Senior PA to Chief Information and Digital Officer

As the living, growing home of our national story, The National Archives is a special place to work. We’re an institution nearly 200 years old with a collection spanning 1,000 years of history.

We’ve set ourselves the challenge of becoming the 21st Century national archive - a different kind of cultural and heritage institution: Inclusive, Entrepreneurial, Disruptive. We won’t become this overnight. It will take time, focus, effort and daring.

That’s where you come in. Because we can’t do this without you.

Job Overview

• Salary: £33,000 - £38,000 per annum
• Contract type: Permanent
• Band: E / Higher Executive Officer
• Closing date: Friday 30th October 2026 at midnight

The National Archives is looking for a Senior Personal Assistant to provide a full range of professional executive support services to the Chief Digital and Information Officer, an Executive Director at The National Archives.

The Personal Assistant will work proactively to manage the Director’s time, to maximise their ability for focus on leadership and strategic activity. They will use their discretion to manage Director’s diaries, monitoring and respond appropriately to email inboxes, organising meetings and appointments, as well as controlling demands on Director’s time.

We are looking for an exceptionally organised, adaptive and confident communicator, ready to handle all kinds of situations with sound judgment and discretion.

This is a full time post. However, requests for part-time working, flexible working and job share will be considered, taking into account at all times the operational needs of the Department.

A combination of onsite and home working is available and applicants should be able to regularly travel to our Kew site for a minimum of 60% of their work time.

Application Process

Interview: Interviews will be held on-site, ideally week commencing 16th November.

Personal Statement: We ask all applicants to submit work history details and a personal statement, not exceeding 1200 words.

• Selection for interview will be based on the 6 ‘essential’ requirements in the job description (below) so please ensure that your application demonstrates in detail how you meet these requirements. You may find it helpful to use each criteria as a sub-heading. We also recommend use of the STAR method:
• https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/careers-advice/interview-advice/the-star-method

If we receive a large number of applications candidates will initially be assessed on one criteria only: "Sound judgement, reputation for discretion, trusted and able to maintain confidentiality. Knowing when and who to communicate sensitive information to."

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please visit the Civil Service Careers website where you can find further information on the use of AI in the application guidance section.

Sponsorship:

We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.

Job Description

Department CEO’s Office

Reports to Chief Digital and Information Officer

Line manages None

Band Band E

Location Kew

Job Purpose

Provide a full range of professional executive support services to the Chief Digital and Information Officer, an Executive Director at The National Archives.

The Personal Assistant will work proactively to manage the Director’s time, to maximise their ability for focus on leadership and strategic activity. They will use their discretion to manage Director’s diaries, monitoring and respond appropriately to email inboxes, organising meetings and appointments, as well as controlling demands on Director’s time.

Role and Responsibilities

Manage the Director's diary – liaising with other PAs, managers and meeting requestors (internally and externally) to ensure timings and workload are realistic, ensuring the Director does not become over committed using discretion to decline, and prioritize appointments and advise in response to requests for director input and involvement, so that they can manage their time effectively.

Making travel arrangements – provide options for travel, making required travel arrangements and compiling the necessary travel packs of supporting information.

Prioritising and managing commitments – taking the initiative, ensure that the Director is able to attend to important actions, tasks and meet deadlines, enabling them to deliver these through good diary management and planning. And, where unexpected events require urgent director attention, reacting quickly, reorganizing plans and communicating changes promptly and diplomatically.

Minute taking – accurately minute meetings, including regular decision making meetings that help to ensure The National Archives’ compliance with its information rights obligations. This involves making sure both decisions and the reasons for the decisions are minuted at the right level of detail, so there is a proper record in case of complaints or subsequent legal challenge. The issues involved can be complex and nuanced, so comprehension of the issues and clarity of prose are required.

Act as meeting secretary and minute taker at the following:

• •Discovery Board (a sub committee of ET)
• •AI Steering Committee
• •Digital and Technology Directorate Leadership Team meetings
• •Digital Archiving Infrastructure Programme Steering Cttee meetings

Meeting and event room bookings – ensure timely and appropriate booking of rooms, spaces and associated domestics for meetings and events organised on behalf of the Director. Negotiate with Venue Management colleagues, or external providers, stakeholders to secure suitable space.

Meeting support - Plan ahead, ensuring that background papers for meetings are prepared and shared in a timely and appropriate fashion, taking into account confidentiality and sensitivity issues (particularly on HR related matters). Organize agendas, record meetings.

Liaising with authors to ensure supporting papers are received on time, thinking ahead to ensure the Director has all the information they require, and they are fully prepared.

Research and collate information requested by the Director and use initiative to investigate the background to issues/problems on their behalf to enable them to add value and reach informed decisions quickly.

Secretarial/Office Support

• •Carry out general office administration duties.
• •Manage the Director’s records in The National Archives' electronic records management system
• •Creating and amending documents using Microsoft Office applications.
• •Re-draft/format drafts of formal presentations, preparing slides for PowerPoint presentations, ensuring the style and layout are appropriate to the content, purpose and intended audience.

Email inbox management and managing incoming correspondence and telephone calls - Monitor the Director’s email inbox, bringing important and urgent matters to their attention, as well as dealing with routine emails, including external marketing. In the Director’s absence, respond to or forward enquiries as appropriate. Monitor progress of requests sent by the Director to colleagues in TNA and externally and chasing up to ensure deadlines are met. Produce routine replies as required.

Managing requests for approvals and comments – liaising with requesters to ensure clear description, assurance and deadlines are provided.

Directorate support

Providing a central and trusted point of information and communication for the Digital and Technology directorate. Provide support to departments within the directorate on an ad hoc basis.

Be a point of contact for staff, both within the Directorate and across the organisation, represe