Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive

Do you thrive in a fast-paced environment where no two days are the same?

Are you an exceptional organiser who enjoys working with senior leaders and managing competing priorities?

Can you build trusted relationships, exercise sound judgement and remain calm under pressure?

Are you looking for a role at the heart of a city council, where your work helps shape decisions that affect thousands of residents?

The Corporate Leadership Office sits at the centre of Brighton & Hove City Council, supporting the organisation's most senior leaders and helping ensure the effective leadership and governance of the council. This is a unique opportunity to work directly with the Chief Executive, providing high-level executive support within a complex, ambitious and politically led organisation.

Contract type: Permanent

Interviews to be held: Week commencing 9th November 2026

There is full information about the role below and attached but, if you would like an informal discussion, please contact Terie Harrison, Corporate Leadership Manager, via email - Terie.Harrison@brighton-hove.gov.uk

About the role

This is a unique opportunity to work directly with Brighton & Hove City Council's Chief Executive, supporting the leadership of a complex organisation that delivers services to thousands of residents every day.

Working at the centre of decision-making, you will act as a trusted adviser and primary point of coordination for the Chief Executive's office. You will manage an extensive and demanding portfolio of work, ensuring the effective planning, organisation and delivery of business across a wide range of internal and external relationships.

Your role will involve managing complex diaries and commitments, coordinating meetings and events, preparing high-quality briefings and correspondence, liaising with elected members, senior officers and external partners, and helping ensure the Chief Executive can focus on the council's strategic priorities.

No two days are the same. One day you may be supporting engagement with regional partners and government bodies; the next you may be coordinating urgent organisational priorities, preparing briefing material, or managing competing diary demands in a fast-moving political environment.

About you

You will be highly organised, proactive and resilient, with the ability to anticipate needs and respond flexibly to changing priorities.

You will have experience of providing senior-level administrative or executive support and be comfortable building effective working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders. You will communicate confidently, exercise good judgement, and understand the importance of discretion and confidentiality.

Most importantly, you will take pride in delivering outstanding support, enjoy solving problems, and be motivated by the opportunity to contribute to the effective leadership of the organisation.

Encouraging a diverse workforce

Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.

Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).

Why work for us?
As a council, we want to:
• be connected
• be confident
• be innovative and creative
• be diverse and inclusive
• be healthy and psychologically safe
For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.

How to apply
Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.

As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.

AI advice for candidates
We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.

We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.

All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.

Additional information
Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.

We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.

Recruitment scam alert

Some third-party websites may be using details from our vacancies to advertise roles that are not authorised by us. To protect your personal information, please ensure you verify the job details and application route through the Brighton & Hove City Council jobs board.

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