View Vacancy - PA to Defence Attaché A2, Madrid (ESP240)
The British Embassy in Spain is part of a world-wide network, representing British political, economic and consular interests overseas.
The Defence Section in Madrid is a small and highly motivated team committed to delivering high-quality service principally between the UK and Spanish Armed Forces and is now seeking to recruit a Personal Assistant to the UK Defence Attaché in Madrid, Spain.
The bulk of the workload is liaison and coordination in support of the Defence Attaché and the RAF Sergeant, enabling Defence Engagement (DE) at the strategic level on behalf of the British Chief of Defence Staff and HMA, supporting military operational interests in Spain.
Duties include: preparation & Consulate liaison for Royal Navy ship visits; support to DIPCLEAR process for MIL operations & over flights in Spain; visit liaison, planning; pre-briefing material provision; booking transport & accommodation; direct engagement with Spanish authorities and MoD; drafting and translating of letters and routine correspondence; research & fact-finding; daily diary management, liaison and coordination.
Employment will be subject to obtaining the appropriate higher security clearance, which can only be granted to certain nationalities. For this reason candidates must be of British, American, Canadian, Australian or New Zealand nationality in order to gain the level of clearance required.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
- Daily diary management, liaison with authorities, appointment setting, transport & accommodation booking, fact-finding, defence-related research & visit liaison;
- Liaise with and support key Defence Section stakeholders in Spain on routine matters – e.g. Defence industry, “think tanks”, HM Consulates, Royal Naval shipping agents, other Foreign Defence Sections including support to RAF Sgt with DIPCLEAR process for over flights, transport and Adventurous Training Requests;
- Translation of documentation from English to Spanish and vice-versa, despatching, filing and follow up to meet deadlines for delivery;
- Supporting the Defence Attaché in managing the relationship with Spain’s Ministry of Defence, Attaché network and Armed Forces Headquarters regarding routine and emergency bilateral defence business.
- Experience of working in a team and delivering to external customers;
- Ability to learn rapidly in a robust but friendly working environment;
- Ability to work unsupervised to deliver quality in a timely manner;
- Excellent English and Spanish written and verbal communication skills;
- Good telephone manner;
- Competency in MS Office applications: MS Word, Excel & PowerPoint;
- Fluency in English and Spanish, both written and spoken.
- Higher education;
- Excellent MS Office application knowledge: MS Word, Excel & PowerPoint.
This is a full-time permanent contract. The working hours are 37.5 hrs per week. Normal working hours are Monday to Friday 09:00 to 17:00 hours.
The successful candidate is subject to a confirmation of a background check, security clearance and the successful completion of a probationary period of 2 months.
The successful candidate will be enrolled in the Spanish Social Security Scheme and will therefore not be entitled to any gratuity from the Embassy based on gross annual salary.
Regarding taxation, the 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.
All applicants should have the right to live and work in Spain. The British Embassy does not sponsor work permits.
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 of the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline”.
We kindly advise you to allow enough time to complete and submit your full application.
Only applications completed and submitted before the closing of the deadline will be considered.
This opportunity is closed to applications.