View Vacancy - Chief of Staff (Ambassador’s Office)

The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer.  We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow.
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Policy & Political roles)
Policy

Main Purpose of Job:

The Chief of Staff works directly with the Ambassador and Deputy Head of Mission, providing strategic advice on high-level engagement, policy and communications, and running logistics in the Ambassador’s Office. They are an important channel of communication between senior leadership and different sections in the embassy. They understand and help deliver cross-cutting embassy priorities. A core part of the job is running day to day logistics for the Ambassador to make sure that he and the Embassy are working as effectively as possible, from meeting coordination to personal transport. That means there is administrative work – but done well it’s about strategy and prioritisation.

The Chief of Staff engages with external and internal stakeholders at a high level, enabling them to attend internal meetings where the Ambassador or Deputy are unable to do so. The Chief of Staff also leads a team of 08 staff, who work on diary management, event planning and delivery, as well as the management and operation of the British Ambassador’s Residence in Lima.

Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve?:

  • Lead on the running of logistics of the Ambassador’s Office, from daily logistics to planning longer-term engagement with a range of different stakeholders across the embassy’s portfolio.
  • Assessing and refining processes for the wider embassy to work with the Ambassador’s Office and the Residence, to enable agility, maintain team resilience and deliver embassy-wide objectives.
  • Provide strategic challenge to the Ambassador on Embassy strategy, priorities, and management.
  • Provide strategic oversight and coordination of key events, such as leadership of planning and delivery for the King’s Birthday Party (creative design, budgets, stakeholder management, procurement, comms oversight, sponsorship strategy).
  • Speechwriting on a regular basis for high-level events and engagements.
  • Overview of policy and communications, including providing input to support the embassy’s Communications strategy.
  • Team and corporate: Lead a team of 8 staff: 1 junior assistant (intern), the Residence Manager and the Residence team of 6. The role includes setting direction, building and maintaining resilience, and ensuring high leaves of motivation. 
  • Experience of working in a fast paced environment with the ability to prioritise appropriately and manage competing demands
  • Good understanding of the Peruvian political landscape
  • Excellent interpersonal skills, including experience leading and motivating teams
  • Fluency in English and Spanish. Excellent writing skills
  • Creativity
  • Excellent organizational skills
  • Experience working in an English-speaking environment
  • Coaching experience and/or in human resources management
  • Project management experience
  • High levels of discretion, with a resilient, flexible and “can do” attitude
  • Event management and/or hospitality experience
  • Experience in social media management, public relations and/or marketing
  • A university degree, preferably related to political science, international relations or similar field
Seeing the Big Picture, Making Effective Decisions, Delivering at Pace, Communicating and Influencing
6 April 2023
Executive Officer (EO)
Full-time, Fixed term, with possibility of renewal
37
Latin America and Spanish speaking Caribbean
Peru
Lima
British Embassy Office
1
S/. 8,366.47
5 June 2023

Learning and Development Opportunities:

The British Embassy is strongly committed to learning and development (L&D), with a ring-fenced budget for these purposes and all staff are encouraged to set aside time for L&D.  The jobholder will receive training according to the role,  have full access to the UK Diplomatic Academy and online training resources and will be encouraged to take full advantage of both formal and informal learning events as and when available and relevant.

Working Patterns:

Standard working hours from Monday to Friday.  Applicants should be aware that the role might require occasional evening work. The Embassy has core hours during which staff are expected to work from the office, but some remote working can be accommodated in coordination with the line manager.

Candidates must be eligible to live and work in Peru in their own right. The successful candidate will be subject to a security clearance and professional reference checks. Employees who are not liable to pay local income tax on their Mission salary, eg some non-local national staff and some spouses or partners of UK diplomatic staff, will have their salaries abated by an equivalent amount.

The successful candidate is expected to commence employment as soon as possible, and must have a pre-existing work authorisation for Peru in order to apply. 

Appointment will be subject to a background check and security clearance. 

The British Embassy is an equal opportunities employer and does not discriminate on grounds of ethnic origin, race, religious beliefs, age, disability, gender or sexual orientation.

The British Embassy Network offers a strong benefits package. This package includes generous vacation and leave time, flexible working patterns, and enriching learning and development opportunities.

Please be aware that you will only be able to apply to vacancies for Country Based Staff roles with the British Government through this official tal.net site (operated by Oleeo). Jobs may be advertised on third party websites, however our adverts will always link back to the official tal.net site. If you complete and send an application through any other site, we will not receive it.

This opportunity is closed to applications.