Senior Executive Assistant

Are you ready to take on a pivotal role at SAAS, where your expertise will be the driving force behind our corporate operations? 

As the Senior Executive Officer you’ll play a vital part in ensuring the seamless functioning of our executive team, providing comprehensive support to our Chief Executive and Directors. Your adept management of schedules, attention to detail, and strong communication skills will be key in optimising efficiency and facilitating effective decision-making.

About us

SAAS is an executive agency of the Scottish Government and responsible for assessing and paying student awards for Scottish domiciled students in Higher Education throughout the UK. We administer budgets of around £1.4 billion each year, making payments to both educational institutions and over 190,000 students a year. We are committed to recruiting a diverse workforce that is representative of the clients we serve. More information on SAAS can be found on our website https://www.saas.gov.uk

The Corporate Office within SAAS is the central hub of the agency, responsible for overseeing strategic decision-making, managing administrative functions, and ensuring compliance with governance and regulatory requirements. It provides support to key executives, coordinates corporate activities, and facilitates communication both internally and externally, all with the goal of achieving the agency’s overarching missions and objectives.

We are seeking an experienced Executive Officer to provide comprehensive support to our corporate function. The successful candidate will work closely with the Chief Executive, Executive and Non-Executive Directors.

• Line Management and development responsibility for the Corporate Support Modern Apprentice.
• Strategically oversee executive support services for the Chief Executive and Directors, exercising independent judgment and initiative while maintaining confidentiality.
• Directly manage the Chief Executive, Directors, and group mailboxes, autonomously responding and delegating tasks as needed, ensuring timely handling of correspondence and maintaining updated logs.
• Lead the management of Chief Executive and Directors' schedules, offering insightful advice and guidance to optimize their time management and goal achievement.
• Serve as a key liaison between the CEO, Executive and Non-Executive Directors, and internal/external stakeholders, facilitating effective communication, ensuring prompt follow-up on action items and fostering strong collaborative relationships with diverse internal and external stakeholders to advance business objectives.
• Provide comprehensive secretariat support for high-level Executive Team and Non-Executive Board meetings, including agenda planning, meticulous minute-taking, and close collaboration with the Chair to meet business timelines.
• Foster strong collaborative relationships with diverse internal and external stakeholders to advance business objectives.
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of corporate governance files and statements of assurance, ensuring compliance with SG commissions and standards.
• Stay abreast of corporate and Ministerial business relevant to SAAS, Lifelong Learning and Skills directorate, and wider SG, providing informed support to decision-making processes.

Competencies 

Analysis and use of evidence
Communication and Engagement
Improving Performance
People Management

No specific qualifications required. 

Essential Criteria

1. Proven experience of supporting senior managers/directors at an executive level.
2. Good written and verbal communication skills, including being an
   experienced minute taker
3. Ability to work effectively under pressure, demonstrating the ability to perform in high pressure situations with a proven track record of meeting deadlines and delivering quality work.
4. Confident in usage of Outlook, Word, Excel, SharePoint, Teams, and PowerPoint.

Provisional Sift and Interview dates

To be confirmed

Additional Information

SAAS has separate arrangements from core Scottish Government for Public and Privilege holidays. After taking up post in SAAS you will take the Spring Friday and Monday holiday in late May/early June together with the September half day. SAAS office is fully closed between Christmas and New Year.

SAAS are currently operating Hybrid Working Arrangements combining office attendance with Working From Home. Potential candidates can discuss in more detail with the Recruiting Manager.

If you are successful in this role and not based in the UK, you must to be willing to relocate to within a reasonable distance of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Further Information

For further information on this vacancy please download and review the “Person Specification” which you will find below.

Person Specification

To apply, you must fully complete and submit an online application via this website before the closing date using evidence based examples to demonstrate your knowledge/skills (300 words). Remember, your answers should be clear, concise and reflect what actions you undertook. You may want to use the STAR(R) approach to respond to each criterion.

To learn more about this opportunity, please contact SAAS_resourcing@gov.scot

The Scottish Government is a diverse and inclusive workplace and we want to help you demonstrate your full potential whatever type of assessment is used. If you require any adjustments to our recruitment process, please let us know via ScottishGovernmentrecruitment@gov.scot 

As part of any recruitment process, Scottish Government and associated public bodies collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants and applicants for public appointments.

Personal information you provide in the recruitment process will be made available to Scottish Government and our additional data processors.