Executive Assistant to Vice Chancellor

JOB DESCRIPTION Employment status and working hours

Fixed term for up to 9 months, full time.

Full time hours at the University are 35 per week with the standard working pattern Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 17:00, with some flexibility in start/finish times.

Vice Chancellor’s Office.

Your line manager will be Ashley Wheaton, Vice Chancellor.

The majority of your working week will be spent at our office in Reading and the rest at your home. The exact split of days/hours is negotiable but must include a minimum of three working days each week in Horizons on the core days (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). The office closes on Fridays. You can attend the office on Mondays if you have worked the three core days.

Working from home is only possible if your environment is suitable – please see the Working from home section on our Careers Site for further information.

The Executive Support Team (EST) at the University provides vital, efficient and professional support to the Executive Team. As an Executive Assistant, you will work to provide exceptional daily administrative support to the Vice Chancellor and will work diligently to optimise his busy schedule as well as assisting with written and email communications. Furthermore, you will help and assist the wider Executive Team and Executive Support Team wherever necessary.

As the Executive Assistant to the Vice Chancellor, you will be undertaking a pivotal role. A typical day will be fast-paced and diverse, with wide-ranging administration tasks covering routine jobs to tasks which require greater initiative. The work that you undertake may consist of high-level, confidential and sometimes sensitive information and you will be expected to manage this professionally and appropriately.

Our ambition is to become the Centre of Excellence for Built Environment Education and the years ahead will be exciting as we work to realise this vision. Working collaboratively, you will ensure high standards of support that increase overall productivity and efficiency across the leadership team and enable our goals to be achieved. Our aim will be to anticipate needs, understand priorities and offer exceptional executive support, thereby ensuring we deliver excellence in all we do.

• Welcome external visitors arriving for meetings at Horizons.
• Monitor and flag appropriately incoming emails to the Vice Chancellor’s inbox and the Executive Support team mailbox. Seek out further information as required to respond professionally and appropriately to all enquiries, liaising effectively with the Vice Chancellor at all times.
• Undertake proactive diary management to ensure an effective and balanced schedule at all times, resolving competing demands, anticipating needs and being responsive and adaptable to changing requirements.
• Organise the regular cycles of internal meetings and 1-1s and liaise with external contacts to diarise appointments as requested/required. Ensure all meetings have a clear purpose, anticipated outcome and the necessary supporting information/papers are available in a timely manner.
• Take a proactive approach to follow up after Vice Chancellor meetings and implement a ‘bring forward system’ – drafting emails, progressing actions, and scheduling further meeting time for example.
• Draft correspondence as required and liaise regularly with the Marketing team on PR opportunities relative to the Vice Chancellor’s activities.
• Book travel and accommodation as required to ensure a seamless schedule, including occasionally collecting train tickets from the station in advance of journeys and always working within the University’s Expenses policy.
• Process expense claims for the Vice Chancellor.
• Raise purchase orders for the Vice Chancellor as required.
• Approve annual leave requests for the Vice Chancellor’s team and process staff anniversary cards.
• Collate, assemble and print meeting papers and ensure the Vice Chancellor is fully prepared and briefed appropriately ahead of all meetings.
• Book and prepare meeting rooms ahead…