Policy manager jobs in Cardiff
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This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
Thank you for your interest in joining the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV), the UK’s leading professional body for health visiting.
This is a rare and exciting opportunity to join a growing, forward-looking organisation at a pivotal time. With a strong and expanding membership, iHV is working to strengthen the health visiting workforce and shape the future of child and family health across the UK.
As Policy Manager, you will play a key role in influencing national policy across priority areas including early years, prevention, public health, child protection and workforce. Your work will directly support iHV’s mission to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities for babies, children, families and communities and spread excellence in health visiting.
Working closely with our clinical team, members and partners, you will develop evidence-based policy positions and help ensure frontline expertise informs decision-making at the highest levels.
You will be joining a collaborative, passionate team in a fast-paced environment where no two days are the same – and where your work will make a real and lasting difference. For full information, please view our recruitment pack.
Key responsibilities:
- Lead the co-development of evidence-based policy positions with iHV’s clinical team, members and partners.
- Monitor policy developments and identify opportunities to influence change.
- Produce high-quality briefings, consultation responses and reports.
- Build relationships with stakeholders across government, charities and the health sector.
- Gather, synthesise and apply frontline insight to inform policy development – including the production of iHV’s high-profile ‘State of Health Visiting’ survey and report.
- Work closely with the Systems and Digital Manager, applying digital and data expertise to leverage digital tools and emerging technologies (including AI) to strengthen evidence-gathering, inform policy development, and improve organisational effectiveness.
- Support delivery of policy elements of iHV projects and organisational priorities.
- Represent iHV at meetings and contribute to sector discussions.
About you:
We are looking for the following essential skills and experience:
- Strong understanding of UK policy-making processes and child and family health/ early years policy – ideally informed by experience working within or closely with government or public sector organisations.
- Exceptional writing skills, with a proven ability to produce authoritative, high impact briefings, reports and policy documents that are clear, persuasive and tailored to diverse audiences.
- Highly developed analytical skills, with the ability to interpret complex information and evidence from multiple sources and translate this into clear, practical and actionable policy recommendations.
- Ability to collate, synthesise and critically assess diverse sources of insight, including frontline practitioner perspectives, quantitative and qualitative data, to inform robust policy development.
- Experience developing or contributing to evidence-based policy outputs (e.g. briefings, reports, consultation responses).
- Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills, with the ability to work effectively and collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders and partners.
- Strong organisational and project management skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities, coordinate inputs and deliver work to deadlines.
- Confident verbal communication skills, with the ability to contribute effectively to meetings, events and external discussions, presenting complex ideas clearly.
Registered Charity 
21 - 50
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Title: Senior Policy and Advocacy Manager
Salary: From £45,000 - £55,000 per annum
Contract: Permanent
Hours: 37.5 per week (Monday to Friday)
Holiday: 25 days per year plus bank holidays
Location: Home based with regular travel within / to London and across the UK
Probationary Period: 3 months
Reports to: Head of Department
Benefits: An additional 3 days holiday between Christmas and New Year, Flexitime policy, 5% pension contribution
Title and salary to be commensurate with experience.
We are River Action
We are a small and agile campaigning organisation on a mission to rescue UK rivers from a toxic cocktail of agricultural, sewage and industrial pollution and water shortages. We support community action, galvanise and mobilise public opinion, influence government policy, take legal actions and call out destructive industrial practices to incentivise changes that end river pollution and secure freshwater.
We are building a talented team of positive disrupters and stakeholder mobilisers to deliver our strategy to urgently protect and restore our rivers for the benefit of communities, rivers and wildlife.
Britain’s rivers are our life support system and they are dying. We need urgent action to bring them back to life.
Who we are looking for
We are expanding our political influence by introducing this new position, which will work closely with our existing Policy and Advocacy Manager to bolster our strategic reach particularly in the areas of water scarcity, security and justice, sewage and chemical pollution, and water sector reform.
We are seeking a dynamic and self-motivated individual who shares our passion for protecting rivers and securing our nation’s water, food, health, jobs and economy to join our team to drive forward our policy and advocacy work. This role requires a strategic thinker with strong policy insights capable of blending analytical problem-solving with intelligent advocacy to drive meaningful change. This role requires someone to have excellent writing skills and the ability to draft complex policy documents as well as top line arguments for wider communication.
The ideal person will bring a combination of expertise, energy and ideas to amplify our impact, holding decision-makers and polluters accountable with a professional and diplomatic approach. They will engage with influential people across the sector, government, industry and media.
If you thrive in fast-paced environments and want to be at the forefront of environmental policy and advocacy across multiple campaigns, we’d love to hear from you.
What you’ll be doing
As a Senior Policy and Advocacy Manager, you will lead the development and drafting of River Action’s overall policy strategy as well as leading on specific policy areas. You will play a leading role in shaping and advancing River Action’s political and policy influence, working closely with the Senior Management Team, Chief Executive and wider organisation to develop and execute an impactful policy and advocacy strategy.
River Action is the Co-Secretariat for the APPG on Water Pollution, offering our Policy and Advocacy Manager a unique opportunity to shape the policy direction for River Action and also to influence policy development across Parliament.
You will also work closely with our public affairs agency who manage our daily Westminster activities.
You will:
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Lead River Action’s development and delivery of our policy and advocacy strategy on sewage, industrial water pollution, and water scarcity
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Collaborate with River Action’s team and external partners to ensure our collective work is underpinned by robust and forward-thinking policy analysis and evidence.
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Develop policy analysis to support campaign, communications and policy strategies, based on a strong evidence base and a sound understanding of the relevant legal and policy frameworks.
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Translate complex policy and evidence into concise documents with clear messages and compelling campaigns to engage political and policy stakeholders.
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Monitor and analyse political and policy developments, interpreting their implications and opportunities for River Action and its supporters.
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Generate analysis to enable participation in public consultation processes, including drafting high-quality and persuasive consultation responses and briefings for Westminster and Whitehall audiences.
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Increase our political influence with exciting policy interventions, ensuring River Action’s voice is heard at the highest levels of decision-making.
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Build and maintain relationships with key policymakers, civil servants, industry experts and partner organisations.
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Support grassroots community groups and third-sector partners in engaging with their local representatives for effective advocacy.
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Organise and attend key political meetings and events, including the Water Pollution APPG, stakeholder roundtables and parliamentary events.
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Manage strategic policy partnerships, including our relationship with Wildlife and Countryside Link and other third-sector organisations.
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Ensure River Action’s policy and advocacy efforts align with our creative campaigns, by making sure colleagues and spokespeople are well-briefed and communications content is well-informed to maximise reach and impact.
You will also:
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Actively engage in professional development and training.
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Adhere to health and safety policies while working in different locations.
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Maintain confidentiality in all areas of work at River Action.
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Demonstrate a strong commitment to an inclusive, equal and diverse workplace.
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Work collaboratively with colleagues across River Action to collectively deliver our mission while being true to our values.
UK travel will be required and regular trips to London. Training and operational activities may require overnight stays away from home, in which case costs will be covered and standard River Action procedures will apply.
What you’ll bring
The position will suit a self-motivated, strategic and determined person. You will be an excellent communicator, with exceptional writing skills and comfortable representing River Action and engaging with diverse stakeholders in positions of responsibility. You will have a passion to protect and restore our waterways and to hold decision-makers and polluters to account.
Essential knowledge, skills and experience:
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Experience in a senior policy and advocacy role, ideally within the environmental sector and including experience of water policy.
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Policy and/or legislative experience, with a good understanding of the workings of the UK government and Parliamentary procedure.
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A good understanding of the UK water industry, the key UK water-related policies and the issues that are impacting our rivers, land and wildlife.
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Knowledge of the challenge of water scarcity.
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Excellent communication and writing skills with close attention to detail and the ability to produce concise and persuasive briefings, reports and consultation responses.
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Strong interpersonal skills and a collaborative approach to working creatively and at a fast pace with colleagues, stakeholders and partners.
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Excellent organisational skills, including the ability to proactively plan and prioritise work and to report your progress and impact.
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Ability to work flexible hours and travel as necessary.
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A good and supportive team player with a willingness to muck in as and when required.
Why join us?
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Be part of a mission-driven organisation working to restore and protect the UK’s rivers.
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Work at the heart of political and environmental change, influencing decision-makers at the highest levels.
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Work in an agile, supportive and happy work environment where your ideas and expertise will have real impact.
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Opportunities for professional development and growth within the organisation.
Diversity and inclusion
Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies show that women and people of colour are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single criteria. We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace. So if you like the look of this role but your past experience does not align perfectly with everything in the job description, we’d still love to hear from you. You may be just the right person for this role.
How to apply
To apply, please submit to jobs at riveractionuk dot com with the subject Senior Policy and Advocacy Manager’:
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your CV (2 pages),
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a cover letter (2 pages) explaining why you want to work for River Action and how your skills and experience meet the requirements of the role, and
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a written submission (2 pages) as described below.
Only applications including all three documents will be accepted. Please provide your documents in pdf format.
Written submission
Please prepare a 2 page policy briefing for Parliamentarians on the issue of water scarcity and water justice and how it affects UK rivers and our security. Your briefing should be written in a clear, persuasive style suitable for a Parliamentary and government audience and:
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Identify causes of water scarcity and injustice.
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Provide a concise analysis of the impact on rivers, biodiversity and our economy.
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Summarise and assess gaps in relevant UK Government policies, legislation and plans.
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Propose two or three practical policy recommendations for decision-makers.
Application process
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until 5pm on Wednesday 15th July.
Should your application be selected during sift, the next stage will involve an initial 15-minute interview. You may then be invited to attend a second interview with a panel.
Interviews will be held in the weeks commencing 19th July and 26th July via video conference.
Please indicate in your covering letter or in a covering email your availability for interviews.
If you have any questions about the role or your application, please contact us on jobs at riveractionuk dot com.
