Executive Assistant to The CEO

Salary £33,945 - £38,223 per annum l Permanent l Full time, 37 hours per week l Executive Support Team Pending Pay Award **International Sponsorship **- this role is **not **open to international sponsorship **Executive Assistant to the CEO** **Executive Support Team** **Preston, Lancashire **(with occasional homeworking) **£33,945 to £38,223 **(Grade 8) **We are currently recruiting ** An **Executive Assistant **to work for **Angie Ridgwell (CEO) **within the **Executive Support Team **at **Lancashire County Council **. This is a fabulous role and one that provides strategic support, challenge, insight and interest, in addition to being the primary point of contact and gateway to our CEO. The current post holder is moving to a new role within the organisation following 12 years of providing CEO support and we're now looking for her successor. We're looking for someone who loves Lancashire and lives our values of being collaborative, respectful, innovative and supportive with the aim of making Lancashire a great place to live, work, visit and prosper. We're the 4 th largest county council in the UK, supporting 1.53m residents and a team of 14,000 so you'll always have help and encouragement when you need it. Every day is different here; each bringing it's own challenges and opportunities to make a difference. **What we are looking for ** **Executive Strategic Support **- you'll already be experienced at supporting at a senior/director level as this role isn't for the faint-hearted or for those still developing their skills; we have a huge agenda and you'll be key in creating capacity for our CEO to deliver this - we'd love someone who is positive and proactive with both an independent and collaborative approach who can flex between the two when required - you'll enjoy a level of autonomy, so limited supervision and be able to work under your own initiative, but will be constantly interacting with others to get the job completed successfully - determined by nature, with a resilient character and appreciative that you may sometimes have to deal with frustrations that are out of your control so being able to remain dispassionate, supportive and understanding of the pressures that come with this level of role - you'll need to be *super* organised with everything and enjoy the challenge that each day brings so diligent and conscientious, with a bright optimism and cool, calm demeanour. **Enhanced Communication Skills - **articulate, precise and diplomatic; you'll be dealing with politically sensitive information on a daily basis and in a variety of formats, so you'll need to be knowledgeable about data protection principles, including confidentiality, and the secure handling of personal information in line with legal and regulatory standards - you will be someone who enjoys building relationships as you'll be communicating with MP's, Cabinet Members, ministers and a range of CEO's plus many of our teams and leads at various times so you'll have the ability to communicate detailed plans and information, in a variety of formats to a variety of audiences adapting your tone, style and content as required. **Flexibility & Adaptability - **flexible firmnessyour role is to support Angie so you'll need to be available when she is and you'll enjoy having the ability to influence stakeholders, peers and other leaders within the organisation providing advice and guidance on administrative decisions she has or is likely to make - you'll need the ability to understand and deal with complex and potentially rapidly changing or emerging issues in a composed manner and be forward thinking so able to fend off challenges before they arise with an innovative and creative plan - you'll be able to make rapid decisions, sometimes with mínimal information, and manage tight deadlines so Angie can prepare for and attend meetings or events, complete any required actions, have strategic thinking time plus focus on her own wellbeing as you'll focus on yours. **Why join us ** **Benefits**:There's fabulous flexibility and the opportunity to create the work life balance you'll love with up to 31 days annual leave plus bank holidays, 2 additional days at Christmas and then an additional 20 days that can be purchased too. We have a generous local authority pension with shared/matched voluntary contributions available and we've also recently introduced an enviable benefits package which has discounts across a range of goods, services, shopping and entertainment, with salary sacrifice schemes for cycles, white goods, electronics and cars. **Development**:you'll get support and development along the journey from regular 1-1's to personal and professional workshops and qualifications from mindfulness to MBA's. We'll also ensure you have a "buddy" to work alongside so that when you have time off, your responsibilities are picked up elsewhere. We love promoting internally so there are some great career opportunities too and we'll