External Affairs Officer

The National Lottery Community Fund is recruiting for two External Affairs Officers, key roles in our External Affairs Team within our newly restructured communications function.  

The External Affairs Officer role is part of our ambitious transformation as we implement a significant pivot in our communications approach – building on our support for grant-making to demonstrate the powerful impact communities have in strengthening society and improving lives.

You will help position the Fund as a convening force in civil society, supporting our sectoral and political engagement during a time of exciting change.

Working across the External Affairs team, you will research and analyse policy, political and sectoral developments that affect our work, helping create clear briefings for meetings and events and arranging visits as appropriate. By horizon scanning and monitoring the external landscape, you will help the Fund respond proactively and effectively to emerging issues.

You will build and maintain relationships with parliamentary staff, officials and sector peers. By gathering intelligence, managing and supporting internal and external events, you will contribute to the Fund's engagement with decision-makers and opinion leaders. Your research and analysis will strengthen our policy positions and advocacy work.

Our External Affairs Officers play an important role in supporting the External Affairs team to deliver an effective, insight-driven strategy that articulates the Fund's missions (nationally and regionally) to critical stakeholders across the UK.  

Key responsibilities :

• Responsible for providing public affairs, policy and stakeholder engagement support across the External Affairs team, working on the development and delivery of our External Affairs plan, including management and delivery of events.
• Lead the development of briefings and other assets to support the delivery of external affairs work through high quality research and analysis
• Monitor the external political and policy landscape for developments that are relevant to the Fund and advise colleagues on these as appropriate
• Represent the Fund at networking and stakeholder events
• Develop a network of key internal and external contacts in the public affairs and policy space to further the Fund's aims
• Work collaboratively with the other External Affairs Officers to share skills and intelligence
• Cross-collaboration with the Communications Strategy and External Affairs teams to ensure our engagement strategy across the full communications function (media, corporate communications, brand, campaigns and public affairs) is impactful and cohesive
• Support the effective use of the Stakeholder Relationship Management (SRM) system

Location: Hybrid working

We have a hybrid approach to working, work pattern and location will be agreed with the successful candidate. The role can be based at any of our UK offices, these are Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Exeter, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Newcastle and Newtown.

Interview date: Week commencing 11th August

On application, please align your supporting statement to the criteria below

Essential criteria

• Excellent persuasive communication skills, oral and written
• Confident in writing briefings, positioning papers and other materials to support political and non-political stakeholder engagement
• Strong skills in political analysis and advising senior stakeholders
• Strong project management skills; the ability to produce high-quality work against competing priorities in a complex environment
• Experience in managing events and other stakeholder engagement activities

Desirable criteria

• An understanding of, or background in the VSCE sector
• Understanding of public affairs at a national and regional level and/or in civil society
• Experience in using and developing customer relationship management (CRM) systems

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion  

Communities in the UK come in all shapes and sizes. National Lottery funding is for everyone – therefore, we are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and we work hard to ensure our funding reaches where it is needed.  

We also believe our people should represent the communities, organisations and individuals we work with. That’s why The National Lottery Community Fund is committed to being an inclusive employer and a great place to work. We recognise and celebrate the fact that our people come from diverse backgrounds. We positively welcome applications from people from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities or longstanding health conditions, people who are LGBTQ+, and people from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds, as well as people of all ages. 

As a Disability Confident Employer, we take a proactive approach in making reasonable adjustments, if needed, throughout the recruitment process and during employment. (This can be related to a physical and mental health condition.)