Senior External Affairs Adviser
Contract type: Fixed Term Contract (12 months)
Full time: 34.5 hours, we are open to a conversation about how you work these hours
Location: Home based
Salary range: £43,000 - £48,000
About us
At Macmillan you'll find talented people working together to do whatever it takes to support people living with cancer. We're going all out to find even better ways to help even more people who need our support. Our values are at the heart of who we are and everything we do, inspiring our thinking and guiding our actions.
Our new organisational strategy sets out how we’ll fight even harder to make every pound raised count for even more. With your help, we’ll transform cancer care for good.
About the role
Join Macmillan Cancer Support as a Senior External Affairs Adviser, where you will play a vital role in shaping and delivering impactful change propositions and external affairs strategies across the UK. Your work will focus on delivering at-scale change for people with cancer, particularly the most marginalised groups.
Key responsibilities:
- Provide senior-level advice to develop external affairs strategies aligned with Macmillan’s mission.
- Lead cross-functional external affairs projects that are evidence-based and impactful.
- Develop and manage relationships with political stakeholders, policymakers, civil servants and healthcare providers.
- Provide high-quality insight and briefings to senior colleagues on the political landscape, and what the external opportunities and risks are.
- Anticipate shifts within the external environment and adapt approaches to maintain our relevance and influence.
- Collaborate with teams to ensure policy positions are strategic and evidence-based.
- Represent Macmillan at external events, advocating for improvements in cancer care.
- Coordinate campaigns to influence public policy and funding decisions.
About you
The successful candidate will have...
- Proven ability to manage complex and sensitive external contexts, making sound judgements on tone and messaging.
- Strong understanding of operating within a four-nations context and engaging with diverse stakeholders, including senior politicians and civil servants.
- Expertise in analysing complex policy issues and developing impactful, evidence-based policy positions.
- Strong organisational skills and flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances and emerging issues.
- Excellent communication skills which are adaptable for external and internal audiences.
- Experience of working in multi-disciplinary teams or on multi-disciplinary projects.
Recruitment process
Application deadline: 23:59 on Tuesday 16th December 2025
Interview date: Virtual interviews will be held on 8th January 2026
To ensure fairness and consistency to select the best candidate for this role, all our applications are anonymised up until an interview has been confirmed.
So we can support you to be your best during the application or interview process, please contact Macmillan's TA Team for advice and reasonable adjustments.
We welcome applications from everyone who meet the criteria and strongly encourage individuals to apply who have a disability, impairment or health condition or individuals who identify as Black, Asian or from another minority ethnic background, as these groups are currently under-represented at Macmillan. Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy along with our internal employee representation body, ‘Our Voice’ and 8 Employee Network groups help us promote fairness and belonging, becoming an engaged and inclusive organisation for all our people.
Registered Charity
More than 1000
At Macmillan you'll find talented people working together to do whatever it takes to support people living with cancer.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Position: Business Intelligence Impact Lead
Hours: Full-time (35 hours a week)
Contract: Permanent
Location: Office-based in London N4, with flexibility to work remotely
Salary: Starting from £44,339 per annum plus excellent benefits *
Salary Band and Job Family: Band 3, Profession/Technical
*you’ll start at our entry point salary of £44,339 per annum, increasing to £47,110 after 6 months service and satisfactory performance and to £49,881 after a further 6 months.
About Us
We make sure people living with MS are at the centre of everything we do. And it’s this commitment that unites us across the UK.
Our strategy is based on what people affected by MS have told us is important to them. It gives us a clear and determined focus.
Our work is based on the hopes and aspirations of our MS community. Together we campaign at all levels, fund ground-breaking research and provide award winning support and information.
Our people are our greatest asset and the key to our success. We offer a vibrant, progressive working environment where you'll be able to make a difference.
About this job
This year, we’ve embarked on a bold, strategic initiative to enhance our data capabilities.
We’re aiming to improve our data use, integration and analytics to increase engagement, maximise impact and drive forward our strategic goals. With a key focus on effective and efficient operations, collaboration and continuous improvement in our Technology, Strategy and Business Intelligence teams.
To achieve this ambition, we’ve developed a new technology infrastructure which we are calling “Sage”. We’re implementing new technology infrastructure this year (such as our new CRM system and suite of data tools – Microsoft Dynamics).
This role involves developing and implementing frameworks, conducting detailed analyses, and leading evaluations to provide actionable insights. By collaborating with various departments and stakeholders, the BI Lead ensures that data-driven decision-making and performance measurement are integral to ways-of-working, enhancing overall effectiveness and fostering continuous improvement.
This role develops and implements organisational data strategies and frameworks for measuring the impact and performance of the MS Society’s work, aligned to organisational strategy, covering data collection, analysis, and reporting, and ensuring consistency, accuracy, relevance, and timeliness of impact and performance evidence and insights.
Experience of stakeholder management both internal and external; and designing and delivering complex analysis and evaluations is required.
With one direct report, we require a seasoned manager / lead and the person applying should also have proficiency in statistical analysis software (e.g., SPSS, R, Python) for advanced data analysis and modelling (e.g. logic models, theory of change and other evaluation models), and experience in using survey tools and software for data collection and analysis.
Closing date for applications: 9am on Friday 2nd January 2026
Interviews are scheduled to take place week commencing 12th January 2026.
Interested?
PLEASE PRESS THE 'HOW TO APPLY' BUTTON FOR MORE INFORMATION.
We particularly welcome applications from disabled people and or people from minoritised ethnic backgrounds.
We’d be grateful if you downloaded and completed the equality and diversity monitoring form and submit it with your application.
Disability Confident Employer
We’re a Disability Confident Employer and we’re committed to promoting equality and diversity.
You can ask for reasonable adjustments as part of both our recruitment and new starter on-boarding processes.
If you need any help or adjustments to apply for this role, please contact us. You can also ask for the application materials to be sent to you in a different format. Such as for them to be sent to you by email or in a larger word format.
More about our recruitment and selection process
- The first round of our recruitment and selection process includes an interview with competency-based questions.
- Our recruitment and selection process might also include extra tasks. For example, a written or Microsoft Excel test or making a presentation.
- We’ll let you know what the selection process will include when we invite you to interview. You can ask for any more reasonable adjustments for the interview as part of the invitation.
- You might also be invited for a second interview. We’ll let you know about this during the selection process.
More about our employee benefits:
We have a wide range of employee benefits including (but not limited to):
Encouraging work life balance
- 39 days paid annual leave (including bank holidays), pro-rata for part-time
- More annual leave entitlement, based on length of employment
- Smart working options (with the opportunity to work remotely and find a smart working pattern that suits both you and us)
- Flexible working options
Caring for you and your family
- Generous sick pay entitlement
- More sick pay entitlement, based on length of employment
- Opportunity to buy and sell annual leave in each calendar year
- Free access to a GP virtually 24 hours a day/7 days a week allowing you unlimited advice, reassurance and where appropriate diagnosis
- Enhanced leave for new parents
- Free access to a confidential 24 hours a day/7 days a week helpline service for both you and your family with a specialist range of support and information
- Special leave options (such as up to 5 days paid leave for domestic or personal emergencies a year)
- 10 days paid disability leave a year, pro-rata for part-time
- 10 days paid carers’ leave a year, pro-rata for part-time
- Cycle to work scheme
- Death in service scheme
- New family-friendly benefits, including paid leave:
- In the event of miscarriage or still birth
- To support fertility treatments
- For antenatal appointments for both parents
Thinking about your finances
- Enhanced salary sacrifice pension scheme
- Discounted season ticket loan and interest-free emergency loans
- Give as you earn to support other charities of your choice before tax
- New employee portal including lifestyle savings vouchers and personal wellbeing
Enriching your life at work
- Personalised development plans with a wide range of training courses and opportunities to source additional training options with your line manager
- Yearly internal apprenticeship opportunities
- New, modern offices that embrace working together both in-person and remotely
- Various opportunities to influence how we internally operate (including surveys, and focus and committee groups)
- Active and supportive internal employee networking groups for collaboration and peer support
- 2 days paid leave a year for volunteering for MS Society activities during normal working hours (such as fundraising events, or campaigning in the local community)
- 2 days paid leave a year for volunteering with other charities during normal
Safeguarding
We’re committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of everyone who uses our services and we come into contact with.
This is regardless of Gender, Race, Disability, Sexual orientation, Religion or belief, Pregnancy, Gender reassignment.
We recognise our particular responsibility to make sure vulnerable adults and children are protected.
We have measures in place to protect everyone we come into contact with from abuse and maltreatment of all kinds.
Your right to work in the UK
You must have the right to work in the UK to work in paid employment with us. You’ll need to share documents showing you’re eligible to work in the UK if we offer you employment.
You can find the UK visas and permits granting you the right to work in the UK on the UK Government website. We currently don’t have a Sponsor Licence agreement with the Home Office and aren’t able to support you with your visa applications.
No agencies please.
Registered Charity
101 - 500
To fund world-leading research, share the latest information and campaign for everyone's rights. Together we are a community. Together we can stop MS