Policy officer jobs in Glasgow

Location (UK): Office Hybrid* - Glasgow
Hours: 35 hours per week, Full-time
Salary: £40,295 per annum (rest of UK)
Benefits: Read more about the
Contract type: Fixed-term until August 2026
Travel: Travel between our Glasgow office and the Scottish Parliament will be required on a monthly basis with additional occasional travel around Scotland.
Closing date: 23:59 hours, Monday 05 January 2026

Join us and use your skills, knowledge, passion and energy to help us achieve a future free from arthritis.

About the role

As part of Scotland's policy and influencing team, you will play a critical role in shaping and influence policy thinking, managing time-sensitive projects across our policy priority areas, and building relationships with stakeholders and decision-makers across Scotland.

You will gather, analyse, and share information about external policy developments and their implications for people with arthritis, developing policy positions, producing evidence-based briefings and reports and contributing to consultation responses.

As well as working closely with nation influencing colleagues and teams across the Services and Devolved Nations Directorate, you will work closely with the UK Advocacy and Health Intelligence team, Research Directorate and Strategic Communications teams, including representing us on cross-sector policy groups and participating in events and conferences.

We'll give you autonomy, variety and challenge with opportunities to lead projects, to work together with inspirational campaigners and people with arthritis, as well as collaborate with senior Scottish Government and NHS Scotland stakeholders. We're a supportive team who will value your well-being and professional development.

About you

You will have ready-made resourcefulness, be a creative thinker, with strong analytical, written and verbal communications skills. An enthusiastic, adaptive and flexible approach is important, together with an ability to work with autonomy and across teams as well as:

• Experience of influencing external policy and decision making within Scotland.
• Understanding of current healthcare policy issues relevant to people with long-term conditions or disability.
• Experience of drafting policy papers and briefings, and the ability to understand and articulate academic research and policy papers.

*As a hybrid worker the expectation is that you will spend around 40% of your working time in our office spaces or working in community settings.

As an inclusive employer we will consider home-based working for anyone where office-based hybrid working would be a barrier to being able to work for us, for example for someone living with a long-term health condition or disability.

Application deadline and shortlisting 

• We advise candidates to apply early as we reserve the right to close applications ahead of this date.  
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. 

We do not wish to receive contact from agencies or media sales. 

Please note that we do not use Artificial Intelligence (AI) during our recruitment and selection processes, and we would respectfully ask that you also refrain from using AI during the selection process. Whilst we do recognise that AI may be a beneficial tool for some when aiding research and preparation for an application or interview, we want to maintain a fair, inclusive and positive recruitment experience at Arthritis UK where candidates can feel supported to demonstrate their experience, knowledge, and skills without the use of AI generated answers.

Interview

First interviews expected in week commencing Monday 12 January 2026 at Edward House, Glasgow.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we guarantee you will be offered an interview if you disclose a disability and demonstrate sufficient evidence within your application that you meet the essential criteria for this role. We will also make any reasonable adjustments you may require for your interview.

About us

We have made a commitment in our Diversity and Inclusion Strategy to increase the diversity of our charity and we welcome candidates from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. We want our employees, volunteers and trustees to represent the broad diversity of the communities of which we are a part.

There are over 10 million people living with arthritis. That's one in six, with over half of those living in pain every single day. The impact is huge as the condition slowly intrudes on everyday life - affecting the ability to work, care for a family, to move free from pain and to live independently. Yet arthritis is often dismissed as an inevitable part of ageing or shrugged off as 'just a bit of arthritis'. We don't think that this is OK. Arthritis UK is here to change that.

Arthritis UK is committed to keeping children, young people and vulnerable adults safe from harm. During the recruitment process we will undertake safer recruitment practices and relevant checks to ensure applicants are suitable to work with children, young people and vulnerable adults.