Programme Assistant

We are looking for a highly organized, proactive, and collaborative EO Programme Assistant to provide the essential administrative and operational infrastructure for the award-winning One Public Estate (OPE) programme.

The OPE team is a friendly, highly collaborative, and diverse group operating in a fast-paced environment. This role offers you an excellent opportunity to build your career in project delivery and public sector property within a supportive environment that values individual skills and expertise. If you have strong attention to detail, enjoy solving practical problems, and are a dedicated team player, we would love to hear from you.

About One Public Estate (OPE)

OPE is a unique and impactful partnership between the Office of Government Property (OGP) in the Cabinet Office, the Local Government Association (LGA), and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). Established in 2013, we work with 98% of local authorities in England and have funded over 850 transformational property-led projects.

Our mission is to support public sector partners to drive economic growth, unlock housing supply (supporting the target of 1.5 million homes), and reform public services through optimisation of public property assets. We act as a convenor, neutral broker, and technical expert, while also delivering major capital initiatives like the Brownfield Land Release Fund (BLRF) on behalf of MHCLG.

We are currently embarking on an exciting transition to an evolved place-based operating model. This role is vital to ensuring our core programme operations run smoothly during this exciting phase of evolution.

As the Programme Assistant, you will work closely with and report directly to the Grade 7 Programme Manager. You will act as the operational engine room of the team, keeping our tracking systems up to date and ensuring our senior leads have the capacity to deliver high-level stakeholder engagement.

Your specific responsibilities will include:

• Administrative Support: Provide high-quality administrative and support functions to the Programme Manager and the wider OPE team to maintain the smooth day-to-day management of our existing project portfolio.
• Cross-Organisational Collaboration: Work collaboratively across a unique blended team spanning the Cabinet Office, the LGA and MHCLG to support seamless, joined-up programme delivery.
• PMO Delivery: Support the delivery of OPE programme management functions by actively maintaining governance arrangements and managing live programme logs, including risks, issues, and dependencies (RAID logs).
• Financial Management: Assist the Programme Manager with core financial processes, including tracking project expenditure and liaising with the Cabinet Office finance team to ensure responsible budget management.
• Official Correspondence: Support the team in managing official correspondence, including preparing initial drafts and organizing supporting materials for ministerial submissions, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, and Parliamentary Questions (PQs).
• Change Delivery Support: Actively assist the team as we transition to our new operating model, helping track the progress of system change work and localised Pathfinder initiatives.

Essential Experience

• Operational Delivery: Experience providing administrative, operational, or support functions within a fast-paced programme, project delivery, or corporate office environment.
• Organisation & Prioritisation: Highly organised and proactive, with strong attention to detail and the ability to prioritize tasks effectively to manage a diverse workload at pace.
• Communication: Effective verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate information, draft updates, and support a blended team.
• Digital Literacy: Proficiency in standard office IT software, such as Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Slides) and/or Microsoft Office equivalents.
• Collaboration: The ability to build and maintain positive, effective working relationships across a blended team and with a wide range of public sector stakeholders.

Technical Qualifications

• No formal qualifications are required for this post; your practical experience, organisation skills, and proactive attitude are what matter most.

Additional information:

Cabinet Office policy is that a minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace. For some roles, due to their nature and the business need, this may be up to 100%. Requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance.