Senior Executive Assistant

CCW is the passionate, independent voice representing water consumers in England & Wales. We support thousands of people each year, providing free advice and helping people to resolve their complaints with their water company in an easy, caring way. We champion everyone’s needs and interests, completing and showcasing research that influences water companies, government, and regulators to make change happen.

We are a government Arm’s Length Body sponsored by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Our values:

We expect and support all CCW colleagues to embody and celebrate CCW’s values through Positive Energy, Respect for all, Innovative spirit, Delivery of our promises and being Engaged as one (PRIDE).

The role

As Senior Executive Assistant, you will act as a trusted partner to the CEO and Chair, providing high-level executive, strategic and operational support.

You will:

• manage and prioritise the CEO’s communications, diary, travel, workload and information flow, ensuring their time is focused on the highest-value activity
• lead forward planning, coordinating meetings, agendas, papers, briefings and actions
• ensure the CEO is fully briefed for key meetings and engagements and follow up on actions
• build strong relationships with senior internal and external stakeholders, including the Executive Team, Board members, Defra, regulators
• support corporate planning and organisational priorities, including coordinating Exec papers and cross-organisational activity
• manage the Chair’s diary and inbox
• provide direction, coaching and support to Executive Assistants and Executive Team Assistants
• drive continuous improvement within the Executive Assistant function and identify opportunities to introduce best practice

The candidate

We are looking for a Senior Executive Assistant who is:

• experienced in supporting senior executives and managing complex diaries, priorities and competing demands
• confident communicating and influencing at senior level, with strong stakeholder management skills
• highly organised, proactive and able to work independently, using sound judgement and initiative
• calm, resilient and able to work effectively in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment
• comfortable expressing their views and challenging constructively when required
• a strong communicator with excellent attention to detail and the ability to produce high-quality briefings and correspondence
• practical, logical and pragmatic, with strong common sense
• experienced in coaching, supporting or influencing others
• discreet, professional and trustworthy when handling confidential information
• committed to continuous improvement and keeping up to date with best practice within the Executive Assistant profession

Please note that occasional travel to other offices or sites is required.

Benefits

• hybrid working policy: 8 days per month office based, remainder can be worked from home
• 25 days annual leave allowance plus 10½ days’ public and privilege holidays
• flexi time is available, with the ability to accrue and take time off in lieu throughout the year
• generous Civil Service Pension
• health & Fitness allowance
• paid allowance days for voluntary work
• wellbeing Hour once a month
• onsite Coffee shop
• free Eye Test every 2 years and Free Flu Jab annually

Disability Confident Scheme

We guarantee an interview to anyone with a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post. To be eligible for the guaranteed interview scheme you must have a disability or long-term health condition. The disability could be physical, sensory or mental and must be expected to last for at least 12 months. You do not have to be registered as a disabled person to apply under the scheme.

If you would like to apply through this scheme, please complete the Disability Scheme form available to download from our CCW Vacancies page Vacancies at CCW and include this with your application to Gi Group.

We want everyone to have a fair chance, no matter their age, disability, gender identity, marital status, family status, race, religion/belief, sex or sexual orientation. All applications are considered fairly based on merit. To enable us to monitor this, candidates are asked to complete the voluntary Equal Opportunity Monitoring form. The information provided will be kept confidential and will be used for monitoring purposes only.