Main purpose of job:

The Job Holder will manage all aspects of the High Commissioner’s (HC’s) diary, working closely with Chief of Staff, the PAs to the Deputy High Commissioners, Visits Officer and Events Coordinator to make the best use of time available for priority issues ensuring all logistical/administrative arrangements are in place.

The Job Holder will arrange meetings and plan through short-notice changes in response to daily and weekly diary management. This position requires attention to detail, ability to prioritize and deconflict diary requests by presenting options to the Chief of staff for discussion. The job holder will be required to spot opportunities which present most effective use of HC’s time. They should also have good organisation skills, enthusiasm and a willingness to be flexible and adapt to changing circumstances. It also requires proactivity, excellent communication and good collaboration skills.

The Job Holder will work closely with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders and build close relations to leverage on a daily basis, while learning the HC’s preferred working styles, prioritising and adapting to the fast-paced nature of the HC’s office.

Roles and responsibilities:

Diary Management (80%)

• Managing the HC’s Diary: screening, accepting and declining invitations and working with the Chief of Staff and others in the HC’s Office and across the Mission to identify priorities and fit in meetings. The job holder will need excellent organisation skills to reschedule and adjust the diary at short notice, therefore they will need to be able to understand which meetings to prioritise and liaise with colleagues to update on programme changes.
• Ensuring that every entry in the diary is clear, with information on who the meeting is with, duration of meeting, agenda and running order, contact information for external meetings and any useful information of the meeting. Ensure weekend events/meetings are well captured with all the relevant detail.
• Work closely with the Events Coordinator and Residence Manager to ensure all events at the residence are agreed with the HC and communicated in advance including the role of the HC at the given event, ensuring speaking points are comissioned and ready for inclusion in the HC’s briefing pack.
• Share HC’s diary forward look with the Leadership team every Friday preceding the coming week including what will be required from given leads (for both internal and external meetings).
• Support the DHC PA manage the Note Verbale inbox, including sending Note Verbales for teams across the mission as requested.
• Manage HC’s paper and electronic correspondences and provide cleared responses as required. This will involve receiving, sorting and prioritising physical mail from post room, and redirecting as appropriate to the responsible teams and maintaining a log to ensure responses are issued in a timely fashion.
• Lead on the management of the key events calendar, liaising closely with the Devolution, Governance and Politics Team to ensure all high level/ diplomatic events are captured and clarity on HC attendance sought.
• Ensure all physical and hybrid  meetings chaired by the HC have a room booked and are connected on the VTC prior to the start of the meeting.
• Working with the Chief of Staff, ensure all action points for the weekly Team Leaders meeting are captured and follow-up done.
• Receiving visitors: Meet and escort HC’s guests into the Mission, liaising with security team as required.
• Leadership Leave Tracker: Commission leave tracker for the Team Leaders working closely with the Crisis team to provide consolidated info on team leave cover (especially during key holiday periods). Map leave periods for Senior Leadership Team on High Commissioner’s diary and flag overlaps and gaps, ensuring there is Senior leadership cover at post at all times.
• Manage HC correspondences from Nairobi Inquiries mailbox by responding to various queries and forwarding other inquiries to the relevant teams and tracking replies to ensure they are issued in a timely manner.
• This role requires flexibility due to the need to work outside of conditioned hours e.g. during in response to short notice diary changes and demands on the HC’s time.  Time off in lieu can be agreed with the line manager.

Travel (10%)

• Organise HC’s regional and international travel supporting the Chief of Staff.
• Book all hotels and travel for the HC, driver and bodyguard and ensure reconciliation is done and approved on time.
• Ensure HC’s drivers and bodyguards are well synched and informed of HC’s external movements within and outside Nairobi.

Line Management: (10%)

Oversight and management of the HC’s drivers which includes:

• Line management of the two HC drivers, including supporting their professional development and training plans. Oversee the work undertaken by the drivers to ensure quality remains high.

• Excellent customer service skills
• The ability to work independently and to react to situations, which may arise without close supervision
• Excellent computer skills (Word, Excel, Teams and Internet)
• Must have high level of interpersonal skills to handle sensitive and confidential information. This position requires poise, tact, diplomacy and discretion
• The ability to develop and use effectively a personal network
• Must be able to work in a fast-paced environment with demonstrated ability to handle the pressure of juggling multiple competing tasks and demands