View Vacancy – LAO – Administrative Support Officer, AO

Main Purpose of Job:

This is an exciting opportunity for someone with administrative or support function experience. We are looking for an energetic, flexible and motivated person to join our small and vibrant team. This role will provide essential and important administration support across the Embassy. The administrative tasks will be core to the running of the Embassy. We welcome applications from those early in their career and will be looking at potential and the right attitude to learn and develop.

This role will work closely with the Corporate Services Team but also other teams across the Embassy. In the Corporate Services area, the jobholder will take forward administrative and routine financial tasks as tasked by the Corporate Services Manager.

The role will have responsible for administrative work connected to Embassy programme and project activity, for coordinating and organising the administration of annual Chevening Scholarship interviews, for sending routine correspondence and administering Embassy events.

Administrative support will be across the Embassy, making for an interesting role, but requiring the job holder to be flexible, work at pace and be able to move between different tasks.

There will be development opportunities, to support a variety of work across the Embassy. The job holder will also be given lots of opportunities to develop new skills through a generous Learning and Development offer.

What the Jobholder will be Expected to Achieve:

The main responsibilities for this role will include:

• Support to the Corporate Services team – work closely with the Corporate Services Manager and Corporate Services Officer, to take forward administrative tasks such as routine maintenance of the Embassy estate, setting up suppliers etc.
• Programme and project administration – support with the set up and administration of Embassy project activity. The jobholder will work with different policy leads to support their programme and project work, including assisting in preparing and monitoring programme budgets, organising project codes and issuing associated programme documentation.
• Chevening Scholarship administration – working closely with the Deputy Ambassador and Chevening Secretariat, the job holder will coordinate and organise the annual Chevening interview process, maintain and update the Chevening Scholarship Alumni database and organise the logistics for annual Chevening events e.g. Welcome Home reception
• Provide administrative support to wider Embassy objectives – this will include logistics for events such as invites and RSVPs, processing Note Verbales and providing general logistical support to Embassy staff e.g. for visits.

Resources Managed (staff and expenditure): 

Potentially some responsibility for budget management of projects.

• Degree level education
• Some work experience, ideally in an administrative/support role
• High level of discretion with a resilient, flexible and “can do” attitude
• Ability to work with a range of stakeholders
• Ability to use at least Microsoft Word and Excel to intermediate level (will likely be tested at interview)

• Previous experience working at an Embassy or International Organisation
• Ability to learn and use Microsoft Forms, Canva and have the desire to embrace new IT packages to improve productivity, e.g. Microsoft CoPilot

This role is advertised as a 12-month fixed term contract, with possibility of renewal.

This could be a busy role which may on occasion require some out of hour’s support in the event of a crisis or incident.  Attempts are made to limit this, and a system of TOIL is in place.

The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer. We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow.

The British Embassy, located close to the Patuxay Monument, is a small, friendly and vibrant place to work. There will be great opportunities for you to not only develop and build on your existing knowledge, but to understand and contribute to how our work develops and strengthens UK – Laos relations.

Staff recruited locally by the British Embassy Vientiane are subject to terms and conditions of service according to local Lao employment law.

No accommodation or relocation expenses are payable in connection with this position. You must have or be able to obtain work authorisation for Laos in order to apply.  All candidates must be legally able to work and reside in the country of the vacancy with the correct visa/work permit status or demonstrate eligibility to obtain the relevant permit. Any costs related to obtaining or renewing permits and visas are the responsibility of the successful applicant.

Employees who are not liable to pay local income tax on their Mission salary may have their salaries reduced by the equivalent local income tax amount.

The FCDO operates an agile approach to delivery. To facilitate an agile workforce, you may be required to undertake other duties from time to time as we may reasonably require.

Learning and Development Opportunities:

Our Learning and Development package is very attractive, which offers both online and in person training. We are a relatively small Embassy, which will allow the job holder to be involved in a variety of activities.

Please note that the deadline for applications is 23:55 on the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline”.

Please be aware that the deadline for submitting applications is considered to be the time zone for the country where the vacancy has arisen.

We advise you to allow enough time to complete and submit your full application since only applications completed and submitted before the deadline will be considered.

Note: All applicants are required to mandatorily fill the online application form completely including the employment and educational details, experience, professional skills and behaviour-based questions. We will be thoroughly reviewing the applications and incomplete form in any respect may not be considered while shortlisting for the next stage.

Only shortlisted candidates for interview will be contacted. Interviewees will be assessed on the core behaviours/qualifications listed above. Unsuccessful candidates will be notified via the system in due time. Appointable candidates who were unsuccessful may be placed on a ‘reserve list’. If during the reserve period of 6 months the same or a largely similar role becomes available, that role may be offered to the second or subsequent candidate.

To ensure a successful application it is important that you explain how you demonstrate these behaviours, including through your experience. You are strongly advised to read the Success Profiles Civil Service Behaviours Framework, which provides detailed guidance on how the behaviours are defined.

Applicants are encouraged to use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) format to prepare specific examples of when they have demonstrated these behaviours in their application. Using the STAR format to provide evidence of your skills and experience in your application and at interview helps to give a structure. You briefly describe the situation in which you showed the behaviour, and then explain your task in addressing the situation, what action you took and the result of this.

Please ensure that your application is authentically written based on your own experiences. If AI tools are used, their usage must only be limited to specific tasks such as ensuring formatting consistency and keyword relevance. The core content, personal narratives, and responses to behaviour and skill-based questions must genuinely reflect your professional journey, experiences, and achievements. We place great importance on originality and individual effort throughout the application process. Any form of plagiarism will result in immediate disqualification.

For inclusivity and diversity, please remove the following personal information when uploading your CV: name, address, email address, age, date of birth, gender and nationality.

The start date mentioned in the job advert is a tentative start date and the successful candidate will be required to undergo security vetting procedures. Any offer of employment will be subject to the candidate achieving suitable clearances.