Head of external affairs jobs in belfast, northern ireland

We’re looking for a Policy and Public Affairs Manager with a proven ability to manage relationships with key stakeholders at a national level and a deep understanding of the education policy landscape. This is a great opportunity to join an ambitious team redefining public service delivery through tech innovation and strong partnerships.

Oak is the publicly-funded provider of free, high-quality digital curriculum and teaching resources for schools. We are a pioneering organsation, fully remote and mission-driven, working to support teachers and improve pupils’ access to quality education. Oak offers high levels of flexibility, autonomy and purpose.

Our culture has been independently recognised through:

• Flexa verified (93% overall score, including 95% for working hours and 97% for role modelling)

• Escape the City's Top 1% Employers – based on anonymous colleague reviews of culture, development, and impact

�� About the Role

Oak's success is built on a wide range of partnerships across the education and wider public sector. This is a fantastic opportunity for a policy and public affairs professional to manage key relationships and develop Oak's policy role.

�� What You’ll Be Doing

• Manage relationships and inputs with important stakeholders across the education, political and commercial sectors. Act as the lead policy liaison between Oak and the Department for Education

• Work with partners and the Department for Education to develop, agree and fulfil Oak’s policy role and remit within the curriculum, education, AI and edtech landscape.

• Write speeches, presentations, briefings and public papers to communicate Oak’s role and impact, and support Oak’s proactive and reactive media work. You will also represent Oak at public events and in meetings with key figures interested in our work.

• Ensure the continuous improvement of Oak’s external monitoring, stakeholder engagement and policy work.

• Deputise for the Head of External Relations and take on other general responsibilities as required.

• Regular travel to London for in-person meetings and events, including some overnight stays

• As a member of the Oak Team, you will contribute to the wider success and culture of the organisation as well as support and model our five values: create the right environment, be a great colleague, own your role but work for the team, make things happen and keep getting better.

• Work in cross-functional and product-oriented squads with colleagues from across the organisation, as required.

�� What We’re Looking For

• 4+ years holding responsibility for the development of policy and stakeholder relations.

• Extensive knowledge of the education landscape and policy agenda plus developments in AI and edtech.

• A skilled communicator, able to analyse, distil and convey complex information succinctly and build positive relationships with external stakeholders.

• Organised and detail-oriented.

�� Our Benefits

• 25 days annual leave, plus one extra day for each year of service (up to 28)

• Additional Oak closure days over Christmas/New Year

• 11% employer pension contribution (with no minimum employee contribution)

• A 36-hour working week, with half-days on Fridays or every other Friday off

• Fully remote working — we’ll support your home set-up and offer coworking options if preferred

• Twice-yearly in-person offsites to collaborate, connect, and have fun

• A culture that genuinely supports flexibility, autonomy, and trust

�� Inclusion and Belonging

We believe diverse teams build better products. We warmly welcome applicants from all backgrounds, particularly those who are underrepresented in the tech and education sectors.

We use the Applied recruitment platform to help reduce bias in our hiring process. 

�� Key Info

• Location: Remote, but you must be based in the UK with the legal right to work here

• Sponsorship: Unfortunately, we’re unable to offer visa sponsorship at this time

• Closing date: 23:59 on 31 August 2025

If this sounds like the kind of role and team where you would thrive, we'd love to hear from you.

Next steps

You’ll answer some questions related to your day-to-day job. After the advert closes, your answers will go through our sift process: all answers will be anonymised, randomised, and then reviewed by a panel of reviewers (real humans). 

If you are shortlisted, we’ll invite you to the next stage.

We love giving feedback, so at the end of the application process we'll share how well you performed.

We are aiming to start interviews in early September 2025.

We are experiencing really good responses to our job adverts. This may lead us to close the role early, so if you are considering applying then please get your application in early to avoid missing out.

We are an equal opportunities employer.

We are committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status, or race, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.

A part-time role developing, curating, delivering and finessing training for two distinct audiences – training for those who have low digital confidence, as well as young people, in how to use digital devices effectively and efficiently; and also training for those who may come into contact with, or wish to learn about, digital poverty, including staff of corporates and community providers. 

The former audience – learning about digital skills – will need to gain knowledge and understanding about the foundational elements of using laptops, tablets and smartphones.  This includes Essential Digital Skills such as setting passwords, connecting to Wi-Fi and using keyboards, as well as soft skills such as staying safe online, critical thinking and recognising fake news or AI generated imagery.

The latter audience – learning about digital poverty – will need to learn about the causes and impacts of digital poverty, what impact digital exclusion has on families and communities, and how to understand if someone is digitally included.

There may be other training requirements as well – such as training external users of our systems, training corporate volunteers, or a train-the-train model of supporting young people to work with those in their communities.

Key responsibilities

• Work with CEO and SMT to gain a strong understanding of the content we wish to deliver.
• Design a range of standardised training materials, developing curriculum plans, which are able to be tailored easily for cohorts.
• Work with the Head of Development to ensure training meets the needs of potential partners.
• Work with delivery and project officers to understand training requirements as they relate to specific programmatic requirements.
• Deliver training as the lead trainer for the charity, usually in person but sometimes online.
• Work with partner organisations to build strong relationships, especially when working with corporate volunteers.
• Create and implement monitoring and evaluation frameworks to assess the effectiveness of the training, gather feedback and finesse the training models you have created.
• Be able to run a train the trainer model for corporate volunteers, other staff, and young people on specific programmes, briefing them and ensuring consistency and quality.
• Work with the Head of External Affairs to produce high quality materials, including presentations, leaflets and other resources.
• Support marketing, project management, contract management and other functions delivered by other team members.
• Provide accurate reporting on the basis of feedback, participation and other indicators of current success.
• Take a self-sufficient approach to logistical management, whilst also working with colleagues where duties overlap.
• Keep up to date on developments in digital skills, maintaining subject matter knowledge.
• Maintain a strong understanding of the digital poverty landscape, including across policy, research and interventions, to inform training delivery.
• Work with colleagues to role model best practice in training.

The role is remote based - the whole team works from home - but you will need to be able to regularly travel across the UK including potential overnight stays and evening working.  You must feel comfortable being the person who sets up at a training event, and have a hands-on approach.  (The costs of travel are, of course, covered.)