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Private Secretary

Hybrid in London·Added today (last checked 12 Nov)

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)

14 open roles

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Our summary

Salary
£63,165 - £71,040 a year

About £3,930 - £4,310 a month after tax.

Work mode
Hybrid, London
Closing date
Apply by Wednesday 25 November
Holiday
25 days holiday
Pension
28.97% employer pension

Skills

Nice to have

Requirements

What we're looking for

  • Experience working directly with senior leaders and decision-makers in a fast-paced office function.
  • Impeccable organisational skills and the capability to lead a small team to manage a high volume of work at pace.
  • Experience of reviewing and writing briefings and correspondence to provide high-quality support to senior leaders.
  • Excellent interpersonal skills and experience of building strong working relationships with senior stakeholders.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to communicate with stakeholders at all levels.
  • Strong analytical skills with the ability to engage with, and challenge, advice and detail.
  • Engaging, trustworthy and unafraid to challenge peers and senior colleagues.

Nice to have

  • Line management experience or experience of developing and/or coaching individuals.
  • Experience of covering or working in a private office function.
  • Experience of reviewing and writing ministerial briefings and/or submissions.
  • Strong political awareness and knowledge of central government.
  • Experience of working in a GMPP programme and/or project delivery.

Pay & benefits

What you'll get

£58,275 - £71,040

National: £58,275 - £66,285 London: £63,165 - £71,040 (pro rata for part-time working)

A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Alongside your salary of £58,275, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes £16,882 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

  • A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
  • Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
  • A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
  • An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
  • Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.
  • A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a norm of 40-60% of their time in the office (minimum of 40%) over a month with flex dependent on balancing business and individual need.

Visa & relocation

DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign.

DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

  • UK nationals
  • nationals of the Republic of Ireland
  • nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
  • nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
  • nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
  • individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
  • Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

The role

At DSIT we're all about improving people's lives by maximising the potential of science & technology.

We accelerate innovation, investment and productivity through world-class science, research and development.

We use technology for good by ensuring new and existing technologies are safely developed and deployed across the UK, with the benefits more widely shared.

We are driving forward a modern digital government which gives citizens a more satisfying experience and their time back.

We do all this to enable the Government's 5 national missions: kickstarting economic growth, making Britain a clean energy superpower, taking back our streets, breaking down barriers to opportunity and building an NHS fit for the future.

Above all, we focus on improving people's lives. Whether it's researching new treatments for disease, developing better batteries, reducing burdens through better public services, keeping children safe online, and much more, outcomes for citizens are at the heart of what we do.

As the Private Secretary to the BDUK CEO you will work with the Chief of Staff and Assistant Private Secretary to provide oversight and leadership, as well as direction to ensure BDUK's CEO is supported to carry out their role effectively and efficiently, are focused on the right priorities day to day and can drive forward their objectives.

As Private Secretary you will be a critical bridge between the BDUK Senior Leadership Team, Ministers, Senior Civil Servants, the rest of BDUK, and its partners. You will organise the CEO to deliver their objectives through official channels, ensuring that issues and decisions come to the Chief of Staff and/or the CEO when appropriate. You will play a pivotal role in enabling the CEO to operate with maximum strategic impact.

You will play a key role in developing effective working relationships with other private offices across DSIT. In particular those of the Permanent Secretary, Ministers, and Director Generals. This provides an excellent opportunity to learn about the overall running of a Directorate at the heart of the government's digital agenda and to get to grips with the challenges that senior management face.

You will manage the BDUK CEO so they have the appropriate information and steers to lead the organisation effectively and contribute to the leadership of BDUK. In doing so, you will also ensure that the CEO is sighted on issues as they arise within BDUK, and the wider department, and help them manage these effectively along with the Assistant Private Secretary.

This post offers the opportunity to work closely with a wide range of teams across BDUK and DSIT, as well as scope to become involved in projects. You will commission information and advice from different parts of BDUK and prioritise requests, working with SLT's Executive Assistants and liaising with the Senior Management Team to ensure they follow up on actions on behalf of the CEO.

The role is challenging and exciting and we are looking for a highly organised individual with excellent interpersonal skills and a keen eye for detail. You should be an excellent communicator who is comfortable working at pace, and who has a strong understanding of the support required by very senior decision-makers. You will join a close-knit leadership support team which is led by the Chief of Staff.

How you'll work

Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time

London, Manchester

The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home-based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.

Reference number

489893

Job grade

Grade 7

Contract type

Permanent

Type of role

Administration / Corporate Support
Operational Delivery
Secretarial

Number of jobs available

1

Person specification

Strategic Thinking

  • Develop a strong awareness of how the team supports BDUK's organisational objectives; and act as a trouble-shooter in resolving day-to-day issues.
  • Assist the Chief of Staff in providing a high-level gateway to and from the BDUK CEO, ensuring the effective and efficient operation of the office.
  • Manage the CEO and Chief of Staff to ensure they are sighted on issues that arise within the organisation and wider department and help them manage these effectively
  • Analyse, summarise and advise on briefings and commissions on a wide range of topics. Carefully consider options, implications and risk of decisions providing advice to the CEO and Chief of Staff as appropriate.

Stakeholder Engagement

  • Lead the development of strong working relationships with private offices across DSIT, including the Permanent Secretary, Ministers and Director Generals
  • Commission information and advice from different parts of BDUK and prioritise requests, working with the Assistant Private Secretary to follow up on actions with the Senior Management Team.
  • Work with the Senior Leadership Team to ensure information is effectively conveyed to DSIT's senior leaders including Ministers.
  • Attend meetings with the BDUK CEO, record accurate minutes and ensure action points are tracked to a suitable resolution.
  • Lead on an established submissions process when communicating with Ministers, Director General's offices and their teams and draft briefings and papers as necessary managing input from across wider BDUK teams.
  • Support the CEO and SLT in their communications to the organisation, including drafting written updates and internal comms.

Development

  • Provide line management and support the career development of the Assistant Private Secretary
  • Provide flexible administrative support to the CEO including on occasion covering incoming emails; prioritising and delegating work appropriately, according to relative importance and urgency.
  • Provide flexible support to the Chief of Staff to assist with a wide range of BDUK wide activities.

As a line manager, you will be responsible for working with your members of staff to define their objectives, as well as managing their development and performance.

Behaviours

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

  • Delivering at Pace
  • Seeing the Big Picture
  • Communicating and Influencing
  • Leadership

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

  • Delivering at Pace

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Hiring process

Apply before 11:55 pm on Wednesday 25th November 2026

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV, personal statement and a behavioural statement.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Please use your personal statement (in no more than 750 words) to reference the Essential criteria in the Person specification, you may also submit information on the Desirable criteria. Desirable criteria will only be assessed in the case of a tie-break.

Please note - the CV incorporated into the application form is for information purposes only and will not be scored.

Applications will be sifted on a behavioural statement and personal statement.

In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the lead behavioural statement (Delivering at Pace) only.

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

The interview will consist of behaviour and strength-based questions.

Interviewees will be asked to deliver a presentation; further details will be provided nearer the time.

Expected Timeline subject to change

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

About Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)

Industry
Government Administration

In their own words

About the company & team

DSIT - Digital Foundations - Building Digital UK

Our Inclusive Environment

We offer flexible working benefits, employee well-being support and a great pension. We are enormously proud to be a Disability Confident Leader employer. We support candidates with adjustments throughout our recruitment process. Information about disability confidence and just some examples of the adjustments that you can request can be found in the reasonable adjustment section below.

  • Name : Ashleigh Ranaldi
  • Email : Ashleigh.Ranaldi@dsit.gov.uk
  • Email : dsitresourcing.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Additional information

Please note

Former DSIT recruitment campaigns are continuing as usual, but candidates should be aware that following the Government's announcement on the changes to some civil service departments, roles will be subject to the machinery of government moves and will ultimately be in one of the new departments. We will provide more information if you are selected for a role. This work remains of high importance to the civil service, and we thank you for your continued interest.

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.

We are proud to be a disability confident leader and we welcome applications from disabled candidates and candidates with long-term conditions.

Information about the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) and some examples of adjustments that we offer to disabled candidates and candidates with long-term health conditions during our recruitment process can be found in our DSIT Candidate Guidance. A DSIT Plain Text Version of the guidance is also available.

We encourage candidates to discuss their adjustment needs by emailing the job contact which can be found under the contact point for applicants section.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

A location based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.

Candidates who meet the minimum benchmark may be placed on a Reserve List for consideration for similar roles, including those at a lower grade. Candidates who narrowly miss the benchmark and are not placed on the Reserve List may still be considered for an offer in a similar role at a lower grade.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

Any move to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.

DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant's details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles. If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the recruitment principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance DSITrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: Click here to visit Civil Service Commission/Complaints.

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