Job Title: Executive Support Officer Starting Salary: £30,559 with the opportunity to progress to £33,366 per annum Hours: 30 hours Location: Farnham House with hybrid working Contract Type: Fixed term / secondment opportunity until end of February 2026 Directorate: Resources About the team Our Business Support Service is looking for a highly motivated, enthusiastic, and organised Executive Support Officer who will provide direct executive support to the Director of Public Health and the Deputy Director of Public Health. This role is a fixed term maternity cover role for 1 year. Do you enjoy working in a fast-paced environment, providing excellent support to your team? Do you thrive as a team-player and enjoy using your initiative to work independently? Our Business Support Service is a centralised unit which has been formed to deliver a co-ordinated, consistent, and high-quality service supporting service delivery across the organisation. Business Support is critical to ensuring our departments can support services to our residents, and if you have great administrative skills and a strong customer focus, you could be part of it. You'll be working in the Executive Support Hub as part of the central Business Support Service with more than 400 colleagues, playing a key role in supporting our departments to ensure they are able to deliver critical services to the residents of Hertfordshire. About the role We're seeking a diligent, detail-orientated and proactive person to provide effective, high quality dedicated support to the Director of Public Health and Deputy Director of Public Health who are a key part of the Community Protection Directorate at Hertfordshire County Council. In this role you'll act as the first point of contact to the Director of Public Health and Deputy Director of Public Health and will have responsibility for management of their diary and inbox. You will work closely with the Director of Public Health and Deputy Director of Public Health to understand their working styles and build effective relationships with senior officers across the organisation. In addition, you'll be supporting the effective running of key meetings. This will include drafting agendas, collating board packs, maintaining forward plans and action logs, and minuting meetings. You will also deal regularly with internal and external stakeholders and partners and will be able to represent the organisation and the Director of Public Health and Deputy Director of Public Health professionally and in line with the County Council's values. This role is in the Executive Business Support Team (Community Protection) and you will be a key part of the wider Executive Support Hub with colleagues and to ensure effective co-ordination between diaries to support effective management of the Council's business. About you The ideal candidate with be an enthusiastic individual with a can-do attitude, as well as being self-motivated, professional and approachable, always providing excellent team support and best practice. Essential Experience in diary and inbox management, able to use initiative to prioritise issues and invites on behalf of the Director of Public Health and Deputy Director of Public Health. Competent administrator with experience of using Microsoft Office, including Excel Excellent customer care skills, and experience in dealing with confidential and sensitive matters acting as first point of contact and professionally representing the organisation and Director of Public Health and Deputy Director of Public Health to internal and external stakeholders Excellent in prioritisation of numerous tasks, efficient in time management and able to work with competing timescales and challenging demands. Excellent written and verbal communication skills Experience carrying out activities relating to event hire, equipment, catering, and conferences attended by management boards. Desirable Knowledge or experience of working in a political environment, and of local government corporate objectives and current issues Experience of using MS Teams This job role is within the Business Support Services, level BUS8 job profile. Please locate this via: Job profiles: Business support services For an informal discussion, please contact Elaine Hart (Business Executive Team Leader, Community Protection) Elaine.Harthertfordshire.gov.uk / Tel: 01992 507501 How to apply As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences. Secondment This position is open to secondments. If you work for HCC or any other Local Authority and would like to be considered as a Secondment contract, please ensure you complete the Secondment Form as part of your application. If you do not, your application will be considered as a Fixed Term Contract only. Disability Confident We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.