Universities Scotland is recruiting for a role in our Public Affairs team. This is an opportunity to be a core part of a team working to influence politicians in Holyrood and Westminster in what is an exciting time in politics and a very important time for higher education.
Universities Scotland is the representative organisation for Scotland’s 19 higher education institutions. We are highly influential in ensuring that politicians, government and its agencies make decisions that promote higher education and its contribution to our nation's success.
The Public Affairs Executive is part of a small public affairs team and will provide vital support to the organisation’s influence with Government and Parliament at Scottish and UK levels. The successful candidate will be energetic, highly organised and a strong communicator; someone who is happy working to deadlines and juggling multiple projects and tasks. As a strong communicator, the successful candidate will be comfortable using a variety of traditional and online channels to convey our message. A proven team-worker, the post holder will have excellent organisational and administrative skills, be able to form effective relationships with colleagues across the organisation and the Scottish higher education sector. Previous experience coordinating events of various size and scale would be very advantageous.
Consideration will be given to requests for flexible working patterns.
Primary Deliverables
The post will support the public affairs function by assisting with:
- Close liaison with the Scottish and UK Parliaments and identification of both proactive and reactive opportunities for influence;
- Media relations, including responsibility for media monitoring and the drafting of press lines and releases under supervision;
- An executive role in Universities Scotland’s external communications particularly online and social media;
- Content generation, including the interpretation and application of data, evidence and case study to help inform Universities Scotland’s policy positions;
- Event management, responsibility for an annual calendar of events of varying scale and profile;
- Implementation of Universities Scotland’s public affairs strategy.
Reporting Line
The candidate will report to the Senior Public Affairs Officer.
Interview Stage
All candidates shortlisted and invited to interview will be asked to complete a timed written exercise as part of the interview process.