British Embassy: Executive Secretary to Her Majesty’s Ambassador

• Managing the Ambassador's diary with minimal supervision, by proactively arranging meetings and appointments, and making travel arrangements;

• Commissioning and drafting briefings for the Ambassador for meetings, taking ownership of delivery and working with sections across the Embassy to collate, as well as drafting independently;

• Providing strategic advice on diary priorities for the Ambassador, establishing and maintaining effective relationships with a wide range of contacts in key offices across the public and private sectors, and using those relationships to make proactive policy recommendations on who to meet, and to secure timely meetings;

• Drafting complex visits programmes, working with all sections of the embassy to proactively recommend Ambassadorial engagement;

• Managing embassy contacts, being confident engaging very senior interlocutors, and maintaining a contacts database and a log of engagement to prioritise embassy engagements;

• Drafting correspondence for the Ambassador autonomously;

• Managing the Ambassador's driver, the three person Residence team and events at the Residence; overseeing all events and activities through this team at the Residence to ensure smooth delivery to the British Embassy objectives and policies.

• Providing ad-hoc support to the wider embassy, as required, including translation;

• Requisitioning and receiving expenses on Prism (our management information programme) for the Ambassador.

• Providing the secretariat for the Post Management Committee, scheduling meetings, drafting the agenda and taking the note.

• Strong experience in a similar role / environment, including managing a complex diary and managing a team, and an strong decision making skills;

• Ability to develop and maintain contacts in both the public and private sectors, including at very senior levels, and an ability to engage / influence effectively;

• Positive, proactive attitude and ability to work both independently and in a team, and to create professional and trusting working relationships with a wide range of people both internally and externally;

• Excellent communication skills both written and oral to a wide range of stakeholders at all levels - including confidence when engaging senior interlocutors and an ability to communicate with clarity, conviction and enthusiasm;

• Flexibility, resilience, patience, a strong team-player, and the ability to deal with difficult situations with a level of discretion and responsibility;

• Willingness to undertake a variety of tasks, excellent organisational skills, self motivated and proactive;

• Excellent command of both written and oral English and Slovak;

• Strong IT skills, particularly Outlook, Word and Excel, and databases.

• Ideally, an understanding of the Slovak government structure and its functions, and an interest in politics and international relations.

• Making Effective Decisions,
• Leading and Communicating, Collaborating and Partnering,
• Delivering at Pace

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