G7 Private Secretary, Permanent Secretary’s Office

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 278537**Salary**:

- £55,149 - £65,950**Job grade**:

- Grade 7**Contract type**:

- Permanent**Business area**:

- DWP - Private Office**Type of role**:

- Administration / Corporate Support
- Policy**Working pattern**:

- Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time**Number of jobs available**:

- 1Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- DWP, Caxton House, 1-12 Tothill St, London, SW1H 9NAAbout the job

**Job summary**:
Are you a proactive and organised individual?

Do you like fixing problems?

Would you like to work and build great relationships with a range of senior stakeholders?

If so, we are looking for a Private Secretary and would love to hear from you

**Location Information**:
Due to the nature of the role, it can only be performed from Caxton House, 1-11 Tothill St, London, SW1H 9NA.

The Department is committed to promoting flexible ways of working, whilst enabling the business to operate at maximum efficiency and will expect colleagues to work from a blend of locations, including some time working at home, as required.

Certain job roles may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work at home will be determined primarily by business need but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be taken into account. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working, including whether a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for you, will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.

**Job description**:
In this role you will:
Advise the Permanent Secretary on the development, implementation and handling of key decisions, specifically on cross-cutting policy areas, ensuring the provision of a high quality Private Office service

Take the lead to proactively drive forward the Permanent Secretary priorities, engaging the relevant policy, analyst, service delivery, legal and other teams

Establish strong working relationships across the Department to ensure that advice from policy colleagues - including briefings, deep dives, strategies, submissions and other materials - is received and prepared efficiently

Identify any issues and providing feedback on advice and on the Permanent Secretary’s views and decisions

Work collaboratively and corporately across Private Office to ensure joined-up working and the early identification and resolution of issues

Accompany and support the Permanent Secretary before, during and after meetings, speaking engagements, visits and their Parliamentary work, following up any actions

Manage your workload efficiently to gather advice and support Permanent Secretary in a timely manner

Take a leading role in the Permanent Secretary Office team, working with the Head of Office and the other Deputy Private Secretary to create a supportive environment for the team

Reflect the DWP values in ways of working with colleagues and stakeholders

Take Line Management responsibility of Assistant Private Secretaries who support on policy and delivery

**Person specification**:
We are looking for someone with the following key skills:

- Be a strategic thinker with the ability to see the bigger picture
- Have proven leadership experience, excellent communication and interpersonal skills and have the ability to influence at the most senior levels
- Have experience of working in a fast moving environments
- Able to anticipate and be responsive to political context and other external factors
- Enthusiastically engage with stakeholders and maintain positive relationships whilst developing networks to ensure collaborative working
- Be confident delivering at pace with a heavy workload, with the ability to manage and filter workflow as well as organise and prioritise your team’s portfolios to meet deadlines

You will be expected to travel on occasion with some overnight stays required.

**Behaviours**:
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

- Making Effective Decisions
- Managing a Quality Service
- Communicating and Influencing

**Benefits**:

- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

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.**Stage 1 - CV and Personal Statement**

**CV**

**Personal Statement**

You should produce a Personal Statement which sets out evidence of you meet the **Experience Key Criteria** listed below.

Your statement must not exceed 750 words and you are advi