Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister

Working at the heart of government, this unique role provides leadership to the 300-strong Number 10 team (covering operations, policy, communications, private office and support functions) in its aim to provide world-class support to the Prime Minister., The successful candidate will be directly supporting the Prime Minister and his top team to deliver his priorities for the country, including implementing Mission-driven Government across the Civil Service, and leading Number 10 to ensure that he receives quality advice and service. The challenge and stretch of the role at a vital time for the United Kingdom are obvious and the personal rewards of working in this critical post are huge.
The role will involve working closely with the Prime Minister’s senior political advisers and Cabinet Secretary as well as other Ministers, senior officials and advisers from across Government. The Principal Private Secretary (PPS) is responsible for ensuring that the Prime Minister receives the highest quality advice to enable him to make key decisions and judgements on matters of national importance.
Please see the Candidate Information Pack attached below for more information.

Person specification
The desirable candidate will have highly developed policy and strategic analysis skills. You will need to have strong political judgement and a track record of operating with credibility at the most senior levels in government. As a leader, you will be able to demonstrate strong management capability and ensure the effective running of all aspects of the Number 10 team in support of the Prime Minister.
Please see the Candidate Information Pack attached below for more information.

+ Your CV, with educational and professional qualifications and full employment history, including an explanation of any gaps in your employment history, and details where possible of budgets and numbers of people

Alongside your salary of £128,000, Cabinet Office contributes £37,081 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
+ Learning and development tailored to your role
+ An environment with flexible working options
+ A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
+ A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%, + A short covering statement of no more than two A4 sized pages (1000 words) explaining why this appointment interests you and how you can evidence your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the criteria in the ‘relevant experience’ section;
+ A diversity monitoring form. All applicants are invited to complete this information to assist the Civil Service with monitoring its recruitment process. All data is reported in an anonymous and aggregate format and will not be seen by anyone assessing your application;
+ A declaration of interest form.
This vacancy is part of the A Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative. For further information on whether you are eligible to apply under this scheme please follow the link.
Cabinet Office is an accredited ‘Disability Confident Employer’ under the government's Disability Confident Scheme which denotes organisations that have a positive commitment towards disabled people. We guarantee to interview anyone with a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the role, as outlined on page 4 of the candidate information pack attached. If you wish to claim a guaranteed interview, you should declare so at the point you submit your application.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements
Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.