Assistant External Affairs Officer

Join to apply for the Assistant External Affairs Officer role at BBC.

Job Introduction
Job Reference: 20611
Band: B
Salary: £24,800 - £33,000 plus London weighting if applicable - depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience.
Contract type: Permanent role.
Location: Hybrid, with at least three days per week at either London Broadcasting House or 4 Millbank.
We’re happy to discuss flexible working. Please indicate your choice under the flexible working question in the application.

• Excellent career progression – the BBC offers great opportunities for employees to seek new challenges and work in different areas of the organisation.
• Unrivalled training and development opportunities – our in-house Academy hosts a wide range of internal and external courses and certification.
• Benefits - We offer a negotiable salary package, a flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance and 25 days annual leave with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care and gym.

If you need to discuss adjustments or access requirements for the interview process please contact reasonable.adjustments@bbc.co.uk. For any general queries, please contact: bbchr@bbc.co.uk.

Job Purpose
The purpose of the role is to provide comprehensive administrative assistance to managers and team members within External Affairs. The role will be responsible for a broad range of administrative tasks e.g. providing briefings for a wide variety of events and senior executives, the handling and direction of queries, maintenance of records, acting as the first point of contact for the team, coordination of projects and activities.

The post reports to the Head of Public Affairs and the Head of Corporate Engagement. The wider External Affairs team sits within the Policy and Public Affairs department, in the Corporate Affairs division, of the BBC.

Main Responsibilities

• To provide administrative support to both teams including, but not limited to, paperwork required in organising events, mailmerges and mailings, issuing invitations and managing RSVPs, compiling guest lists and distribution lists.
• To produce briefing materials such as biographies on a wide range of external stakeholders for use at meetings and events by BBC Executives.
• To collate and produce the Public Affairs weekly newsletter Parliamentary Week for circulation internally and the External Affairs external newsletter This Week, Next Week when the Corporate Engagement Advisor is on leave.
• Under supervision to manage the External Affairs database; maintaining existing records and adding new contacts, capturing information and feedback from meetings and events as well as monitoring external sources for relevant information and announcements on key individuals and groups.
• Under direction, to oversee the development of database tools and services, working closely with colleagues internally to troubleshoot and resolve issues, escalating ongoing problems to the database suppliers, and keeping across innovation and best practice, so the database delivers the BBC’s future requirements.
• To work with the Data Protection team, to ensure that the data held by the BBC’s Corporate Affairs team is accurate and complete and to ensure we are working in line with data protection requirements.
• To work flexibly as a member of the External Affairs team, supporting others to achieve shared objectives and assuming additional projects and areas of responsibility as necessary.

Are you the right candidate?

Essential

• Demonstrable interest in politics, the creative industries and communications.
• Ability to work to tight deadlines, often under pressure, and to prioritise tasks.
• Very good written and spoken communications including good English spelling, punctuation and grammar.
• Experience of writing for a range of audiences, including for senior internal colleagues and external stakeholders.
• Ability to work with complex and often confidential information, to analyse and summarise it for a range of audiences.
• Excellent interpersonal and social skills, both face-to-face and online.
• Experience of organising bespoke events, working on contracts and liaison with venue staff, colleagues and guests.
• Experience of CRM database management. Computer literate with strong office skills including the ability to translate complex data into easy to understand materials.
• Organised and focused with good attention to detail.

Desirable

• Experience of working in politics, the creative industries or a communications role.
• Good knowledge of the media including print, broadcast and online channels.

About The BBC
The BBC is committed to redeploying employees seeking suitable alternative employment within the BBC for different reasons and they will be given priority consideration ahead of other applicants. We don’t focus simply on what we do – we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are important to us.

Diversity matters at the BBC. We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution, enabling all of our employees to thrive and achieve their full potential.

To find out more about Diversity and Inclusion at the BBC, please click here.

Seniority level

• Entry level

Employment type

• Full-time

Job function

• Marketing, Public Relations, and Writing/Editing
• Broadcast Media Production and Distribution