Executive Support Officer

Community Energy Scotland is recruiting for an Executive Support Officer. We are seeking a highly organised, proactive, and trustworthy Executive Support Officer to provide high-level administrative and strategic support to CES’ CEO and Directors, and wider Management Team on occasion. The role requires exceptional organisation, discretion, and the ability to manage priorities in a fast‑paced environment. The successful candidate will manage day‑to‑day tasks, coordinate schedules, and ensure smooth operation of professional activities.

Overall Purpose

The successful candidate will work directly with the CEO and Directors, managing day‑to‑day tasks, coordinating schedules, taking on the executive’s administrative tasks and providing secretariat to the Management Team. The main aim of the post is to reduce the administrative burden on the CEO and Directors, and there will be some trialling of tasks in the first few months to determine which are most effective in achieving the aim, and therefore some tasks may be prioritised while others may be dropped.

Daily Tasks

Your role will be to deliver the following tasks:

• Act as a trusted gatekeeper for the CEO and Technical Director, managing communications and prioritising requests
• Provide comprehensive executive support to the CEO, including diary, inbox, day to day admin and meeting management, prioritising effectively
• Handle any correspondence on behalf of the CEO or directors, including confidential and sensitive information, with the utmost discretion, professionalism and integrity
• Anticipate executive needs and proactively resolve issues to maximise effectiveness and increase efficiency
• Undertake desktop research to identify local priorities and needs related to energy

Regular Tasks

• Coordinate and prepare for Management Team and other internal meetings, preparing agendas & briefings and taking minutes
• Track actions, deadlines, and deliverables for the Management Team and provide reminders to ensure follow through
• Attend meetings at request with the CEO and Technical Director, taking notes and actions for them
• Organise Board meetings, confirming the agenda with the Executive Team and Chair, ensuring quorum, creating the Board Meeting Pack using papers and updates from staff, and taking minutes.
• Taking minutes for the CES Trading Board Meetings.
• Provide support to governance processes, such as updating internal CES budgets
• Act as a key point of contact for the CEO, liaising with senior stakeholders and external partners
• Draft and format correspondence, reports, presentations and briefing documents for the CEO and Technical Director
• Support with proof‑reading key documents
• Provide administrative support to HR, including processing staff forms, monitoring EDI and drafting/updating documents
• Make travel arrangements, including flights, accommodation, and itineraries for CEO and Management Team
• Lead and co‑ordinate two CES in‑person Team Meetings a year
• Work as part of a team on the delivery of CES’ Quality Assurance Self‑Assessment

Occasional Tasks (when necessary and as required)

• Provide support in organising CES’ Annual General Meeting
• Ensure GDPR compliance within CES HR processes and filing system
• Provide administrative support for staff recruitment
• Support the Head of Finance with finance admin
• Support with research tasks, review documents, identifying, mapping and summarising information
• Support HR with updating and creating internal CES policies
• General administration for project when required

Administration

• To keep all personal work records up to date such as annual leave requests, My Hours and Monday.com

Other Tasks

• To play a full role in the evolution and operation of the team at Community Energy Scotland, and support the success of Community Energy Scotland as a whole
• Ongoing requirement to ensure work activity is well communicated to the wider Community Energy Scotland team
• Providing photographs and updates to the Communications Officer for use on social media and the website.
• Maintain a safe working environment ensuring your own personal safety and the safety of others.
• Act as an ambassador for Community Energy Scotland, promoting Community Energy Scotland in a positive manner.
• Ensure relevant consistent branding across all CES and funder communications

Person Spesification

The post holder will be expected to work on their own initiative, be self‑motivated and well organised:

Essential Knowledge, Skills & Attributes

• A high level of self‑motivation and strong commitment to Community Energy Scotland, its ethos and purpose
• A commitment to diversity and inclusion and achieving a Just Transition in Scotland.
• Excellent organisational and time‑management skills, with the ability to prioritise competing demands
• Strong written communication skills, including drafting reports, briefings, and correspondence
• High‑quality IT and administration skills, including Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, and Teams, and data management
• Ability to analyse information, identify key issues, and present them clearly
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy
• Effective interpersonal skills, able to build positive working relationships at all levels
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with an ability to adapt communication styles to different audiences including individuals, community groups, government agencies and private developers
• Effective partnership‑building skills and practical and experience of partnership working
• Proactive and able to work on own initiative
• Calm and resilient under pressure
• Flexible and adaptable in a fast‑moving environment
• Demonstrates sound judgement, creative thinking and problem‑solving ability
• An ability to adapt quickly to new requirements and opportunities
• Ability to build, maintain and work effectively in high‑performing teams
• Ability to prioritise work and meet deadlines

Essential Experience

• A minimum of three years of experience of working or volunteering in a related role, e.g. as a Personal Assistant, in the Third Sector and community development or in renewable energy.
• A degree in community development, renewable energy or other relevant qualification or equivalent commensurate experience.
• Experience of diary management, meeting coordination, and document preparation
• Experience of handling sensitive and confidential information appropriatelyExperience of monitoring & evaluation and reporting
• Good understanding of the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation and be able to apply these within the organisation
• Ability to use Microsoft Excel and databases for creating spreadsheets, formatting cells and organizing data
• Ability to use Microsoft Word for creating and formatting documents and reports
• Good IT skills

Desirable Knowledge, Skills & Attributes

In addition to the above, it may be desirable for candidates to possess some or all of the following:

• Good understanding of inclusion and dignity in a charity setting both internal to Community Energy Scotland, and with our prospective clients/partners
• A full driving license
• Experience of seeking funding and applying for it.
• Ability to use Canva for creating and formatting documents and reports

Community Energy Scotland Staff Benefits

• Employer’s monthly contribution to pension at a rate of 3% of monthly salary. If employment with Community Energy Scotland extends to over one year’s service, the contribution provided by Community Energy Scotland will at that stage rises to 6% of monthly salary.
• 36 days of leave per annum, comprising of 25 days flexible annual leave, plus 11 days of fixed and flexible bank holidays. Increasing to 27 days flexible leave after 2 years of service and 30 days after 5 years of service.
• Access to office space or £1120 per annum (pro rata) home working allowance
• Car journeys for work are reimbursed at £0.55 per mile.
• Generous Maternity Pay – employees may take up to 26 weeks ordinary maternity leave and 26 weeks additional maternity leave making a total of 52 weeks. This is irrespective of length of service or hours worked. An employee who has completed at least one year’s continuous service 11 weeks before the Expected Week of Childbirth will be entitled to 26 weeks salary, i.e. full pay together with any increases or bonuses due, during this period. The employee will also be entitled to a further 13 weeks Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) at the standard rate in place at the time.
• Paternity/Adoption Leave, Miscarriage, Parental Bereavement and Compassionate Leave
• Flexible working culture which promotes a work life balance and includes option for compressed hours
• 5 days pro rata for a full time member of staff on a year’s contract can be spent on training or studying and each full‑time staff member of Community Energy Scotland who has been with Community Energy Scotland for six months, or has a year’s contract or more with Community Energy Scotland, in principle has a budget of up to £350 per annum (pro rata to the Financial year) to spend on training.
• Two team in‑person meetings and two online team events annually