Business Support Officer (Apprenticeship)

Overview

Reporting directly to the HEO Director\’s Office Private Secretary / Risk & Business Continuity Lead, you will provide strategic and practical support to the EC&S Business Management Team.

Responsibilities

• With the oversight and support of your HEO line manager you will manage and deliver the Directorate\’s in-year award process.
• You will maintain and update internal contact structures.
• You will manage the team\’s shared inbox.
• You will support the SEO Head of Business Support in relation to their core functions as and when required.
• You will undertake administrative tasks e.g., maintaining SharePoint sites.
• You will manage and respond to enquiries from stakeholders and support others, including managers, on day-to-day issues across the range of business management activities, anticipating issues and taking appropriate action to resolve these yourself or make recommendations for improvements or remedial action to senior managers.
• You will assist the team in planning events e.g., sourcing and booking venues, arranging speakers and catering where required.

Director’s Office support

• You will play a supporting role within the Director’s Office, providing flexible, task-based assistance that enhances the team’s operational efficiency and resilience.
• You will contribute to a range of administrative, logistical, and coordination tasks—including travel bookings, information management, and internal communications.
• You may be asked to provide assistant private secretary support as and when required.
• You will provide support to the EC&S Senior Management Team as and when required e.g., reserving desks, booking rooms, making travel arrangements, printing documents.

Apprenticeship

DBT values and promotes learning and development for all its staff. As part of this offer, all our Executive Officer (EO) and Administrative Officer (AO) roles where possible are offered with an apprenticeship. Please review the Apprenticeship Eligibility Criteria before you apply.

For this specific role, there is the opportunity to undertake an apprenticeship in Business and Administration, specifically this is likely to be the Level 3 Business Administrator apprenticeship if you are based in England or a similar equivalent if you are based in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Apprenticeship eligibility criteria

• At the time of starting the role you will be aged 16 or over
• You are not in any other full-time education, another apprenticeship or another funded educational programme at the time of starting the role
• You need to have the right to work in the UK nation you will be based and spend at least 50% of your time working within that UK nation across the duration of the apprenticeship.
• You must not have a higher qualification in the same occupational area as the apprenticeship being offered (a higher qualification in a different profession/sector is permitted)
• You must be either
  • a citizen of a country within the European Economic Area (EEA) (including other countries determined within the EEA or those with bilateral agreements), or have the right of abode in the UK, and have been ordinarily resident in the EEA (including other countries determined within the EEA or those with bilateral agreements), for at least the previous three years on the first day of learning
  • OR a non-EEA citizen with permission from the UK government to live in the UK, (not for educational purposes) and have been ordinarily resident in the UK for at least the previous three years before the start of learning.
  • If you have any questions about the apprenticeship and what the requirements or eligibility are please contact capabilitydelivery@businessandtrade.gov.uk

You will find a link to Skills England here: Business administrator / Skills England which will provide you with more information about the course.