Working hours: Monday to Friday, 9:30am-6:00pm (Lunch hour: 12:45pm-1:45pm) with possibility of overtime work
Location: Embassy of Japan, London (on-site five days per week in principle)

The Embassy of Japan in the UK is looking for a highly qualified and motivated Personal Assistant to provide secretarial and research support for diplomats. You will support diplomats in charge of UK’s foreign policies and international affairs with research and work as well as working within a team of locally employed staff to support the wider functions of Political Section. Covering areas are subject to possible reshuffle amongst other local staff. You will be expected to work and cover other teams (defence policy, political affairs and legal affairs), together with other local staff in the Political Section.

Duties include:

• Produce daily reports on UK’s foreign policy issues from government sites, news articles and other resources
• Produce ad-hoc reports based on diplomats’ interests
• Prepare, edit, summarise and draft documents including official letters and speeches
• Maintain and process all incoming and outgoing correspondence including contacts via post, email and telephone
• Liaise with internal and external stakeholders such as UK government departments, non-governmental organisations, and other diplomatic missions
• Attend meetings and seminars, reporting to the relevant diplomats and keeping records
• Arrange and facilitate meetings/appointments, receptions and events.
• Assist with logistical arrangements for diplomats and for official visitors, including liaising with counterparts, hotels, restaurants and arranging transport
• Undertake other administrative and secretarial duties as directed

Requirements:
• Degree-level academic background, with English language as a mother tongue or equivalent
• Strong cooperation and communication skills
• Competence in IT skills such as MS Word, Excel, Outlook and Powerpoint
• Flexibility, a sense of responsibility, attention to detail
• Discretion to help build networks with UK government departments
• Fundamental understanding of UK’s foreign policy and international affairs would be preferable
• Experience of Japan and Japanese language skills would also be preferable