PA to Chair, Chief Executive and Head of Governance

The role involves seeking an efficient, adaptable and resourceful Personal Assistant who is comfortable working with senior leaders in a busy and fast-paced environment. Previous PA experience at senior or executive level is essential.

Key tasks include:

• Monitoring mailboxes and managing diary requests
• Arranging and supporting meetings
• Booking travel and accommodation
• Maintaining action logs and other administrative tasks to support the smooth working of the leadership team

Strong interpersonal skills, effective communication and attention to detail are essential, along with the ability to prioritise your own work, plan ahead and take the initiative to resolve issues. You will be helpful, proactive and positive in your outlook and willing to go the extra mile to deliver exceptional service.

Working closely with the Chair, Chief Executive and Head of Governance, you will provide a strong sense of organisation and control, ensuring the best use of their time and readiness for each working week. The role sits within the Chair and Chief Executive's Office, a small and friendly team of experienced PAs. As the role involves working remotely for part of the week, you will need to be self-motivated and able to work effectively with limited supervision, while maintaining regular contact with your team leader and colleagues for support and guidance. This is an individual contributor role with no line management responsibilities. As an organisation, we support flexible working. You will be contracted to the Cardiff NRW office and a suitable hybrid working pattern will be agreed on appointment. There will be an expectation of regular office working to promote good working relationships and close support for the Chair and Chief Executive.

To make an informal enquiry about this role, please contact Tamana Tomlinson at. Interviews will take place through Microsoft Teams. Successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS) check. Appointments are normally made within 4 to 8 weeks of the closing date.

About us: Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is the principal environmental regulator for Wales, working to protect and improve our natural environment for current and future generations. From tackling climate change to improving water quality and maintaining habitats for vulnerable native species, we play a vital role in the sustainable management of Wales's natural resources.

What you will do:

• Fulfil the role of Personal Assistant to the Chair and Chief Executive, supporting and co-ordinating their workflow to enable optimum use of time, managing mailboxes and diaries, and arranging travel and booking accommodation.
• Provide secretariat support at various meetings (including working cross-directorate as necessary).
• Develop good working relationships internally and externally with all key stakeholders including the offices of AMs, MPs and senior executives from partner organisations at a local and national level as needed in order to co-ordinate complex responses within your area of work.
• Deal with enquiries and act as first point of contact for more complex enquiries (internal and external), ensuring courtesy and confidentiality and adherence with GDPR.
• Be the business administrator for your management team, including co-ordinating the management of risk, action, decision and issue logs, recruitment decisions and communications.
• Manage and lead the co-ordination of specific corporate or directorate work.
• Research and preparation of documents and presentations and other material to support the work of your directorate.
• Provide interpretation and analysis of a range of information, including ensuring political implications are considered where appropriate to assist in decision making.
• Support effective governance of the business of your management team.
• Strive for continuous improvement to processes and procedures to increase efficiency and effectiveness.
• As part of the network of staff in the Executive and Leadership Support Teams across NRW, ensure effective co-ordination and good communication between the different areas of the business.
• Undertake health and safety duties and responsibilities appropriate to the post.
• Be committed to Natural Resources Wales Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policy, together with an understanding of how it operates within the responsibilities of the post.
• Be committed to your own development through the effective use of your personal development plan (known as Sgwrs).
• Required to take part in incident response activities.
• Any other reasonable duties requested commensurate with the grade of this role.

Your qualifications, experience, knowledge and skills:

In your application and interview, you will be asked to demonstrate the following skills and experience using the STAR method:

• 4 GCSEs Grade A*-C (including Maths and English/Welsh) or NVQ Level 2 in Administration or equivalent.
• Experience in all Microsoft Office applications i.e. Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Broad knowledge of NRW and its functions and how the organisation operates.
• Relevant experience of working in PA or EA role supporting senior level managers, including experience of dealing with highly sensitive matters.
• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to plan, organise and prioritise work effectively.
• Excellent interpersonal and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate professionally at all levels, to build strong stakeholder relationships with senior executives, politicians and others.
• Excellent accurate written skills i.e. drafting emails, letters and reports.
• Knowledge of current local and national issues affecting NRW, and an understanding of how these issues impact the work of the Chair and Chief Executive.

Welsh Language level requirements:

Essential: Level A1 - Entry level. Welsh language skills would be welcomed in this role, particularly good spoken Welsh. At minimum, you should be able to understand and use basic Welsh words and phrases, such as greetings and courtesies. You will play an important part in helping us to deliver a bilingual service to colleagues, customers and stakeholders. If you do not meet the A1 requirement, NRW offers a variety of learning options and staff support to help you meet these minimal requirements during the course of your employment with us.

Benefits:

This role will offer a range of benefits, including:

• Civil Service Pension Scheme offering employer contributions of 28.97% (successful internal staff will remain in their current pension scheme)
• 28 days annual leave, rising to 33 days
• Generous leave entitlements for all your life needs
• Commitment to professional development
• Health and wellbeing benefits and support
• Weekly wellbeing hour to use as you choose

We're passionate about creating a diverse workforce and positively encourage applications from under-represented communities. We embrace equality of opportunity irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. We are committed to equal opportunities, and we guarantee interviews for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. We want to attract and retain talented and highly skilled staff, so we make sure that our pay scales remain competitive. We advertise the full pay scale on our job descriptions. Appointed candidates start at the first point of the pay scale and annual increments are paid each year.

Unless otherwise stated in the 'Role' section of this advert, Natural Resources Wales is unable to offer visa sponsorship for this position. Although we hold a Skilled Worker visa sponsorship licence, it applies only to specific roles that meet both the eligibility criteria and salary requirements set out by the UK Government under the Skilled Worker visa route.

We want our staff to grow professionally and personally. From leadership development to access to further and higher education courses, our staff have opportunities to expand their knowledge on a variety of topics, stay current in their field and continue to learn as their career progresses.

We are a Bilingual organisation which complies with the Welsh Language Standards. Welsh language skills are considered an asset to NRW, and we encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills.