Chief of Staff to the Deputy Chair

at  Transport for London

Organisation - MD’s Office
Job - Corporate / Public Affairs
Position Type - Full Time
Job Title: Chief of Staff to the Deputy Chair (046991)
Salary: Circa £75,000
Location: London (Palestra Office - Southwark)
Contract Type: 1 x Permanent 1 x FTC/Secondment for 12 Months
Band: 4
Hybrid- Hybrid working within this role enables a balance of 50 per cent of time split between the office and home over a 4-week period. Hybrid working arrangements can evolve subject to business requirements.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Directly support the Deputy Chair in all their duties, including acting on their behalf where appropriate, preparing for meetings and following up, and dealing with ad hoc issues as they arise. This will also include day-to-day management of the Deputy Chair’s office, including active diary management, filtering and prioritising requests, and line management of PAs.
• Ensure the Deputy Chair is fully briefed on all matters involving the TfL Board, including coordinating the checking of TfL Board papers prior to publication, summarising key issues, and dealing with the Secretariat to manage any feedback or comments.
• Act as a filter and prioritise / deprioritise for the Deputy Chair. This will require active management and quality control of the large volume of issues that come through the Deputy Chair, e.g. from the GLA Press Office, Mayor’s Office, the Transport Team, the Commissioner’s Office, TfL Board Secretariat, members of the public, and key stakeholders.
• Deputise for the Deputy Chair where appropriate, handling lower level requests that come directly to the Deputy Chair to allow them to focus on the issues of greatest importance to the Mayor and TfL.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with senior stakeholders across the GLA family, including GLA Senior Advisers, the Mayor’s Stakeholder team, GLA and TfL Press Offices, GLA and TfL Government Relations teams, and TfL Executive Committee members and their offices.

Knowledge

• Strong understanding of the transport issues affecting London and wider best practice;
• Thorough knowledge of appropriate governance, legislation and TfL’s policies and procedures;
• Strong understanding of London government including the operation and interaction of the various parts of the GLA;
• Politically astute, balancing organisational policy and decision making processes against delivery of a public transport service;
• Numerate, with an understanding of business planning, budget cycles and ability to critique financial analysis at a senior level;

Skills

• High level decision making and problem solving skills - lateral thinker able to spot linkages and dependencies;
• Ability to challenge the norm and encourage change - flexibility and a ‘can do’ attitude with ability to act as a “self-starter”
• Well honed project management skills, able to multi-task and manage conflicting priorities, used to working under pressure and to deadlines;
• A proactive, flexible, hands-on approach to identification and resolution of problems;
• Capable of developing an intuitive understanding of requirements;
• Strong people leadership and management skills with use of emotional intelligence;
• Ability to seek out and interpret multiple sources of information and respect confidentialities

Experience

• Experience of working in and around a highly sensitive political involvement, ideally within London government;
• Experience and appreciation of the public sector and issues faced in delivering strategic responsibilities to a multi-dimensional cultural capital city;
• Experience of representing organisations to stakeholders at senior level;
• Proven ability to manage and motivate a team, both through formal line management and indirect ‘soft’ management;
• Proven ability to influence at a senior level, including successfully facilitating joint decision-making and building linkages between business units;

Equality and Diversity
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We want to represent the city we serve, which will help us become a more innovative and efficient organisation. Our goal is to make our recruitment as inclusive as possible. We are a disability confident employer who guarantee an interview to any disabled candidate who meets all of the essential criteria. We also use anonymising software that removes identifying information from CVs and cover letters to make the process fair

Please refer the Job description for details