SUMMARY

We are the public body that looks after England’s historic environment. We champion historic places, helping people understand, value and care for them.
Historic England have a fantastic opportunity for you to join us as our Private Secretary to the Chair and Chief Executive.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

• Extensive experience of managing complex and constantly changing priorities, workloads and diaries.
• Proven experience of working as part of a team operating in a busy and fast-paced environment.
• Confidence in building and maintaining effective working relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
• The ability to absorb, assess and progress new issues quickly and confidently, bringing in appropriate expertise and knowledge from across the organisation as needed.
• Experience of managing office and administrative systems, devising new systems and improving existing systems and process.
• Demonstrable ability to manage an Executive Assistant to ensure right judgments are made, attention to detail is paid and actions are timely

WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING

This is a rare and exciting opportunity to join the Historic England team to support the Chief Executive and Chair in all aspects of their roles.
This is a pivotal role at the heart of Historic England. You will represent the Chief Executive and be the public face of their office. With your tact, diplomacy and attention to detail you will ensure both Chief Executive and Chair are seamlessly supported. Your exceptional communication skills will ensure that the Chief Executive and Chair’s priorities are not just met but exceeded. This is more than a support role; it’s an opportunity to make a significant impact and be a key player in our success story.
This role will manage the CEO and Chair’s Executive Assistant and requires strong communication skills to establish and maintain effective lines of communication and internal relationships across the Historic England Teams, particularly with the Executive Team members and their offices. You will also create strong external relationships externally with multiple stakeholders, including our sponsoring department at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

AT HISTORIC ENGLAND WE USE A HIRING SYSTEM CALLED APPLIED. APPLIED IS A BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE-BACKED RECRUITMENT PLATFORM THAT REDUCES BIAS, IMPROVES QUALITY OF HIRE AND INCREASES DIVERSITY. WE DO NOT USE CV APPLICATION FOR THE MAJORITY OF OUR HIRING PROCESSES. YOU WILL ANSWER A SELECTION OF QUESTIONS THAT ALLOW OUR HIRING TEAMS TO TEST YOUR SKILLS AND SUITABILITY FOR THE ROLE.

To ensure a fair and inclusive recruitment process for everyone the use of AI or automated tools is not permitted.
Provisional interview 6th (AM) and 9th (PM) October 2025.
Please follow the link for a full copy of the Job Description –
https://cms.historicengland.org.uk/media/te1gcw4k/zw-private-secretary-jd-sep-2025.odt
Job Types: Full-time, Permanent
Pay: £40,000.00-£42,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Additional leave
• Company events
• Company pension
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee discount
• Employee mentoring programme
• Enhanced maternity leave
• Enhanced paternity leave
• Flexitime
• Health & wellbeing programme
• Sabbatical
• Work from home

Work Location: Hybrid remote in London EC4