Assistant (Central Operating Office) COO Analyst

Assistant (Central Operating Office) COO Analyst

The Bank of England is the UK's central bank. Our mission is to deliver monetary and financial stability for the British people.

The Bank of England is a diverse organisation. Each of its 4,000 people are committed to public service and dedicated to promoting the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability.

The Communications Directorate is responsible for managing and developing the Bank’s external and internal communications. We manage the relationships with key stakeholder groups including the Media and Parliament, as well as providing a Public Enquires function. We work with a wide range of colleagues to develop and deliver the Bank’s programme of outreach and education, which includes building strategic partnerships with other organisations and running the Bank's Museum.

We also develop and maintain our external website and social media presence and produce the Bank’s flagship publications, including the Inflation Report and Financial Stability Report. In addition we lead on the development of the Bank's strategic plan, helping to ensure it achieves its desired outcomes, monitoring and reporting on delivery of the plan to the Executive Director Committee, Court and the wider Bank.

The Communications Directorate is also responsible for meeting the Bank's statutory obligations regarding the Freedom of Information Act, coordinating and responding to requests.

The Communications Directorate is responsible for developing and delivering the Bank’s external and internal communications strategy. We manage the relationships with key stakeholder groups including the Media and Parliament, as well as providing a Public Enquires function. We work with a wide range of colleagues to develop and deliver the Bank’s programme of outreach and education, which includes building strategic partnerships with other organisations and running the Bank’s Museum.

We also develop and maintain our external website and social media presence and produce Bank’s flagship publications, including the Monetary Policy Report and Financial Stability Report. We also work with all areas to produce high quality creative communications content.

The Communications Directorate is also responsible for meeting the Bank’s statutory obligations regarding the Freedom of Information Act, coordinating and responding to requests.

Job Description

This role is to meet the resource needs of the Communications Central Operating Office (COO) function; You will work closely, alongside the COO Manager, supporting the delivery of a wide range of COO related activities across the Communications Directorate

You will assist in the day to day running of the Directorate, ensuring the efficient and effective management of the area and its resources, ultimately working to deliver the Directorate’s Strategy and key objectives. You will work on a range of activities including, but not limited to, HR matters, budgeting, risk reporting, business continuity planning, business planning and Directorate-wide change management initiatives.

This is an interesting and multifaceted role requiring a good degree of stakeholder management. Good workload management with an ability to prioritise your work effectively being crucial.

You will gain insight into the full range of the Directorate’s work and become a key person in directly supporting Communications’ Leadership Team.

You will have some scope to shape the role yourself at this exciting time, as we formulate the Directorate’s strategy for the coming years, explore the new Bank Behaviours and strengthen our commitment to diversity and inclusion, all with the overall intention of making the Bank a more human and humble organisation.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Assisting in the day-to-day running of the Directorate, carrying out tasks and activities across a number of areas, including but not limited to: resourcing, budgets, business continuity, operational risk, procurement, technical support, business planning and change management initiatives. Among other things you would also be encouraged to become the Directorate’s Records Management Rep, Data Inventory Steward and Opportunities Exchange Champion.
• You will lead on operational activity including but not limited to: annual attestation process, business continuity planning, register of committees, and the incident management system. Providing assistance to the COO in the delivery of essential activities e.g ASR/moderation, talent management, compliance, diversity and inclusion initiatives.
• Carry out routine analysis and provide input on the full range of operational topics spanning all areas of the team’s remit, with the opportunity to present finding and recommendations to the Directorate and Leadership Team and represent the Directorate at COO level at a variety of Bankwide forums spanning the full range of COO related activities.
• You will be expected to become proficient and knowledgeable on a range of administrative systems, currently these include Facilities Online, Taleo, Fraedom and Cognos, to provide valued guidance to the business. You would be expected to remain up to date with changes brought about by the implementation of Microsoft 365 and Windows 10.
• From time to time other tasks may be required in order to fulfil the overall purpose of the role and meet the needs of the team.

Role Requirements

Minimum (Essential) Criteria

• A good appreciation of the activities undertaken by a COO office, with a good understanding of how the various areas of the Bank work together with COO Teams to achieve its objectives
• A grasp of the Directorate’s work and objectives with a general awareness of the key risks to achieving them.
• Good communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build effective working relationships, both within and outside the Directorate.
• Ability to carry out routine analysis on a range of management information, and confident in using Excel, Powerpoint or Word to present your outputs and conclusions.
• An aptitude to think creatively when presented with a challenge, to come up with solutions that deliver results to best effect. You will be actively encouraged to take the initiative and suggest ways of improving existing processes or routines.
• You will be expected to attend and contribute effectively in relevant meetings, bringing them into contact with staff at various levels from across the Directorate or the wider Bank.
• You must be able to communicate ideas and information clearly and concisely. This may include material that is complex, or unfamiliar to a given audience.
• Ability to work with discretion and trust given the sometimes sensitive nature of the information or data they are using.
• Demonstrated ability to switch between tasks and work to tight timelines, with a strong eye for detail to ensure accurate, high quality outputs.

Desirable Criteria

• Previous experience of working in a similar COO related function is desirable but not essential
• Previous involvement in risk reporting, budgeting or business continuity planning
• An understanding of CODA or Cognos would be helpful but not essential

Our Approach to Inclusion

The Bank values diversity, equity and inclusion. We play a key role in maintaining monetary and financial stability, and to do that effectively, we believe we need a workforce that reflects the society we serve.

At the Bank of England we want all colleagues to feel valued and respected, so we're working hard to build an inclusive culture which supports people from all backgrounds and communities to be at their best at work. We celebrate all forms of diversity, including (but not limited to) age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status. We believe that it’s by drawing on different perspectives and experiences that we’ll continue to make the best decisions for the public.

We welcome applications from individuals who work flexibly, including job shares and part time working patterns. We've also partnered with external organisations to support us in making adjustments for candidates and employees in the recruitment process where they're needed.

For most roles where work can be carried out at home, we aim for colleagues to spend half of their time in the office, with a minimum of 40% per month. Subject to that minimum requirement, individuals and managers should work together to find what works best for them, their team and stakeholders.

Finally, we're proud to be a member of the Disability Confident scheme. You can find more information on what this means here. If you wish to apply under this scheme, you should check the box in the ‘Candidate Personal Information’ under the ‘Disability Confident Scheme’ section of the application.

Salary and Benefits Information

This specific role offers a base salary of circa £28,050 - £31,860 per annum (depending on skills and experience) on a full-time basis. We encourage flexible working, part time working and job share arrangements. Part time salary and benefits will be on a pro-rated basis as appropriate.

In addition, we also offer a comprehensive benefits package as detailed below:

• A non-contributory, career average pension giving you a guaranteed retirement benefit of 1/95th of your annual salary for every year worked. There is the option to increase your pension (to 1/50th) or decrease (to 1/120th) in exchange for salary through our flexible benefits programme each year.
• A discretionary performance award based on a current award pool.
• A 7% benefits allowance with the option to take as salary or purchase a wide range of flexible benefits. (Note that from April 2023 and for the Benefits year 2023/24, this will increase to 8%)
• 26 days’ annual leave with option to buy up to 12 additional days through flexible benefits.
• Private medical insurance and income protection.

National Security Vetting Process

Employment in this role will be subject to the National Security Vetting clearance process (and typically can take between 6 to 12 weeks post offer) and the passing of additional Bank security checks in accordance with the Bank policy. Further information regarding the vetting and security clearance requirements for the role will be provided to the successful applicant, and information about how the Bank processes personal data for these purposes, is set out in the Bank’s Privacy Notice at Privacy and the Bank of England | Bank of England.

The Application Process

Important: Please ensure that you complete the ‘work history’ section and answer ALL the application questions fully.

All candidate applications are anonymised to ensure that our hiring managers will not be able to see your personal information, including your CV, when reviewing your application details at the screening stage. It’s therefore really important that you fill out the work history and application form questions, as your answers will form a critical part of the initial selection process.

The closing date for applications is 13 June 2023.

The assessment process will comprise of two stages.