Head of Strategy & Policy (maternity cover) FTC

Job summary

Malaria No More UK is looking to appoint a Head of Strategy & Policy to cover a period of maternity leave starting from end April 2025.  This an exciting role that sits at the heart of the organisation and will join at a crucial time in the malaria fight with the Global Fund’s 8th replenishment taking place later this year. The role works across both our UK and International campaign streams, leading the execution and development of research, building strong evidence-based arguments, supporting with integrated advocacy and communications campaign strategies that deliver on the impact as set out in MNMUK’s strategy and providing relevant and up to date expertise on the global health and malaria policy landscape.

The role leads and oversees the implementation of MNMUK’s ‘integrated’ campaigning approach ensuring that MNMUK’s campaigning is built on political opportunity, is technically relevant and is driven by the right evidence and audience insights to engage target public audiences and political leaders behind the malaria fight. The role reports directly to the Executive Director of Advocacy & Strategy and manages a Policy Officer in support of this vital work.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone with significant experience of working in a relevant policy or strategy role to deliver change.

Core work will include:

·       Lead the effective delivery and execution of our international research project- managing the research consultant and working closely with the international workstream, the media team and external partners to deliver impactful research for advocacy and media in support of the Global fund’s 8th replenishment (May to September 2025)

·       Oversee and support the Policy Officer to deliver our UK science report, research and media outputs ahead of the UK’s spending review (May-June 2025)

·       Support the International workstream to develop the Change the Story campaign, ensuring effective integrated campaign strategies and plans and implementation of the monitoring and evaluation framework (ongoing)

·       Support the development of our science and innovation stream of work across both the UK and International campaign workstreams- develop detailed knowledge on the malaria innovation pipeline and maintain and build new science relationships and partnerships (ongoing)

·       Work closely with the other Heads and the Chief of Staff to develop MNMUK’s 2026 plans, ensuring they are aligned with MNMUK’s strategic objectives and focussed on achieving impact (August-December 2025)

·       Generate new research ideas and develop proposals for reports and media outputs in 2026 (November 2025 to May 2026)

·       Support the Philanthropy and Partnerships team in developing key grant proposals and strategic partnerships (ongoing)

Key responsibilities include:

• To lead MNMUK’s research and evidence work, ensuring that the organisation’s decision making and campaigning are informed by the best available evidence.
• To support the UK and International campaign teams to develop strategy, key arguments and narratives and ensure they are coordinated, effective and delivering on organisational impact objectives.

·        To ensure oversight of cross organisational support on messaging and use of accurate, up-to-date terminology and statistics.

• To lead the ongoing development and implementation of MNMUK’s five-year strategy and Theory of Change, providing challenge and practical support for the planning, long-term development and effective delivery of MNMUK’s strategic objectives.  
• To ensure MNMUK’s strategy is agile, remains politically and technically relevant and is informed by the right audience insights.
• To play a key role in developing the content needed to deliver supportive news coverage, working closely with the media team.
• Maintaining and strengthening relationships with key strategic external partners and institutions.
• Positioning Malaria No More UK/malaria in key global health trends/debates/platforms.
• Line Management of the Policy Officer.
• Occasional travel may be required to Africa and/ or Europe, sometimes at short notice.

Qualifications, skills and experience

Essential

·       Strong and significant advocacy experience/ability to demonstrate both strong policy analysis skills and political acumen

·       Excellent understanding of UK and donor market political contexts

·       Strong team working approach

·       Significant experience supporting the development of impactful news media products

·       Evidence of successful relationship building and partnership working

·       Experience of dealing with multinational/ global partners and stakeholders

·       Experience of commissioning and managing research

·       Strong quantitative and qualitative data analysis skills

·       Strong copywriting skills – able to translate complex content into language the public and media can be motivated by

·       Understanding of key international development issues and debates

·       Ability to travel, potentially at short notice

Desirable

·       Experience of global health (ideally malaria) policy analysis and/or advocacy

·       Good line management experience

·       Understanding of African country contexts

·       Academic background in International Development / Global Health / Malaria or a related field.

MNMUK recognises the value of a team in which people from diverse backgrounds are able to introduce fresh ideas and contribute to delivering our mission to make Malaria No More.

Candidates from historically marginalised or underrepresented backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

This job description is not exhaustive and may be amended over time in consultation with the Director

Staff benefits include:

·       10% employer pension contributions

·       28 days’ annual leave plus national holidays for the country of residence

·       Private Health Insurance may be available for non-UK residents depending on country of residence

·       Professional training & qualification subsidy