View Vacancy - Manager of the Ambassador’s Private Office B3EE, Madrid (ESP18.187)

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 (Operations and Corporate Services)
Private Office

The British Embassy in Madrid is part of a world-wide network, representing British political, economic and consular interests overseas and is now recruiting for a Manager of the Ambassador’s Private Office.

The selected candidate will be responsible for facilitating the work of the British Ambassador to Spain through effective leadership of the Private Office and will act as a central point of contact, advice and coordination for the wider Spain network and external contacts for all matters involving the Ambassador.

Main responsibilities include:

  • Management of the Private Office team and resources, including line management of 2 Private Office Assistants, effective distribution of the workload throughout the team and management of the Ambassador’s travel budget.

  • Strategic forward planning of the Ambassador’s activity, focussing on ensuring effective use of his time and devising, delivering and coordinating action on his contact engagement and regional travel strategies. This work should be underpinned by an excellent understanding of the key UK/Spanish issues across a range of sectors.

  • Acting as a central point of contact for all matters involving the Ambassador and managing the information flow in and out of the Private Office. This includes, but is not limited to, the commissioning of briefing and speeches ahead of meetings/events, setting deadlines and quality controlling submissions; advising senior colleagues in more detail of Ambassadorial requests and providing feedback; and drafting corporate and external correspondence from the Ambassador.

  • Support the Ambassador in organising and/or coordinating priority flagship events or cross-team projects for the British Embassy network, such as the Queen’s Birthday Party or the British-Spanish Tertulias.

  • Develop and maintain contacts in UK government departments, Spanish government/business and other Embassies in Madrid to help facilitate swift engagement on the Ambassador’s priorities.

  • Secretary of the Honours Committee.

  • Fluent written and spoken English and Spanish.
  • Excellent interpersonal and communications skills, both verbal and written.
  • Ability to work proactively, autonomously, delegate and forward plan.
  • Excellent time management skills.
  • Ability to manage diverse activities and changing priorities while demonstrating strong organisational skills and attention to detail.
  • Ability to work collaboratively and a proven record of delivering results through others and through cross-team work.
  • Excellent stakeholder management skills.
  • Ability to use sound judgement to make effective decisions.
  • Expertise in executive coordination or office management at a senior management level is highly desirable.
  • Experience of line management and team leadership.
  • Experience of managing and monitoring budgets.
  • Knowledge of key issues currently affecting the UK and Spain and an understanding of how an Embassy supports the British Government’s priorities overseas.
29 April 2018
Executive Officer (EO)
Full-time, Permanent
37.5
Europe, Eastern Europe & Central Asia
Spain
Madrid
British Embassy
EUR
35,525.42
4 June 2018

This is a full-time permanent contract. The working hours are Monday- Friday 09:00-17:30 though some flexibility will be required.

The successful candidate will be subject to a confirmation of a background check and security clearance.

The successful candidate will be enrolled in the Spanish Social Security Scheme and will therefore not be entitled to any gratuity from the Embassy/Consulate based on gross annual salary.

The British Embassy is a Diplomatic Mission with tax exempt status and does not collect taxes for other States. Employees are fully responsible for payment of Spanish income tax at the legally required rate. Staff recruited locally by the British Embassy in Spain are subject to terms and conditions of service according to local Spanish employment law.

Please note that the deadline for applications is 23:55 on the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline”. We advise you to allow enough time to complete and submit your full application, since only applications completed and submitted before the deadline will be considered. Please be aware that the deadline for submitting applications is considered to be the time zone for the country where the vacancy has arisen.
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.