AddressAbout us
UCL is a world-leading teaching and research university and a diverse global community of world-class academics, students, industry links, external partners, and alumni. We work together to explore new possibilities and make a positive impact on real world challenges. Our Strategic Plan sets out our whole-university priorities for the 2022-2027 period, focusing effort and investment on a programme of change and improvement to support our 2034 vision and mission.
About the President & Provost’s team
The President & Provost (P&P), Dr Michael Spence, is the chief executive and academic officer of the university, responsible to Council for advancing and delivering UCL’s core academic mission – education, research and knowledge exchange and translation. The P&P also has an active role as UCL’s principal representative in external relations and in promoting UCL’s position as London’s Global University.
The wider Office of the President & Provost oversees the 17 portfolios led by 3 Vice-Provosts (Faculties; Education and Student Experience; Research, Innovation and Global Engagement), 4 Vice-Presidents (Strategy; External Engagement; Advancement; Operations), the Chief Financial Officer, the Chief People Officer, the General Counsel, and the 7 Pro-Provosts: Equity & Inclusion, London, Bicentennial, UCL East, Health, Policy Engagement, Regional Communities.
This team is supported by an integrated and high-performing group of senior administrators who oversee the co-ordination of a complex programme of activities across the breadth of those portfolios. Members of the team provide senior advisory support, programme management, logistical and executive assistant functions and project facilitation and enable the effective integration of this broad leadership team.
About the role
Working under the direction of the Head of External Engagement & Operations, the Diary Secretary provides comprehensive day to day management of the President & Provost diary, ensuring the effective organisation of Dr Spence’s time across his priorities and full audit of committments.
Core responsibilities include:
- diarise P&P’s complicated and demanding schedule, setting up internal and external meetings according to priority; being inquisitive and use own initiative to ensure that time is adequately prioritised and used effectively; operating with appropriate flexibility and the confidence to say no to requests
- be the guardian of the P&P’s time and build a good personal relationship with the P&P to support him in the management of his time and to understand motivations and priorities when populating the diary, ensuring a healthy balance across the full range of commitments and requirements
- Proactively engage with and maintain office tools in support of P&P’s schedule of commitments, meetings and events (audit, appraisal cycle, speaking engagement, travel schedule) in a timely and accurate fashion; identify opportunities to review and develop processes and ways of working, adjusting, and improve them, to ensure they match strategic and operational institutional and office changes.
About you
Highly organised and pragmatic, you will enjoy working in a fast-paced and complex environment. You will have extensive experience of managing complex and demanding diaries and will be able to demonstrate the key skills to be successful in this role including:
- A high degree of emotional intelligence and excellent interpersonal skills
- A flexible and adaptable approach to your work – you must be comfortable working with many conflicting priorities
- Strong organisational and prioritisation skills
- Sound judgement and ability to recognise when to escalate difficult or sensitive issues
- A high degree of discretion, with an understanding of the need for and importance of confidentiality in a highly sensitive environment.
A job description and person specification can be accessed at the bottom of this page.
If you have any questions about this role or would welcome a brief conversation before application, please email Tania Trosini, Head of External Engagement and Operations att.trosini@ucl.ac.uk
If you need reasonable adjustments or a more accessible format to apply for this job online or have any queries about the application process, please contact Georgia Byrne at georgia.byrne@ucl.ac.uk
What we offer
As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits some of which are below:
- 41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days)
- Additional 5 days’ annual leave purchase scheme
- Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)
- Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan
- Immigration loan
- Relocation scheme for certain posts
- On-Site nursery
- On-site gym
- Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
- Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service
- Discounted medical insurance
Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/rewards-and-benefits to find out more.
Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong.
We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce.
These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women.
You can read more about our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here : https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/
