**Private Secretary for Director General

Job description

About the job

Job summary

The Home Office works to build a safe, fair and prosperous UK. We achieve this through our work on counter-terrorism, policing, crime, drugs policy, immigration and passports.

Immigration Enforcement is responsible for enforcing the government's immigration laws, tackling illegal migration, removing foreign national offenders and immigration offenders from the UK. We also aim to disrupt the organised criminal groups that exploit the vulnerable for their personal gain. Learn more on our careers pages.

This is an exciting time to join the Director General for Immigration Enforcement's Private Office as the area grows in response to Immigration Strategy commitments.

Job description

This role provides strategic leadership support to the Director General and their senior management team, ensuring effective delivery of the command's strategic objectives. You will play a pivotal role in managing executive communications, facilitating high-level decision-making, and overseeing multiple high-priority projects to ensure timely and effective outcomes for Ministers and cross-government stakeholders.

You may be required to undertake the same or a similar role within a different team or teams (where possible, at your base location or within reasonable travel distance), depending on business priorities. With appropriate training and support, this will provide opportunities to broaden both your experience and skill set.

Responsibilities

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Acting as a trusted advisor to the Director General and senior leadership, providing strategic insight, advice, and high-quality briefings.
• Leading communications on behalf of the Director General, including reports, correspondence, presentations, and handling sensitive FOI matters.
• Supporting and covering for the Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Business Support Manager as required.
• Coordinating decision making by commissioning briefings and returns, managing critical correspondence, and ensuring timely escalation of key issues.
• Facilitating and minute taking in senior meetings, setting agendas, tracking actions, and supporting effective governance.
• Overseeing key portfolios (Strategic Services and Transformation, IE Competent Authority, Foreign National Offenders Returns Command and leading workforce planning for the DG's Private Office).
• Coordinating strategic risk management for the DG Executive Committee, liaising with risk teams and Central Resilience Command.
• Managing key external relationships and representation, including oversight bodies, Ministerial and SCS Private Offices, and acting as the DG's empowered deputy on the IE Transformation Programme Board.

Working pattern

Due to the business requirements of this role, it is only available on a full-time basis and requires 100% office attendance.

Travel

Occasional domestic travel may be required.

Person specification

Essential criteria

You must be able to demonstrate:

• Ability to work collaboratively and flexibly within a team dynamic, often to short deadlines, to achieve common goals.
• Ability to deliver efficiently, work independently and prioritise effectively in a fast-paced environment, whilst maintaining a high level of service.
• Awareness of current and emerging political and illegal migration policy issues, (direct experience in this area is not essential).
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Confidence to engage personally on a daily basis with the department's most senior leaders, including Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, and Director Generals.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to build strong and lasting relationships with working-level and senior stakeholders, both internal and external.
• Excellent judgement and risk management approach to situations, tasks and problems.

Desirable criteria

• Previous experience in Private Office (SCS or Ministerial)
• Experience supporting organisational change or transformation projects and an understanding of the immigration systems and processes.

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

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

• Seeing the Big Picture

Benefits

In addition to your salary, a career with the Home Office offers a range of benefits, including:

• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• In-year reward scheme for one-off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements.
• 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service to 30 days.
• Eight days of public holidays, plus one additional privilege day.

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, Strengths and Experience.

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

We will endeavour to conduct the selection process in line with the dates indicated below, but cannot guarantee that these will not, where necessary, be revised.

1. Application - by 1st September 2026.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:

• a CV.
• Personal Statement (maximum 1000 words).
• Evidence of the Behaviour Seeing the Big Picture (maximum of 250 words).

Your CV should consist of your career history. Your CV will be scored against the experience required for the role as noted within the essential criteria.

The Personal Statement should be aligned to and demonstrate how you meet the skills and experience set out in the essential criteria, detailed in the job description.

For guidance and information on how to construct your application (CV, Personal Statement and Behaviours), you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers website.

2. Sift - from 3rd September 2026.

The sift will be held on the Personal Statement, CV, and the Behaviour Seeing the Big Picture.

Should a high volume of applications be received, an initial sift will be conducted on the Personal Statement and the CV. Candidates who pass the initial sift will then be progressed to a full sift that will consist of all the remaining elements submitted (Lead Behaviour Seeing the Big Picture). Candidates who fail to meet the minimum pass score for the initial sift will not have their remaining submitted elements scored and will only receive a sift score for that assessed at the initial sift.

3. Interview - from 24th September 2026.

If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview that will be Behaviours (as listed in the job advert) and Strength based questions. All Behaviours listed in the selection process will be scored at the interview.

The interviews will take place in person at either 2 Marsham Street, Westminster (2MS), or The Capital Building, Liverpool.

Please note travel expenses incurred in attending an interview will not be reimbursed.

For guidance and information on what to expect and how to prepare for an interview, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers.

Problems during the application process

If you experience problems accessing this advert, or you think you've made a mistake on an initial application, please contact [email protected], including the vacancy reference, at least two working days before the vacancy closes. Further information can be found on our website.

Do not create or attempt to submit another application, online test or use a different Civil Service Jobs account to proceed as this would be in violation of the candidate declaration.

Location preference

You will only be able to select a single location preference so please ensure this is a location that you are prepared to travel to. If you are offered a role at your preferred location and you decline, your application will be withdrawn.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made. There is no guarantee that being held on a reserve list will lead to a job offer. Further information can be found on our website.

Breaking Tied Scores

The behaviours and strengths have been ranked in order of importance to enable us to differentiate between candidates with tied interview scores.

Standards

All Civil Servants are expected to comply with the Civil Service Code, and its core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.

Integrity Check

As well as successfully obtaining UK Security Vetting clearance, you will also be subject to an additional Integrity Check, as part of the pre-employment process, to determine your suitability to work for Immigration Enforcement. For further information on what this involves, please visit our website.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct.

If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing [email protected] stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Further information

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct.

If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing [email protected] stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Reasonable Adjustments

If a person with disabilities is at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via [email protected] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs

• Complete the "Assistance Required" section in the "Additional Requirements" page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a language service professional

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Feedback

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (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

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Home Office Resourcing Centre
• Email : [email protected]

Recruitment team

• Email : [email protected]

Further information

If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles. and you wish to make a complaint, then contact the Government Recruitment Service via [email protected]. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission.