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Private Secretary to the Chief Nursing Officer and Deputy Finance Manager

at Scottish Government in Edinburgh, UK

Work Type: On Premise | Employment Type: Full Time

Experience Level: Executive Level | Posted Date: 15/04/2025

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Description

Job Description

Are you a driven self-motivated individual, want to work in a friendly, fast paced, high profile, and rewarding role and are open to new challenges? Then this role may be the opportunity for you!

Led by the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), the Directorate’s role is to develop and support implementation of policy and clinical practice for Nursing, Midwifery, Allied Health Professions and Health Care Scientists, in addition to leading on the regulation of all healthcare professionals and Healthcare Associated Infection and Antimicrobial resistance (HCAI/AMR) policy. These diverse policy portfolios all attract a high level of Ministerial, media and public interest. 

This role sits with the Directorate Support Unit. This gives you significant communication with and access to the CNO in all aspects of their work as Head of the Nursing profession in Scotland as well as a Director of the Scottish Government. The role has several competing priorities as the financial aspects has significant busy periods throughout the reporting year. 
 

Responsibilities

• Contributing to the timely and accurate completion of budgeting monitoring and reporting exercises and provide management with robust information and explanations to assist policy units in making informed decisions. 
• Provision of high quality monthly financial reports to the  senior leadership team.
• Deputise for the Senior Finance Manager when necessary, providing support and advice to the wider directorate where possible, circulating and collating finance commissions across the Directorate when needed and overseeing the invoicing and receipting process of the finance support officer. 
• Complete day to day directorate finance responsibilities including raising and receipting purchase orders for the directorate contingent worker contracts and engaging with stakeholders where necessary. 
• Manage and maintain the directorate contingent worker spreadsheets.   
• Manage the CNO’s mailbox and have oversight of all the key issues and developments within the directorate and bring them to the attention of the CNO.
• Manage the CNO’s diary by ensuring they have appropriate information and are fully prepared for meetings / speeches / engagements. 
• A key component would be to work with the relevant policy team, including those outside the directorate, whilst ensuring there is sufficient time for planning, clearance and travel.
• Horizon scanning to ensure you are on the front foot with the CNO’s engagement plan and what will be required by when so you can commission the relevant policy team. 
• Ensure all internal and external queries are dealt within required time frames by coordinating commissions, cascading information and ensuring all relevant policy areas contribute where necessary. 
• The Private Secretary will work closely with policy teams and the CNO to enhance their understanding about the professional area.

Success Profile

Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of skills, experience and behaviours candidates will be assessed on.

Technical / Professional Skills:

1. Financial Management and Reporting - Practitioner 
2. Stakeholder Management and Communication - Working

You can find out more about the skills required here: Policy Profession Standards Annex

Experience:

Previous secretary support experience and Oracle Financial Systems experience required
Behaviours: 

• Making Effective Decisions (Level 3)
• Communicating and Influencing (Level 3) 
• Working Together (Level 3)

You can find out more about Success Profiles Behaviours, here: Behaviour levels - Success profiles: candidate guide - gov.scot

How to apply

Apply online, providing a CV and Supporting Statement (of no more than 1000 words) which provides evidence of how you meet the skills, experience and behaviours listed in the Success Profile above. If invited for further assessment, this will consist of an interview and presentation. Assessments will be scheduled for w/c 12th May 2025 however this may be subject to change.  About Us

The Scottish Government is the devolved government for Scotland. We have responsibility for a wide range of key policy areas including: education, health, the economy, justice, housing and transport. We offer rewarding careers and employ people across Scotland in a wide range of professions and roles.

Our staff are part of the UK Civil Service, working for Ministers and senior stakeholders to deliver vital public services which improve the lives of the people of Scotland.

We offer a supportive and inclusive working environment along with a wide range of employee benefits. Find out more about what we offer. 

As part of the UK Civil Service, we uphold the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

Working Pattern

Our standard hours are 35 hours per week.  We offer a range of flexible and hybrid working options depending on the needs of the role. If you have specific questions about the role you are applying for,  please contact us.

Equality Statement

We are committed to equality and inclusion and we aim to recruit a diverse workforce that reflects the population of our nation.  

Find out more about our commitment to diversity and how we offer and support recruitment adjustments for anyone who needs them.

Further information

Find out more about our organisation, what we offer staff members and how to apply on our Careers Website.

Read our Candidate Guide for further information on our recruitment and application processes.