Diary/Correspondence Manager

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the UK government department responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world-leading food and farming industry, and sustaining a thriving rural economy. Our broad remit means we play a major role in people's day-to-day life, from the food we eat, and the air we breathe, to the water we drink.

Strategy Directorate

Strategy is a fast-paced, dynamic, and challenging environment. Our purpose is to give a high quality and timely service to Ministers and the Permanent Secretary, and to ensure that Defra group is able to achieve the strategic objectives we set out in our Business Plan.

We work in support of Defra’s strategic objectives, look at how we can join up with other initiatives across the organisation to get things done, support each other to deliver excellent work, help Defra to make good decisions and we identify and unblock barriers to change.

Encouraging diverse applicants

We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups.

Location

This is a London only role as the team and senior officials are based in 2 Marsham Street, there is an expectation that they will be in whenever politician or SpAd is in (usually 4 days) but we are willing to be flexible where there is a need

This is an exciting time to join Private Office for Ministers and SpAds We are looking for resilient candidates, who enjoy building strong relationships and working in a fast-paced environment. Excellent organisation and prioritisation skills are essential.

The roles involve daily direct interactions with Ministers, special advisers, senior officials and external stakeholders. You will often be the first point of contact for those who wish to get in touch with your principal.

You will be responsible for planning and managing your principal’s diary, working closely with the wider Private Office team to support the organisation of visits, meetings, other engagement & the day-to-day management of the diary.

You will be responsible for coordinating and managing the handling of stakeholder invitations and meeting requests, ensuring appropriate responses are provided in coordination with other Private Offices.

These roles attract a additional duty allowance. This reflects the need for on-call hours and, in a crisis, some unsociable hours. However, duty operates on rotation among the team so that this is shared out.