Purple it will vary by profession. As a basic comparison, in my area (a corporate function, so not Policy or Ops), I would say as a snapshot my expectation of a good EO is that they get to grips with their work, can take initiative, don’t have to be directed in all things but will still get direction and asked to carry out tasks, they will come up with and implement improvements to a process/service/way of working (collaborating with colleagues to do so, getting the appropriate sign off as needed).
An HEO should be capable of all of the above of course, but I would expect them to be leading on a project/responsible for an area of work, coming up with how that work should happen, getting underneath it (eg setting up discussions or catch ups with relevant colleagues or stakeholders, doing research), assessing resourcing requirements, delegating tasks appropriately, working with colleagues and stakeholders to make that happen (so good communication and collaborative working), comfortable working with (and constructively challenging) more senior colleagues.
In my field, EO roles are typically administrative/support or data-based (data management and straightforward analysis) roles; HEO roles on the other hand require ‘ownership’ of a specific professional area, usually working to an SEO or G7 ‘lead’ or ‘head of’ in that field. In some of our roles, HEOs are the assistant/deputy of our G7/G6 roles (we have certain roles which are focused on providing an internal consultancy or partnering service to other parts of the organisation, which is where you get these assistant/deputy roles). Also in corporate function roles it is less common to have line management responsibility at EO, at HEO it doesn’t always require line management but sometimes does (usually of one or two colleagues working in support roles).
Dame the Civil Service also run returners programmes/roles, for individuals coming back to work after a career break. There is more on
CS Returners here, but also when you go on CS Jobs search select ‘show more’ on the filters for the job search, under ‘Contract Type’ you can select ‘Returner’. It is by no means the only way to get into the CS following a break, and right now there aren’t as many (they tend to run them in batches) but thought I’d mention in case you hadn’t seen.