must have the skills, the dedication and the confidence needed to able to build the trust of the Director, to understand how he works, and to proactively ensure that he has the support he needs.

Key areas of responsibility:

Communications

• Taking lead responsibility for all the Director briefings, working with colleagues across the Museum to ensure that they are well-researched, informative and digestible.
• Researching and drafting the Director’s speeches and talking points to ensure that they reflect his voice and that they are appropriate for the occasion, and working with the Director to hone them until he is comfortable with delivering them.   
• Dealing with complex correspondence, providing the Director with high quality draft responses which meet his requirements and have been properly researched.

Time Management 

• Developing and delivering a strategy for ensuring the Director is using his time effectively, including ensuring that his diary is being managed to a suitable standard.

Secretariat 

• Acting as Secretary to the Directorate Group (the Museum’s senior executive team), ensuring that the agenda and papers for weekly meetings are prepared on time and to a high standard.

Management 

• Line management of the Diary Manager to ensure effective and efficient diary and office management, providing advice and guidance as required.
• Managing performance effectively, ensuring career reviews are completed on time and that personal development needs of staff are met.
• Providing effective support and advice to the Head of the Director’s Office on all aspects of the team’s responsibilities.

Stakeholder engagement and event management

• Lead responsibility for the Director’s external relationship management (including donors and supporters), and responsible for maintaining the Director’s contact lists.
• Lead for Director events and engagement coordination (working with closely with the Museum’s development team).
• Lead for Director international engagement (including international stakeholders and museum peers) and for the planning of the Director’s international visits.

About you:

• Educated to degree level or with equivalent experience.
• Previous experience as an Executive Assistant, or Personal Assistant working at a senior level.
• The ability to work unsupervised under pressure, to take the initiative and lead, and to plan work schedules, prioritise, work to deadlines and to review and maintain effective administrative procedures.
• Experience of line management and in handling confidential information.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, ideally with experience of drafting or supporting the drafting of speeches or speaking notes.
• The ability to act with tact, diplomacy and sensitivity.
• A flexible approach to changing priorities and requirements.

Knowledge of and experience in the museum sector is welcome but our priority is experience as an EA or PA. It is not essential that this experience was in the museum sector.

For more information about this role, please see the job description.

About the British Museum:

Founded in 1753, the British Museum’s remarkable collection spans over two million years of human history and culture. The Museum is a leading visitor attraction, and its world-famous collection includes the Rosetta Stone, Egyptian mummies, the Sutton-Hoo finds, and the Lewis Chessmen. The Museum also holds an extensive collection of prints and drawings spanning 600 years, including works by the greatest graphic artists such as Dürer, Michelangelo and Rembrandt.

You can view a selection of our impressive collection of prints and drawings in our virtual gallery.

The Museum offers a competitive benefits package including:

• Generous annual leave allowance of 25 days (rising to 30 days after 10 years’ service) plus 2.5 privilege days and plus bank holidays
• Membership of the civil service defined benefit pension scheme (find out here  what benefits a civil service pension provides).
• Free entry to a wide range of museums and exhibitions
• Participation in private and public Museum activities, including talks by leading curators from around the world and behind-the-scenes opportunities to learn how museums care for and manage their extraordinary collections
• Interest-free travel, bicycle and rental deposit loans
• Professional and personal development opportunities
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Discounts on food and gift shop purchases

Additional details:

The interviews are expected to take place on 9 January 2025 in person. 

If you have any additional needs that we should be aware of in order to support you with your application, please provide details to  .

The British Museum is committed to promoting equality of opportunity for all staff and job applicants. We aim to create a working environment in which all individuals can make best use of their skills, free from unlawful discrimination or harassment. We value the benefits that a diverse workforce brings to a Museum which represents world culture. The Museum is committed to ensuring that no job applicant suffers unlawful discrimination because of any protected characteristics. Our recruitment procedures aim to ensure that individuals are treated because of their relevant knowledge, skills and experience.

We specifically encourage applications from candidates from ethnic minority groups who are underrepresented within our senior roles.

We offer a flexible way of working that allows our employees to work remotely in a way that suits them and the organisation. We welcome questions and conversations at interview stage about how flexible working could work for you. This is largely an office-based job and we would expect the post holder to work a minimum of 4 days in the office each week, or more as and when needed. There will be more flexibility when the Director is travelling on Museum business. 

The Museum adheres to the HMG Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) for pre-employment screening of Civil Servants.