Digital Operations Support Officer

Job summary

This is a fast-moving role supporting members of the Cabinet Office Digital Senior Leadership team and, when required, the CDIO. Working at the heart of the Cabinet Office and digital transformation, it is a unique opportunity to understand the workings of the Civil Service. You will be exposed to decision making from senior leaders across the CO Digital function, in government, as well as handling confidential and sensitive information on Cabinet Office systems.

Job description

The role is a challenging one with a high level of exposure and requires strong organisational skills, with close attention to detail. You will need excellent interpersonal skills and be comfortable interacting with senior officials and stakeholders and you will be expected to work independently with the support of a tight knit Private Office, and must be able to react to changing circumstances and priorities.

• You’ll quickly build and maintain strong relationships with offices of senior civil servants and other senior digital and technology professionals, as well as other stakeholders;
• Proactively manage a complex, fast-changing diary, balancing competing priorities and ensuring the senior leader’s time is optimised. Managing all diary requests and invitations in a timely and professional manner, using their own judgement to prioritise meetings where there is a clash in the diary;
• Preparing diary briefs, ensuring deputy directors have the necessary information and paperwork beforehand;
• Supporting the smooth running of their function, including undertaking administrative and corporate process tasks e.g. coordinate agendas, SCS comprehensive travel itineraries, accommodation, meeting room bookings, and all associated logistics;
• Oversee incoming emails; triage urgent issues, draft professional responses on behalf of the leader, and delegate actions to wider teams as appropriate;
• Building and maintaining effective relationships across Cabinet Office Digital and wider government.

Person specification

Essential criteria:

• Proven track record of supporting senior executives or officials within a fast-paced, complex environment (ideally within government or the public sector).
• Outstanding drafting and editing skills, with the ability to write clearly and concisely.
• Ability to handle highly sensitive, confidential information with utmost discretion and sound political judgment.
• Exceptional organisational skills, with a proven ability to manage competing deadlines and triage heavy workloads under pressure.
• Confidence and credibility when engaging with high-profile stakeholders, Ministers, and senior staff.

Desirable skills:

• Experience of taking minutes and/or drafting meeting documents/agendas.
• Experience of using Google for drafting, collaboration and calendar/document management. If not, a willingness to learn is essential.

Additional information:

Cabinet Office policy is that a minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace. For some roles, due to their nature and the business need, this may be up to 100%. Requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Delivering at Pace

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £30,768, Cabinet Office contributes £8,913 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role.
• An environment with flexible working options.
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
• A Civil Service Pension which provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and employer contributions of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to a maximum of 30.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

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 see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Ability and Experience.

After submission of the first stage of your application you will be invited to complete a Civil Service Verbal Test. If you successfully pass the test, you will be invited to complete the final stage of the application.

Please complete the online tests as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended), the closing date for the tests is 23:55 on 15/09/2026. If you fail to complete the online test before the deadline your application will be withdrawn. Guidance for the test will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are administered online and accessed via the CS Jobs website.

You will be directed to the Talogy - True Talent – Scheduled Maintenance Window Webpage for online tests during an outage.

Our online test supplier will be performing scheduled maintenance between 12:00 and 13:00pm on 13/09/2026. You will be unable to access tests during this period.

If you are in the middle of a test when the maintenance begins, your progress will be paused. You will be able to resume your test from where you left off via your application centre once the downtime has ended. Please note that you will not be able to launch any new tests while the system is offline.

Application process

Applications will be sifted on CV and Statement of Suitability.

Please use your statement of suitability to (in no more than 250 words) to explain how you consider your experience; professional skills and qualities provide evidence of your suitability for the role with reference to the criteria in the person specification section of the job advert.

If there is a large number of applications, an initial sift will be done using the lead behaviour "Delivering at Pace". Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Interview process

The panel will interview you on all four behaviours:

- Delivering at Pace.

- Making Effective Decisions.

- Communicating and Influencing.

- Seeing the Big Picture.

Expected timeline (subject to change)