Leadership Assistant - Working for Essex

About the role

Leadership Assistant

Permanent, Full Time

£26,129 to £30,739 Per Annum

Location: Chelmsford

Closing Date: Thursday 8th October 2026 at 11.59pm

Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this role. Applicants must have a current, unrestricted right to work in the UK.

To read more about our business area, please visit: Place and Customer

Interview date: TBC

The Role

You must have previous Leadership Assistant experience or equivalent.
Pressurised fast paced role supporting numerous Directors within the Corporate Centre.

The Opportunity

Leadership and Cabinet Support provide a flexible and agile service to senior leaders, enabling them to achieve strategic goals.

Leadership Assistants will primarily support a specific functional area, providing efficient administration services including effective diary and inbox management as agreed. Preparation of correspondence, arranging events and supporting key meetings.

This role requires excellent organisational skills and the ability to build strong working relationships with stakeholders at senior level, including leadership teams. With experience of working within a business support environment and delivering a complete range of administrative tasks, including meeting support, diary management and tracking progress against agreed actions.

Accountabilities

Work closely with senior leaders, Executive Assistant and support colleagues, to deliver a professional, support service to enhance the effectiveness of the Functional Leadership Team.
Responsible for proactive management of senior leader’s diaries, ensuring appropriate use of time, provision of meeting materials, arranging suitable venues and equipment and booking travel if required.
Responsible for management of senior leader’s emails, post and calls, prioritising items for attention, according to sensitivity, confidentiality and contention. Using professional judgement and working knowledge to resolve issues where appropriate.
Provides a range of meeting support services including documentation preparation and circulation, minute taking where business critical.
Develop and maintain electronic filing systems which ensure correspondence and data are effectively monitored.
Responsible for managing confidential information appropriately, collating and distributing political and sensitive information in line with policy and procedures.
Contributes to the effective management of the Complaints process.
Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

The Experience You Will Bring

Educated to level 2, (GCSE) or equivalent by experience.
Evidence of continuing professional development and good knowledge in relevant professional area.
Evidence of working within a business support environment. Experience of delivering personal and meeting support including prioritising competing demands is essential.
Experience of managing information and data record systems, with good analytical and research skills.
Experience of working closely with senior leaders, in a complex business environment.
Strong communication skills with proven ability to translate information/data in a clear way, to a wide range of audiences.
Ability to deliver organisational and cultural change, which leads to continuous improvement and innovation in service delivery.

Why Essex?

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we ensure everyone matters in Everyone's Essex. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you.

In March 2026, Greater Essex was accepted on to the devolution priority programme, where we will work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority. You can read more about these changes, and what this may mean for this role, on our careers site.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email daniel.warner@essex.gov.uk

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