• Manage the Bishop's diary, prioritising commitments and ensuring a well-organised schedule.
• Coordinate meetings, events, and travel arrangements, including booking tickets and accommodations.
• Draft and edit correspondence, ensuring a high standard of written communication.
• Prepare comprehensive briefing materials for the Bishop's engagements, ensuring accuracy and timeliness.
• Handle incoming communications, including emails and phone calls, with a professional and hospitable approach.
• Follow Safeguarding processes as per Diocesan Policy and liaise with Safeguarding lead on CDM safeguarding cases and ongoing safeguarding issues
• Assist the Bishop with responding to any complaints as per the diocesan Complaints procedure
• Maintain office systems, ensuring confidentiality and an efficient workflow.
• Support the Bishop in hosting visitors and evening functions, creating a welcoming environment.
• Undertake administrative tasks related to lay licences and authorisations.
• A good educational background, preferably with a degree or relevant qualification.
• Proven experience as an EA or PA, with a strong understanding of office procedures.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and IT skills, with the ability to learn new systems.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a strong command of the English language.
• Ability to work independently, manage a busy workload, and prioritise tasks effectively.
• Strong organisational skills, attention to detail, and a commitment to confidentiality.
• Sympathy for the Christian faith and an understanding of the Church of England
• Adaptability, flexibility, and a team-oriented mindset.
• Professional demeanour, representing the Church's values and mission.
• A genuine interest in the Church's work and a desire to contribute to its growth.
• Strive for Excellence
• Show Compassion
• Respect others
• Collaborate
• Act with Integrity

Bishop of Penrith’s EA - Keswick

Job Description

The Diocese of Carlisle covers the whole of Cumbria — a vast and beautiful rural diocese stretching from the Solway Firth to the Yorkshire Dales. The Bishop of Penrith is a suffragan bishop within the episcopal team, working alongside the Bishop of Carlisle to provide oversight, pastoral care, and strategic leadership across this geographically dispersed diocese. The Bishop's office is a busy, purposeful environment, combining the rhythms of Christian ministry with the demands of institutional leadership.

As Executive Assistant, you will manage a complex and demanding diary, triage correspondence, draft official letters — including end of curacy letters — and ensure the Bishop is thoroughly briefed and prepared for every meeting, service, and visit. Alongside these core responsibilities, you will support the Bishop in matters relating to CDM cases, complaints, and safeguarding processes, working sensitively and with absolute discretion. You will also administer lay licences and authorisations, coordinate travel, provide hospitality to visitors to the Bishop's House, and take minutes as required.

The role demands someone who is highly organised, calm under pressure, and able to work with warmth and professionalism across a wide range of relationships — from colleagues at Church House to clergy, parishes, and external bodies across the county. An understanding of, and sympathy with, the Church of England and its structures would be a real asset.

This is a role for someone who finds meaning in enabling others to lead well — a person who takes quiet satisfaction in excellent administration, brings genuine hospitality to their work, and understands that behind every effective Bishop is a great EA.

Interviews will take place in person on May 11, 2026

Responsibilities

About You

About Us

About the NCIs

The National Church Institutions comprises a wide variety of teams, professions and functions that support the mission and ministries of the Church of England in its vision to be a church, centred on Jesus Christ, for the whole nation - a church that is simpler, humbler, bolder.

We Include. You Belong.

Our Belonging and Inclusion Strategy aims for everyone in the National Church Institutions (NCIs) to feel that they belong, and are valued for who they are and what they contribute. Together, our people contribute in different ways towards our common purpose, whichever NCI they work in and whatever their background.

Living out our values in all that we do, we:

We believe our commitment to belonging and inclusion fuels our progress and drives us forward. The NCIs are a safe, inclusive workplace for people of all backgrounds and walks of life. We welcome applications from people of all faiths and of no faith. We want to encourage applications from a diverse group of people who share our values. Even if you have never thought about working for us before, if you have the skills and experience we’re looking for then we would like to hear from you.

We appreciate that you may want to use AI tools to help you with your application. We're happy for you to use AI to come up with ideas and help structure your thoughts, but you shouldn't use AI to fabricate information or write your whole application for you. One of our values is integrity, and although we want you to demonstrate your best self, we don't want an AI-generated persona. If you simply copy and paste AI-generated content into your application, this will reduce your chances of success.