Senior Executive Support

Salary: £47,493 plus London weighting £4,968 per annum

Contract: Permanent

Please kindly note that this is a senior Private Secretary level role, not an Executive Assistant position. We are seeking an individual with proven experience operating at a high strategic level, providing executive support. The postholder will act as a trusted adviser and key partner to the Director General, managing high-profile and sensitive issues, shaping engagements, navigating complex stakeholder landscapes, and ensuring the DG is fully briefed, prepared, and positioned to deliver organisational priorities.

This role requires someone who has already demonstrated sound political judgement, the ability to handle complex information with discretion, and the confidence to influence senior leaders. We are looking for candidates who can hit the ground running, bringing experience in a comparable senior support, Private Secretary, or high-level advisory environment rather than those whose background is solely in EA or PA work.

When people go to work, they shouldn’t have to leave their ambition at the door. If you’re ready to take on a high‑impact role in a fast‑paced, high‑performing environment, the Senior Support Executive position offers a strong platform to drive results and influence leadership at the highest level. This role offers the momentum of fresh challenges, new strategic relationships, and the opportunity to shape how the Director General engages with the organisation and external partners.

You will work closely with the Chief of Staff and provide direct line management to the Executive Assistant, ensuring focused, effective, and reliable executive support. As Senior Support Executive, you will operate at the centre of the IOPC, gaining clear insight into strategic priorities while providing confident, informed advice that enables the Director General to perform at their peak. Your work will be integral to the strength and efficiency of the DG’s office and to the successful delivery of the organisation’s transformation agenda.

Drawing on your background as a private secretary or similar, you will produce sharp, influential reports, briefs, and speeches that support clear decision‑making and represent the Director General’s voice with precision. You will build strong, purposeful relationships across senior teams, working closely with the Senior Leadership Team and Deputy Director General’s Office to ensure seamless coordination. Your leadership will set high expectations and drive performance, while your analytical mindset will support you to navigate complex priorities and deliver results in a dynamic environment.

With professionalism and sound judgement at the core of how you operate, you will manage sensitive information with discretion and lead cross‑directorate initiatives to successful completion.

Additional Information:

• There is an expectation that this is primarily an office based role, with an expectation to support the Director General wherever they travel on occasion.
• The postholder must be able to spend the majority (60 – 80%) of their contractual hours working in‑person due to nature of the job role.
• The postholder must be able to work flexibly to meet the demands of the job role. This means at times longer days including early starts and late finish.
• The postholder must be able and willing to travel to all IOPC locations as and when required. This usually required weekly travel.

Main Responsibilities:

• To act as the point of contact to the Director General and support in all related matters pertaining to the business.
• Assisting in the development and implementation of business strategies, providing insights, and facilitating strategic meetings.
• Ensuring the Director General is fully prepared for meetings, providing briefings, action updates and stakeholder information to ensure they can achieve the meeting objectives.
• Attending meetings with the Director General and ensuring meetings are actioned and delivered effectively and efficiently.
• With the guidance of the Chief of Staff preparing speeches, speaking notes and briefings using authentic application of voice and tone of the speaker.
• To draft reports, briefings and communication material on behalf of the Director General (for both internal and external stakeholders).

Please refer to the Job Description for full role responsibilities.

The Ideal Candidate:

• Knowledge of the work of the IOPC and the wider public sector environment.
• Previous experience of providing private secretary support to a senior leader.
• Experience of preparing high level professional reports and documents for both internal and external senior audiences.
• Experience of drafting speaking notes and speeches with authentic application of voice and tone of the speaker.
• Experience of working with diverse groups, networking and building professional productive relationships.
• Line management experience, focused on delivering high performance and quality.
• Proven track record of delivery, demonstrating an analytical approach to making judgements and decisions in a fast moving and fluctuating working environment.
• Experience of project managing cross directorate/ organisational initiatives.
• Evidence of having acted with discretion to deal appropriately with confidential matters.

Skills and Abilities:

• Demonstrable ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, with experience in building relationships with a diverse and challenging group of stakeholders.
• Proficiency in the use of ICT, including MS Office, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint and MS Teams.
• Task management - ability to manage a fluctuating workload and adapt to fast moving demands.
• Trouble shooter with ability to quickly understand an issue and apply a fix.
• Demonstrable ability to quickly grasp new/complex concepts and assimilate information quickly.
• Comfortable taking decisions within a clear framework of delegation.

Security Clearance:

The role requires clearance to SC level. You will need to have been a continuous resident within the UK for the past 5 years. This is an essential criterion for the role.

National security vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Political Restriction:

Please note that this is a politically restricted role and will be subject to limitations set out in the IOPC code of conduct. This post has been identified as politically restricted because:

• The post holder will act as “spokesperson” for the organisation, or have a significant degree of face‑to‑face contact with stakeholders, pressure groups, or other bodies or individuals who are seeking to influence the IOPC.
• It would appear to the public that the post holder had some influence over the outcome of the organisation’s decisions.

If a post is politically restricted, this means that you should discuss with your line manager before taking on any political activities. Permissions will not be unreasonably withheld but consideration will need to be given to the scope and remit of the role and how this may be perceived in the context of your IOPC position. You should discuss with your line manager if you are considering becoming politically active, for example:

• Campaigning for a political party.
• Holding a political office.
• Occupying party political posts.
• Holding a particularly sensitive or high‑profile unpaid roles in a political party.

Positive Action:

Positive action as detailed in the Equality Act 2010, allows us to use measures designed to help improve equality in the workplace, and create a level playing field for all, whilst still employing everyone based on merit. Our workforce profile data shows that people who identify as black, Asian and minority ethnic are under-represented at the IOPC. For this role – should we have a situation where multiple candidates have achieved the highest score and one identifies as black, Asian or minority ethnic, by using positive action, we can select that candidate for the role, therefore improving this area of under‑representation at the IOPC. We will only use positive action in this way where the highest scoring candidates have all scored equally, at the final assessment stage, and above our required threshold.