We offer great flexible working opportunities, and have offices in Belfast, Cardiff and York.
Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not overseas.
Travel within the UK will be required on an occasional basis, possibly with overnight stays.
Job Summary
Are you ready for your next challenge?
The UK & International Affairs Directorate is looking for someone to join them as Personal Secretary to Director of UK & International Affairs - an exciting opportunity to enhance your skills and gain experience in a vibrant and exciting hub of activity across three nations (England, Wales and Northern Ireland).
The role is varied and interesting, challenging and stretching and sometimes demanding – but you will be working in a supportive team. The role often requires working to tight deadlines so you will need to be able to grasp issues quickly and prioritise workloads.
In addition to delivering highly professional diary and inbox management you will liaise with a wide variety of people both in writing and verbally within the FSA and externally. You will develop good working relationship with the executive and non-executive – giving you the chance to expand your network.
This a fantastic chance to take the next step in your career.
Job Description
As a Personal Secretary to Director of UK & International Affairs, you will provide comprehensive personal support to ensure our leaders are able to carry out their duties effectively.
This Role Also Involves:
* acting as the first point of contact for the Director, managing the interface with the rest of the Directorate and the smooth day-to-day running of the Director's office.
* Developing an understanding of the Director's priorities and key workstream challenges, providing steers to teams as needed.
* Prioritising work appropriately, according to relative importance and urgency.
As a Personal Secretary to Director of UK & International Affairs, you will provide comprehensive personal support to ensure our leaders are able to carry out their duties effectively.
This Role Also Involves:
* acting as the first point of contact for the Director, managing the interface with the rest of the Directorate and the smooth day-to-day running of the Director's office.
* Developing an understanding of the Director's priorities and key workstream challenges, providing steers to teams as needed.
* Prioritising work appropriately, according to relative importance and urgency.
Person specification
Please read the attached Candidate Pack to discover further details about the role, our organisation, who we are looking for and the criteria we will assess against during the selection process.
We look forward to receiving your application and wish you every success.
Memberships
Experience of working in a Personal Secretary or equivalent role, and experience of diary and inbox management
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
* Seeing the Big Picture
* Managing a Quality Service
* Communicating and Influencing
* Delivering at Pace
Alongside your salary of £33,481, Food Standards Agency contributes £9,699 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
Our candidate pack details the benefits that the FSA has to offer. Please also refer to the attached Terms and Conditions statement.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
Full details of the selection process are detailed in the attached candidate pack.
Application and shortlisting
You will be asked to provide personal details (not seen by the Panel) and to confirm your eligibility to apply for the role.
Experience:
You will be asked a question to confirm that you meet the Experience requirement of the role:
* Experience of working in a Personal Secretary or equivalent role, and experience of diary and inbox management.
If you cannot answer yes to this question – you will not be able to proceed further with your application.
You will then be asked to complete an application which will be used to assess you against the following essential criteria.
*Experience
Essential criteria*
* Lead criteria: Experience of working in a Personal Secretary or equivalent role, and experience of diary and inbox management.
* Proven experience of working autonomously - using initiative and sound judgement to prioritise and work effectively to tight deadlines.
* Experience of using excellent and well-developed interpersonal skills to build and maintain working relationships with colleagues across all levels of seniority
* Excellent communication skills (written and verbal) with the ability to quickly analyse and summarise complex ideas and present clearly to senior stakeholders – ensuring only relevant information is included.
Lead Criteria
An initial sift will take place on the Lead Criteria.
In the event that we receive a large number of applications, the minimum pass mark for the Lead Criteria may be raised at shortlisting stage. Candidates who apply under the DCS, GPTW or RIS schemes and meet the minimum requirements will be unaffected by the pass mark raise.
Interview
If Successful At Shortlisting Stage, You Will Be Invited To a Final Interview In Which We Will Assess You Against The Following Experience Requirements Of The Role And Civil Service Behaviours:
Behaviours
* Seeing the Big Picture
* Managing a Quality Service
* Communicating and Influencing
* Delivering at Pace
Full details of the positive indicators being assessed for each Behaviour can be found in the Candidate Pack.
*Experience*
* Experience of working in a Personal Secretary or equivalent role, and experience of diary and inbox management.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application or used during interview, including your CV and any statements or examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please
note that plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.
Expected Timeline
Advert closes: 07 September 2025
Sift: Expected to take place week commencing 08 September 2025
Final panel interview: Expected to take place week commencing 22 September 2025
Interviews will be held remotely via MS Teams. (If you do not have the Microsoft Teams application installed on your computer, you can join on the web without installing the application).
Please note that indicated dates may be subject to change
.
Childcare Vouchers
Any move to the Food Standards Agency 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.
Determine your eligibility at
Reserve List
A reserve list will be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointment may be made.
Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.
Visa Sponsorship
Please note that the FSA does
not
hold a licence to sponsor any visa applications and we are unable to provide any advice about visas.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
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)
Working for the Civil Service
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 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.
Diversity and Inclusion
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.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job Contact :
* Name : liz stretton
* Email :
Recruitment team
* Email :
Further information
If you wish to raise a complaint then please email in the first instance.