Executive Assistant to CEO and Executive Board

Welcome to Hovis. We are the proud guardians of over 130 years of baking experience that make up our iconic and much-loved brand. We produce bread and bakery products created with Hovis goodness at the heart of each. We deliver around 1.3million loaves, every day of the week throughout the UK and Ireland, where we also make Mothers Pride and Ormo products.

We are 2,800 people working within 8 bakeries, 1 flour mill, and 2 regional distribution centres across the UK. Our success is a result of the hard work of our people; they are experts in their field whether it’s baking, manufacturing, logistics, engineering, or the many departments within the central functions team based in our head office in High Wycombe. We are a values-led business and expect our colleagues to live, breathe, and embed Quality, Accountability, and Trust into their ways of working.

The role:

We have a fantastic opportunity for an experienced Executive Assistant to join our team here at Hovis, supporting the CEO and occasional support to the Executive team. We are looking for someone with excellent organisational skills, who can make judgements and decisions when required, provide solutions to any issues that arise and effectively collaborate with senior leaders and other associates. This role will include diary management, preparation of formal communications, meeting coordination, and compiling reports for the Senior Teams. You’ll also build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders throughout the business.

Working independently and with the wider business, some of your key accountabilities will include;

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  Providing Executive assistance to the CEO
• Arranging internal and external meetings
• Detailed diary management for CEO
• Monitoring of CEO’s emails ensuring they are responded to in an efficient and timely manner
• Arranging all UK travel for CEO and some Exec members
• Be the gatekeeper for all incoming calls for the CEO
• Preparation of paperwork for Board and Leadership meetings, ensuring timely distribution
• Assisting with organising company events and awareness days
• Assisting with presentations for the CEO when needed
• Liaising with the Shareholders, Banks and Customer, as required
• Managing any incoming CEO PR requests
• Demonstrating discretion due to the confidential and commercially sensitive data you will handle
• Support high performing Board & Exec meetings and deliver an effective business calendar for Hovis
• Agenda agreed and briefed well in advance to ensure effective preparation and performance
• Board papers and minutes issued in a timely manner
• Actions tracked and chased to ensure close out of all outstanding items
• Effective business calendar in place and diarised 12 months ahead

This will be a challenging and dynamic role with the opportunity to work directly with the directors to help run the business smoothly and support the wider team as required. The ideal candidate will be one that is passionate not only about the work they do but the brand they work for, takes ownership of what they do, and is able to influence multiple stakeholders in the right way. They will also be able to focus individuals on specific tasks and behaviours, by bringing a positive, encouraging and consistent behaviour.

Ideal Experiences / Qualifications / Capabilities:

• 
  Highly organised with excellent diary management
• Solid administrative skills and able to work on own initiative
• Ability to work within team environment
• Advanced Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Works well under pressure within a fast-paced changing environment
• Ability to multitask and be flexible depending on priorities
• Experienced in dealing with highly confidential information
• Excellent presentation and documentation skills
• Excellent communication skills for dealing with staff at all levels, customers, board members, and external stakeholders

Ideal Behaviours:

• 
  High integrity and confidentiality
• Articulate
• Assertive with strong influencing skills
• Can use initiative
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Professional
• Strong commercial awareness
• Team worker
• Flexible over working hours

Why work for us and our benefits:

At Hovis, we understand the importance of looking after our colleagues, so we provide a variety of benefits in addition to their salaries. The benefits we provide at Hovis are as varied as the people who receive them but they are offered with the intention of creating value to them personally over and above their salaries

• 
  There is a range of colleague benefits available, which individuals can select based on their needs.

• Our benefits scheme is called Hovis Choice, which offers a variety of savings and cashback offers on day to day living and much more including eyecare vouchers, and a healthcare scheme to suit everyone. It also includes our Cycle to Work scheme where you can obtain a brand new bike at a significant saving

• We offer competitive annual leave entitlement and flexibility where possible in order to create a healthy work-life balance

• We celebrate loyalty with our generous long service and colleague recognition schemes

• We offer three levels of pensions

Hovis values diversity and is committed to promoting equal opportunities in the workplace. Every job applicant, employee or worker will be treated fairly and equally with dignity and respect regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, social class, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religious belief, union membership, political opinion, sex, sexual orientation or any other protected characteristic.