PA Head of Information, Technology & Digital

This role is to provide a fully comprehensive and confidential personal assistant service to allocated Heads of Service in the Chief Executive and Corporate Resources department, and to provide cover for other PA colleagues in the department where necessary. The post holder will work under the personal direction of the Head of Service, but in a busy office will be expected to work with a high level of personal initiative, particularly when the Head of Service is out of the office. A key aspect of the PA role is to ensure that consistent and high quality support is provided to the Head of Service. The post holder will manage diaries and make appointments and arrange meetings as necessary. The post holder will support the Head of Service in working electronically wherever possible. The role will primarily be office based.

About The Team

The post holder will report directly to one Head of Service. The post holder will have regular contact, liaison and support as one of a group of PAs in the Chief Executive and Corporate Resources Department.

About The Wider Section/function

The Chief Executive and Corporate Resources department enable, support and provide strong corporate direction and guidance for the council and service departments, demonstrating high value for money and supporting the organisation through its continuing journey of transformation. The department also provides front line customer services to its residents and support services to our internal customers in council departments.

Problem solving and decision making

Required

Typical problems the post holder will be required to solve are

This role will apply knowledge and experience about the needs of senior managers and the organisation to solve problems and deliver work to deadlines.


 

• An email is received when the Head of Service is out of the office; the post holder will have to judge the importance of the message, and decide whether to escalate the matter in their absence.
• An urgent meeting is requested for the Head of Service which clashes with existing obligations; the post holder will need to prioritise the commitments and negotiate with others to set the meeting up with the most critical attendees.
• Other problems relating to specific work areas in the departments may occur from time to time, and the post holder may have to use service-specific knowledge to solve these, such as queries by Councillors or MPs.
  
  
   

In the case of pressing complex queries the post holder would be able to seek advice from the Head of Service or another senior member of staff.

Role Purpose

To provide specific services as an individual contributor or operator as a member of a wider team. If relevant: with a small element of supervisory responsibility.

Key Responsibilities

If relevant: provide support to a group of staff ensuring that work is allocated effectively. You may be required to check the work of colleagues to ensure work is completed accurately.

Maintain and update information systems and databases to ensure that service transactions are completed accurately.

Provide advice to customers, contacts, external organisations and colleagues ensuring that they receive appropriate guidance about policies, procedures and processes whilst ensuring effective working relationships are maintained.

Carry out research; collate data and present information within your area of service specialism. This may include drafting documentation and clear, accessible findings.

Ownership is taken for responding to queries, complaints and requests from initial contact with the customer. Issues that are not possible to resolve are promptly relayed to more senior members of your team and the customer is informed accordingly.

Provide a wide and varied range of administrative tasks to assigned projects ensuring written reports are compiled, support is provided and records are accurate which will help to inform decision making.

Accurately and efficiently record, monitor and maintain budgets/financial information/resources

Contacts and Relationships

You may allocate and check the work of a team to ensure good progress is made.

You will liaise with colleagues, customers and external organisations to obtain information and to provide clear and accurate advice.

Work Planning, Procedures and Organisation

You work with information systems and databases to support projects and inform decision making.

You will demonstrate awareness of relevant regulations, codes of practice, processes and procedures.

You will be able to effectively manage your workload.

Knowledge, Skills And Experience
 

• You will have experience of working in a similar environment or within a similar role.
• You will hold a minimum qualification of 3 grade C's at GCSE (or equivalent) including English and Maths or relevant experience to an equivalent level.
• You will be able to collate information from a variety of sources and present findings.
• You will be able to prioritise workloads to meet peaks in demand.
• You will be flexible and resilient to be able to meet deadlines.
• You will have good communication skills.
• You will have good literacy skills to be able to contribute to writing clear, accurate and concise reports.
• You will have effective IT and numeracy skills including the ability to accurately update information systems and databases.
• If relevant, you will have experience of allocating and checking work. 
   

Problem Solving

There are procedures in place which will help you to resolve problems and guide you in how you carry out your duties.

You draw upon your learnt experiences to enable you to resolve problems and the result may be checked to see if it is correct. Once the solution has been chosen it may need to be changed slightly so it solves the problem, but generally this is not required as the problem will have been previously experienced.

A more experienced member of staff is usually available and can be used to refer situations or problems that are out of the ordinary.

Facts and Figures

Numbers of staff managed/supervised

No staff directly managed, although the post holder will be expected to liaise with other PAs to ensure that a consistent high quality support service is maintained

Size of budget directly controlled or otherwise held by the job holder (please specify in what capacity) or which the job holder has influence over (please specify)

N/A

Number of enquiries/items processed

Varying workload depending on demands; this role will support two or more JNC Heads of Service and work will largely be dictated by their needs and the needs of the wider departments

Value of projects/contracts that the job holder manages/supervises or is involved with (state level of involvement)

N/A

Size, complexity and number of cases/number of clients allocated

N/A

Organisation Chart

The postholder reports to an allocated Head of Service.

Person Specification

Please ensure that each of the below match to a number in the knowledge skills and experience section above, and include the relevant number below.

Essential

The post holder is expected to have relevant experience in organisation and administration across a range of different disciplines and skills, and to have experience of supporting a senior manager.

Should have National Vocational Qualification (level 3) Administrative or equivalent and a minimum of 50 wpm typing.
 

• & 5.
   

The post holder will be flexible and resilient with good attention to detail, organisational skills and the ability to work on own initiative to tight deadlines and manage multiple priorities.

Good verbal and written communication skills with the ability to collate and communicate information in verbal and written formats.

IT knowledge and its practical application, including experience of using Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint).

Desirable

Experience of working within Local Government

Knowledge of the democratic process within the Council