About The Role: This is a busy and exciting role at the very heart of the NIO, working in support of our two Belfast-based Directors as part of the Executive Support Team (EST). The EST works to the Permanent Secretarys Chief of Staff and is part of the wider Private Office group in the Department, which provides high quality strategic and administrative support to Ministers and senior officials. Working in the role will give excellent insight into the workings of the most senior parts of the Department and the Governments priorities for Northern Ireland. Duties And Responsibilities: The main responsibilities of the role include but are not limited to: Your responsibilities will be as such: Providing direct support to two Directors:. Booking travel for both including taxis, flights, and accommodation. Diary management for both including setting up meetings, booking rooms, escorting visitors, managing invites, liaising with Diary Secretaries in Ministerial and the wider Private Office. Regular diary check-ins with both Directors. Ad hoc support to other Directors during periods of sickness or leave in EST with the full support of the Permanent Secretarys Office. Monitoring & triage of the EST inbox. Contributing to transparency returns for your Directors. Essential Criteria: The post holder will need to demonstrate the following in their application and at interview: Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to understand different perspectives; Excellent organisational and prioritisation skills, with the ability to work effectively across a range of tasks; The ability to think creatively, recognising where improvements can be made and implementing them; Experience of working effectively with senior officials. Desirable Criteria: Experience of working in a private office or executive support capacity; Existing clearance at CTC or above We will assess you against the following Success Profiles behaviours at the EO level during the application sift and interview process: Communicating and Influencing Managing a Quality Service Changing and Improving Delivering at Pace Experience: Please provide a statement of suitability no longer than 500 words outlining how you meet the essential and desirable criteria. Both will be used in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role. Your statement of suitability needs to set out evidence of how your experience meets the requirements set out above. Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. One narrative example may cover the requirements needed. You dont have to explain the whole process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used. Share with us what makes you suited to this role and why. What you can do, the skills you have that are transferable and the life experience or passion you have that are linked to this role. If you dont have work-based examples then give examples from school/college, clubs, volunteering or other activities you have been involved in. More information on behaviours and success profiles can be found here. Please note that in the event of a large number of applications being received we may run the initial sift on the lead Behaviour Communicating and Influencing. Interview: You will be assessed against the same behaviours at the interview stage and will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated the behaviours. It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain: WHO - What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve? or STAR - What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take? What were the Results of your actions? Offer Once all interviews have been completed, you will be notified of the outcome by email. Offers will be made in strict merit order to the highest scoring candidate first. The successful candidate will be notified of a start date following successful security checks. Additional information received after the closing date will not be considered. Failure to provide sufficient information in support of an application prior to the closing date will not be considered as grounds for an appeal if an applicant is not shortlisted for interview. Security Clearance: This role requires National Security Vetting given the access to sensitive information afforded by the job role. You can find more information by reviewing the information held in the following links: United Kingdom Security Vetting: Applicant - GOV.UK ( The vetting charter - GOV.UK ( In addition, there is a minimum UK residency requirement set by the Cabinet Office which is dependent on the security level required for the role. This role requires CTC to commence the role and to be eligible to apply for this role you should have been present in the UK continuously for the past 5 years. Please note the clearance level for the role may be reviewed and the successful candidate may be asked to undergo SC clearance at a later stage. Neither Detached Duty terms nor relocation costs will apply to this post. Artificial Intelligence 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 candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use. Further Information: Further information about the post may be obtained from Nikki Bodel via email to All applications for employment are considered strictly on the basis of merit. This job description should not be taken as constituting conditions of employment. Please note that due to the high interest in NIO opportunities, feedback cannot be given if you are unsuccessful at the sift stage. Feedback is available on request if unsuccessful following the interview. Complaints: The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commissions Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles. Please contact SSCL () in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: Reserve Lists: In the event that the advertised post following interview, identifies more appointable applicants than available posts, we may hold applicant details on a merit/reserve list for a period of 12 months from which further future appointments can be made. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact to be removed from the reserve list.