External affairs advisor jobs in Birmingham
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Policy and Public Affairs Manager (England)
Reporting to: Head of Policy and Public Affairs
Line Management: 1 Policy and Public Affairs Officer England
Location of work: Remote but role holder will ideally be London-based to be able to frequently commute for meetings/ events at Westminster. The role may involve also some infrequent travel across the UK.
Contract type: Full-time, 35 hours per week, although flexible/ compressed hours will be considered. The role will require occasional evening and weekend work.
Contract Length: Permanent
Salary: £42,000
BACKGROUND
Magic Breakfast is the UK’s leading school breakfast charity and makes a difference to over 350,000 children and young people every day by offering breakfasts and expert advice to tackle child morning hunger in schools across England and Scotland.
This is an exciting time for Magic Breakfast as the benefits of school breakfast provision are increasingly recognised by policymakers, educators and the public. The Policy and Public Affairs (PPA) Team is central to this work. And through our new organisational strategy, Nourishing Futures, the work of the PPA Team is growing to meet our advocacy ambition to expand school breakfast provision and deliver our vision which would see every child in the UK nourished, empowered and thriving.
JOB PURPOSE
The role of the Policy and Public Affairs Manager is a high-impact role, central to designing and delivering Magic Breakfast’s national policy and public affairs strategy in England. The role holder will lead the development of evidence-based policy positions and work collaboratively to drive forward strategic, integrated and impactful advocacy campaigns to successfully influence decision-makers, policy change, and funding frameworks aligned with our key objectives. Specifically, you will also lead the design and implementation of our new workstream to expand school breakfast provision to secondary schools and early years settings, alongside our work to ensure the effective implementation of the Free Breakfast Club Programme.
More broadly, you will keep abreast of political developments relevant to Magic Breakfast - proactively identifying opportunities to respond, influence and shape the debate across the school food system and provide strategic, analytical and timely advice to the Senior Leadership Team.
Using your excellent communication skills, you will be able to translate complex policy into tailored and effective communications, policy briefings, positions and submissions, and will play a lead role in confidently engaging external stakeholders including UK Government Ministers, Parliamentarians, special advisers, officials and sector partners.
We are looking for someone who enjoys collaboration, who shares our passion for driving systematic change, and who can use their experience to navigate, respond to, and influence the fast-moving political environment to deliver lasting and meaningful change. You’ll be part of a collaborative and ambitious organisation, working at the intersection of policy, practice and impact – putting children and young people at the heart of everything we do and helping to ensure every child starts their day nourished, empowered and ready to thrive.
KEY RESPONSOBILITIES
- Lead the policy development process in consultation with cross-organisational teams and external organisations to develop clear, evidence-based policy recommendations and positions.
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Build and maintain strong relationships with UK Government Ministers, Parliamentarians, Special Advisers, officials and sector organisations, including conducting stakeholder mapping and power analysis to identify key routes to influence.
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Design, lead and implement integrated advocacy campaigns to deliver maximum impact in collaboration with cross-organisational teams.
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Work closely with colleagues to share expertise and intelligence, inform and shape research areas, support campaign activities aligned with advocacy objectives, and respond proactively to live developments across the organisation.
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Line manage and support the development of the Public Affairs Officer.
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Strong ability to translate complex policy into clear, persuasive communications tailored to specific audiences to deliver maximum impact.
Please read the full job description attached below.
WHAT WE OFFER
At Magic Breakfast we value our employees and work hard to develop offer a supportive, respectful culture which enables everyone to thrive.
Please see our job pack below
Please see our website
APPLICATION PROCCESS
Should you wish to discuss the role before applying please email our People and Culture Team, HR @ magicbreakfast .com
Shortlisting: w/c 25th and 26th May
Interview 1: w/c 1st and 2nd June
Interview 2: w/c 8th and 11th June
We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. This is to ensure that we can manage application levels whilst maintaining a positive candidate experience. Unfortunately, once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Role outline and purpose
To manage policy and public affairs influencing in Wales to ensure effective delivery of Trussell’s strategy to achieve policy and secure policy change that ends the need for food banks.
To contribute to the delivery of the wider goals of the Making Social Security Work programme across the UK and to the Prioritising Hunger & Hardship, Supportive Communities and Holistic Advice programmes in Wales.
Key responsibilities
Support the development and delivery of Trussell’s strategy to end the need for food banks in Wales.
· Supports the development and delivery of Trussell’s strategy to end the need for food banks in Wales. This includes planning influencing opportunities, developing relationships, and shaping asks to advance Trussell’s mission in Wales, contributing to the successful delivery of our overall strategy.
Deliver policy, public affairs, and advocacy in Wales.
· Deliver policy development, public affairs, and advocacy activity to contribute towards the goals of the organisation’s Wales strategy and achieve policy change. This includes working closely with Wales based colleagues to represent Trussell in the media and at external events, managing social media, direct engagement with MS’s. MP’s, ministers, advisers and officials, preparing briefings and co-ordinating events and advocacy activity across Wales that secures impactful engagement. This ensures a coherent, effective influencing programme is delivered that drives policy change and strengthens organisational credibility.
Build strong evidence base for Wales.
· Work with programme teams across Trussell and with external partners to ensure strong evidence base for Wales and ensure our evidence is shared externally and has impact. This includes sharing research findings with a range of audiences and external stakeholders through written and verbal briefings and working collaboratively with programmes across Trussell to build robust evidence base for the organisation’s policy and public affairs influencing and profile in Wales.
Develop effective partnerships and networks.
· Build collaborative external partnerships and develop networks to strengthen policy and public affairs activity in Wales, represent Trussell and promote the organisation’s policy positions to external stakeholders and audiences. This includes working with Wales based colleagues to represent the organisation in key Welsh sector coalitions and promoting the organisations policy positions and evidence to external stakeholders, to build awareness of the issues driving people to use food banks in Wales and our policy solutions.
Support effective campaigning.
· Work with campaign colleagues, food bank-facing colleagues in Wales and the food bank network to shape and deliver effective campaign activity that advances the organisation’s goals and strategy in Wales and across the UK. This includes working with Wales based colleagues to shape campaign activity, advise on the political context, and support mobilisation. This ensures campaigns are well informed, relevant to Wales and contribute meaningfully to UK wide programme objectives.
Person Specification
Core knowledge:
· Good knowledge of policy issues relevant to Trussell’s vision and expertise on the policies that drive hunger and hardship in Wales.
· Significant knowledge of the political landscape in Wales and of effective techniques for influencing change.
· Good understanding of research methods and of how to ensure high quality and credible evidence is deployed effectively.
Essential skills:
· Strong skills in effectively influencing political and public debates and working with politicians and policymakers across the political spectrum.
· Good ability to think strategically, demonstrate effective decision-making and ensure practical delivery of impactful activities.
· Excellent communication skills, including written, presentations and speaking, ability to adapt to influence different audiences.
· Collaborative interpersonal skills, ability to build relationships and influence internal and external stakeholders.
· Effective project management and ability to balance competing priorities and meet tight internal and external deadlines.
Key Experience:
· Track record of delivering effective policy and public affairs activity and achieving impact, ideally in Wales.
Special Requirements
None
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.