Job Description

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Description

Provide PA support to the Director of R&I and administrative and Business Support to the wider directorate. This requires understanding the objectives of the Directorate and supporting flows of information between the Director, the Senior Leadership Team and the corporate centre of SFC.###

Key Responsibilities

Manage the Director's diary, ensuring proactive support, which may include the co-ordination of meeting briefings, supporting materials and agendas. Provision of the pack for the meeting in a timely way. Manage key information flows, making judgements to share relevant emails to colleagues, tracking related actions as required. Support the wider directorate in arranging key meetings, internal and external room bookings, and in the booking of travel and accommodation. Support the Director and Senior Leadership of R&I by attending meetings with them and taking a note of the meeting when required. Display a high level of integrity, handling confidential and sensitive matters in a professional manner. Good awareness of responsibilities re information handling. Support directorate planning processes, including ensuring timely input into cross-SFC processes and risk register development. Use Directorate trackers and associated business support tools to manage and track the Director's correspondence and briefings, which enable effective management of workflows. Undertake ad hoc projects and administrative tasks on behalf of the Director. Work collaboratively with other PAs and the corporate centre of SFC and provide mutual cover as required. This may include regular cover on SFC reception, as necessary.


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Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

It is important through your CV / Cover Letter that you give evidence of proven experience of each of the following essential criteria:

EssentialExperience supporting senior staff in a similar environment. Experience of diary management (including virtual meetings), travel arrangements, and managing a busy mailbox. Effective communication skills with the ability to work as part of a team and interact well with staff at all levels in the organisation. Excellent organisation and planning skills, including the ability to work creatively to solve problems and manage competing priorities. Self-motivated with the ability to work under own initiative and with minimum supervision. A highly developed eye for detail and accuracy. Good IT skills, with a good working knowledge of a variety of IT systems, particularly Microsoft Office products. A proactive, resilient and flexible approach.
DesirablePrevious experience of the Scottish Government, public sector bodies, or the further or higher education sectors.
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Terms and Benefits

Normal full-time hours of work are 35 per week. We will consider flexible working arrangements. A flexi-time system is in operation.


Annual leave entitlement of 26.5 days pro-rata, rising to 30 days pro-rata after 2 years' continuous service. Public and privilege holiday entitlement of 13 days pro-rata.


A flexible approach to hybrid working, giving you flexibility to work from home anywhere in the UK for some of the time while also maintaining regular in-person contact with colleagues.


Annual pay review: approved within the framework of the Scottish Government's Public Sector Pay Policy and negotiated with our recognised trade union, Unite. Salaries are reviewed annually in April for employees who commence employment prior to 1 October in the preceding year.


Eligibility to join the Civil Service Pension Scheme. With its low member contribution rates and generous employer contributions, this gives you a secure, inflation-proof pension for life with no investment uncertainty. Details of contribution rates together with further details of the pension benefits are available on the Civil Service Pensions website. There is also the option of a Partnership pension account.


Support for continuous professional development: as a part of SFC, we are dedicated to providing comprehensive support for continuous learning and professional development. Civil Service-Learning curriculum has thoughtfully designed to cater to various learning preferences, allowing employees to engage in a manner that best suits their needs. All our educational resources are conveniently accessible through the CSL website.


Support for health and wellbeing, including generous occupational sick pay, free access to confidential advice and support through our 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme, Special Leave (paid and unpaid), a contribution to learning outside work through our Lifelong Learning Fund, free winter flu vaccination, and access to occupational health support.


We provide support to SFC employees with Volunteering Days.


Support for travel to and from work, including a salary sacrifice cycle loan scheme, cycle storage and shower facilities, an interest-free loan for bus or rail season tickets and free office car parking for employees on a first-come basis.


Although most salaried roles are advertised as full time positions (35 hours a week), we are happy to discuss part-time or compressed hours to suit a candidates circumstances. We also operate a flexible working scheme to work around a candidate's other commitments such as caring responsibilities.



We will consider secondment applications for most salaried fixed-term or temporary positions and in many cases also for salaried permanent positions. If you are interested in applying on a secondment basis and this option is not explicitly mentioned in the job advert, please contact recruitment@sfc.ac.uk for further information.###

About Scottish Funding Council

We are the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council, more commonly known as the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).



We are Scotland's tertiary education and research authority and our purpose is to sustain a world-leading system of tertiary education, research and innovation that enables students to flourish, changes lives for the better, and supports social, economic and environmental wellbeing and prosperity.

We do this by investing around 2 billion of public money to deliver:Tertiary learning and teaching. Skills and apprenticeships. Student support and participation. Research, innovation and knowledge exchange. Data collection and dissemination. National quality assurance and enhancement processes. Capital and digital infrastructure for the sector. Strategic change, responsive provision and research priorities.
As a non-departmental public body established by the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005, we are directly accountable to Scottish Government Ministers and the Scottish Parliament. We work across many government portfolios and are sponsored by the Lifelong Learning Directorate.

We hold colleges, universities and other funded bodies to account for their delivery of required outcomes. We are also the statistical authority for colleges, and work closely with the UK-wide Higher Education Statistical Authority (HESA), to provide data and statistics for government, decision-makers, and the wider public.

We work in partnership with a wide range of partners and bodies, including those we fund, across all aspects of our remit.

General information for applicants for SFC roles

You must already be eligible to work in the UK to apply for these roles.

SFC do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skills Worker License and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.



We are pleased to support applications from everyone regardless of age, disability, race and ethnicity, socio-economic background, gender, sexual orientation, sex, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief, as well as those who have skills in Scottish Gaelic or British Sign Language, who have the right skills for the job.


We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and actively encourage interviews through the scheme.


Further information about SFC is available on our website Scottish Funding Council home page (sfc.ac.uk). Additional information about our recruitment process can be found at Recruitment FAQs | Scottish Funding Council Careers (sfc.ac.uk).