Details
Reference number
410506
Salary
£34,233
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
GBP
Job grade
Higher Executive Officer
Contract type
Permanent
Business area
MCA - Corporate Services
Type of role
Administration / Corporate Support
Working pattern
Flexible working, Full-time, Part-time
Number of jobs available
1
Contents
* Location
* About the job
* Benefits
* Things you need to know
* Apply and further information
Location
Southampton
About the job
Job summary
Are you an experienced Executive Assistant who takes pride in supporting senior stakeholders and various colleagues across a complex organisation?
Can you work effectively within fast paced environments with tight deadlines and changing priorities?
Do you have excellent organisational, communication and IT skills?
If so, we'd love to hear from you
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) implements the government's maritime safety policy in the United Kingdom and works to prevent the loss of life and occurrence of pollution on the coast and at sea.
Safer lives. Safer Ships. Cleaner Seas.
Our vision is to be a world-leading organisation, accelerating the transition to sustainable shipping with non-negotiable safety standards. We put our people, our customers and our planet at the heart of everything we do.
Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:
* Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
* 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King's birthday
* Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.
Read more in the benefits section below
Find out more about what it's like working at MCA.
Job description
As Executive Secretary to the Director of Corporate Services, you will play an essential role in supporting the Executive Director of Corporate Services enabling them to prioritise effectively and receive the right information at the right time to deliver on their strategic agenda. To achieve this, you will develop a deep understanding of the Corporate Services portfolio and the wider Agency strategic picture.
The role requires a highly motivated, organised and adaptable individual who has the drive and capability to deliver high quality work to strict deadlines and manage demanding and often complex priorities.
Your responsibilities will include, but aren't limited to:
* Act as the primary point of contact for the Executive Director to manage support requirements.
* Manage the Executive Director's inbox, prioritising meeting requests and taking appropriate actions. This includes prioritising incoming mail to ensure key deadlines are met.
* Manage the Executive Director's diary including ensuring any travel and logistics arrangements are made as necessary.
* Provide administrative support at meetings with the Executive Director and at Corporate Services Committees, including note taking and preparing action logs as necessary.
* Build effective relationships with key stakeholders across the MCA, DfT Group and externally.
For further information on the role, please read the role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.
Person specification
Required experience:
To be successful in this role you will need to have the following experience:
* Experience of working in a Private Office function or similar, supporting senior leaders, at a director level in a large or complex team.
* Experience of working in a fast-paced, highly pressured environment with tight deadlines and changing priorities.
* Excellent organisational and management skills, with the ability to prioritise and meet deadlines under pressure.
* Strong oral and written communications skills with experience of preparing high quality presentations, reports and other materials.
* Experience of handling sensitive information with tact and maintaining confidentiality.
Additional Information
Working hours, office attendance and travel requirements
Full time roles consist of 37 hours per week. Whilst we welcome applications from those looking to work with us on a part time basis, there is a business requirement for the successful candidate to be able to work at least 30 hours per week.
This role is suitable for hybrid working, which is a non-contractual arrangement where a combination of workplace and home-based working can be accommodated subject to business requirements.
The expectation at present is a minimum of 60% of your working time a month will be spent at either your principal workplace (one of the locations cited in the advert) or, when required for business reasons, visiting stakeholders and colleagues, or carrying out detached duty in another DfT or agency workplace. The chosen principal workplace will be the designated place of work and any remote or home working arrangement does not constitute a change to the designated place of work or contractual terms and conditions. There may be occasions where you are required to attend above the minimum expectation.
For more information on how this works for this role, please contact the Vacancy Holder (see below for contact details).
Visa Sponsorship
Please note that we will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a visa. Therefore, this role is not open to applications from those who require sponsorship – candidates must ensure they have the appropriate right to work in the UK before applying. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
* Seeing the Big Picture
* Making Effective Decisions
* Communicating and Influencing
* Working Together
* Delivering at Pace
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £34,233, Maritime and Coastguard Agency contributes £9,917 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits:
* Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
* 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave).
* 8 Bank Holidays plus an additional Privilege Day to mark the King's birthday.
* Access to the staff discount portal.
* Excellent career development opportunities and the potential to undertake professional qualifications relevant to your role paid for by the department, such as CIPD, Prince2, apprenticeships, etc.
* Joining a diverse and inclusive workforce with a range of staff communities to support all our colleagues.
* 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme providing free confidential help and advice for staff.
* Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.
Find out more about the benefits of working at DfT and its agencies
Things you need to know
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
How to apply:
Our selection process ensures a comprehensive assessment of each applicant's qualifications, skills, and potential fit within our organisation.
As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
The selection process for this role will be:
Stage 1: Sift of CV and personal statement
At sift, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:
Experience – you will be asked to provide a CV (unlimited wordcount) and personal statement (750-word count). Please provide evidence of your Experience of the following:
* Experience of working in a Private Office function or similar, supporting senior leaders, at a director level in a large or complex team.
* Experience of working in a fast-paced, highly pressured environment with tight deadlines and changing priorities.
* Excellent organisational and management skills, with the ability to prioritise and meet deadlines under pressure.
* Experience of handling sensitive information with tact and maintaining confidentiality.
The sift will take place week commencing 8th September 2025.
Stage 2: Interview
At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:
* Behaviours – Seeing the Big Picture; Making Effective Decisions; Working Together.
You will also be required to complete a written exercise which will assess the behaviours Communicating and Influencing and Delivering at Pace. Guidance will be provided if you are invited to interview.
The interviews will take place week commencing 22nd September 2025.
This interview will be conducted Face to Face at one of our Southampton office. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.
You can find out more about our hiring process, how to apply, and application and interview guidance on our careers site .
Please note that we will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change.
AI Tools and Platforms
Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Reasonable Adjustments
As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.
Complete the "Assistance required" section in the "Additional requirements" page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need during the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you're deaf, a Language Service Professional.
If you need a reasonable adjustment so that you can complete your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
Document Accessibility
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
This job advert contains links to the DfT Careers website. Our website provides useful guidance and information that can support you during the application process. If you cannot access the information on our website for any reason, please email for assistance.
Further Information
For more information about how we hire, and for useful tips on submitting your application for this role, visit the How We Hire page of our DfT Careers website. You can find detailed information about the recruitment process and what to expect when applying for a role.
Pre-employment Checking
Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant's details held on the IFD will be refused employment.
A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
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.
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)
* 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
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code 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 .
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 and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy .
Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.
The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).
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 : Chloe Bowes
* Email :
Recruitment team
* Email :
Further information
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact Government Recruitment Services via email:
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website Here