Operations Manager and PA to the Assessors (Ref: 21163)

Job summary

Job description

Background

On 11th September 2024, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland announced that he would establish an independent statutory inquiry into the murder of Mr Patrick Finucane on 12th February 1989. The Inquiry is being established under the Inquiries Act 2005 to enable the Government to discharge its obligations under Article 2 of the ECHR in line with the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal judgment in July 2024. The inquiry will build upon the previous reviews and investigations which have already been conducted into this case, take specific account of the materials and information provided to and generated by them, and avoid unnecessary duplication of investigation.

The Chair of the Inquiry is supported by a small secretariat, providing administrative and policy support to the Chair and other office holders.

The Inquiry is at the early stages, and this role offers an opportunity to make a real impact on the future direction of the Inquiry. As a member of a small team, you will have a varied role on a high-profile topic, working with a diverse group of stakeholders. It’s an exciting time to be part of a growing and energetic team with lots of potential for development and growth within this role.

Please note that the role is based at the Inquiry’s hearing venue in Bradford Court, Belfast BT8 6RB, with occasional travel to London.

About The Role:

Duties And Responsibilities:

The role-holder will need to work flexibly across the secretariat team, providing support to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary and working as part of a wider team, often fulfilling tasks and roles outside his or her key responsibilities.

The key responsibilities of the role are flexible, and expected to include:

• Leading on a wide range of operational workstreams, including support for hearings and witness liaison.
• Working with the Head of Hearings & Estates as part of a team to deliver a programme of hearings open to the public, including event management skills and liaison with members of the public and those involved directly or indirectly with the Inquiry.
• Setting up and managing systems to provide business support to the Secretary, Deputy Secretary and growing team, including logistics and travel bookings, IT requests, recruitment, accommodation, events and hearings management.
• Acting as Personal Assistant to the two Assessors to the Inquiry, Baroness O’Loan and Francesca Del Mese, ensuring that all administrative requirements are met to support their activities, working closely with all members of the Inquiry team.
• Supporting the Finance Manager with operational running of administrative requirements and finance keeping, including raising POs, processing invoices and receipting for services.
• Supporting the Information Management team with assistance to ensure appropriate records management across Inquiry systems.
• Acting as administrative support for key internal meetings. This will mean overseeing and leading on commissions, the collation of papers, and the setting up and minuting of these meetings, with some diary and travel management.
• Preparing and organising meeting papers for the Secretariat, providing some diary management support and overall support.

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of responsibilities. Precise objectives will be drawn up with the post-holder to ensure team resilience and delivery of key priorities as the Inquiry develops.

Essential Criteria:

The post holder will need to demonstrate the following in their application and at interview:

• Ability to build and maintain strong and credible relationships with senior stakeholders in pressurised situations
• Strong prioritisation, communication and influencing skills.
• Proven event management experience.
• Experience managing the administrative needs of a principal and/or organisation.
• Ability to assess and solve problems quickly and effectively.
• Strong attention to detail and excellent written communication.
• Willingness to obtain Security Check (SC) clearance if not already held.

Desirable Criteria:

• Holding Security Check (SC) clearance would be beneficial.

Behaviours:

We will assess you against the following Success Profiles behaviours at the SEO level during the application sift and interview process:

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

Experience:

Please provide a CV outlining your work history along with a statement of suitability no longer than 750 words outlining how you meet the essential and desirable criteria. Both will be used in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role.

Your statement of suitability needs to set out evidence of how your experience meets the requirements set out above. Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. One narrative example may cover the requirements needed. You don’t have to explain the whole process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used. Share with us what makes you suited to this role and why. What you can do, the skills you have that are transferable and the life experience or passion you have that are linked to this role.

If you don’t have work-based examples then give examples from school/college, clubs, volunteering or other activities you have been involved in.

You will also be asked to complete a CV with details of your education, professional qualifications, previous skills and full employment history. Your CV will not be formally assessed so please put the main evidence of your skills into your personal statement. Your CV will be used to add context to your personal statement.

More information on behaviours and success profiles can be found here.

Please note that in the event of a large number of applications being received we may run the initial sift on the lead Behaviour Leadership.

Interview:

At the interview stage, you will be assessed against the same behaviours and will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated the behaviours.

It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:

• WHO- What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve? Or
• STAR- What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take? What were the Results of your actions?

Offer

Once all interviews have been completed, you will be notified of the outcome by email. Offers will be made in strict merit order to the highest scoring candidate first.

The successful candidate will be notified of a start date following successful security checks.

Additional information received after the closing date will not be considered. Failure to provide sufficient information in support of an application prior to the closing date will not be considered as grounds for an appeal if an applicant is not shortlisted for interview.

Security Clearance:

This role requires National Security Vetting given the access to sensitive infor