We are looking for an experienced Parliamentary & Government Relations Manager within our Government Relations team.
The Role
The Government & Parliamentary Relations team plays a vital role at heart of the Careers & Enterprise Company and is critical to the strategic development and day to day operations of the organisation. Skills and social mobility remain pivotal to government’s domestic policy agenda, including a much heightened focus in recent years on and the need to improve quality and coverage of careers education for young people across the country. The government has asked us to play that role and our Government & Parliamentary team have developed an engagement plan with stakeholders across Whitehall and Parliament to drive the agenda and cement key relationships with ministers and their special advisors, officials, select committees, APPGs and parliamentarians in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
We are looking for a confident and experienced self-starter to join the Government & Parliamentary Relations team to lead and look after key relationships in Westminster, in particular with Parliamentarians. Your work will support the Head of Government & Parliamentary Relations in the delivery of a coherent and effective political engagement strategy as part of a wider joined-up external affairs approach for the organisation (which ensures the CEC’s mission and work is visible, understood and engaged on). Key objectives are:
- We initiate and hold strong relationships, maintaining a robust management system to track and monitor engagements;
- Those relationships generate national and local engagement that help us to advocate about the issues and practice that can enable high quality careers support for young people;
- We can raise awareness of our work to the extent that our political stakeholders can articulate our purpose and progress.
You’ll be expected to have a sound understanding of the political climate, an excellent grasp of current affairs and a sharp political and business antenna to spot opportunities for the organisation. You will be able to demonstrate flexibility, proactivity and strong organisational skills in what is a a fast-paced and exciting environment.
From time-to-time the job requires some out of hours and off-site work, for example in attending conferences or constituency meetings with MPs.
The Company
The Careers & Enterprise Company was established in 2015 to prepare and inspire young people for the fast-changing world of work. To do this, we have formed a national network that connects schools and colleges with employers, large and small, and career programme providers such as Teach First and The Prince’s Trust.
What Experience do I need?
Qualifications & Experience required:
- Experience in a government relations, policy or public affairs environment (previous experience of working in Parliament and autonomously with parliamentarians or ministers is highly desirable);
- Significant operational experience of UK political structures, processes and trends;
- Proven experience of engaging through the policy process – (1) developing policy ideas and (2) responding to consultations, strategy development and call for evi-dence from parliamentary committees. To do this you are able deploy evidence and stakeholder insight expertly to positively influence and engage government and par-liamentary stakeholders with a clearly framed point of view;
- Proven ability to engage senior and working level stakeholders and manage political, ministerial and departmental sensitivities;
- A demonstrable understanding of school culture and the challenges faced by schools in delivering careers and enterprise, and the current careers education and corporate social responsibility landscapes.
Skills & Core Competencies:
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to persuade a va-riety of audiences and encourage others to use new ways of working. Confident in designing and delivering presentations;
- Collaborative and good at building relationships at all levels, both internally and with a range of external stakeholders;
- An ability to think and plan strategically, with evidence of executing successful influ-encing strategies;
- An understanding of the policy and content of CEC’s work;
- Proactive, with the ability to work independently, prioritising a busy workload and a large number of stakeholders;
- Adaptable, resilient, flexible with the ability to deal with complexity, ambiguity and work at pace;
- Confident in scoping new ideas for development, with the ability to challenge others and be challenged;
- First class writing skills with ability to develop briefs that are accurate, concise and compelling;
- Excellent time management, attention to detail, and multitasking skills;
- Diplomacy, tact and understanding of others’ priorities to achieve common goals;
- Self-starter and self-sufficient but able to be a team player, working with different colleagues and teams across the Company.