External Affairs Manager

Whether we’re uncovering archaeological finds, recognising buildings and places of national importance through ‘listing’, breathing new life into historic places or saving buildings that are at risk - Historic England is the public body that improves people’s lives by championing and protecting the country’s spectacular historic environment. We help people to care for, enjoy and celebrate England’s rich heritage, from beaches and battlefields to parks and pie shops.

We don’t do this alone; we work with and support many partners around the country.  We are looking for an experienced and motivated External Affairs Manager to work in our high-performing Communications team. This role offers an exciting opportunity to work in one of England’s leading public bodies to strengthen stakeholder relations to help deliver the organisation’s priorities.

We offer office-based or hybrid working from any of our offices - Newcastle, York, Manchester, Birmingham, Swindon, Bristol, London, Portsmouth and Cambridge.  Your line manager is based in York.

Salary

National salary range: £36,603 - £38,000 pro-rata

Greater London + salary range: £39,408  pro-rata

Inner London salary range: £40,748  pro-rata

What you will be doing

You will be responsible for the development and delivery of an integrated stakeholder approach and will help to ensure the Historic England vision is actively supported by influential national stakeholders.  The role will provide strategic advice on stakeholder relationships, implement processes to help colleagues prioritise and get the most out of engagement, embed effective evaluation and use the feedback to continuously improve our external engagement with national decision makers and key influencers in the heritage and cultural sectors.

The role will require a high degree of collaboration cross-group including with colleagues in regional offices to support their relationships with local authorities, Mayoral Combined Authorities, the development sector, local heritage and community groups by providing briefings on national stakeholder messaging. You will establish sound relationships quickly at all levels, grasp new issues easily, advising colleagues to help them build support for Historic England among key audiences.  You will be working with senior colleagues to gather feedback and you will be responsible for helping the Chairman on parliamentary matters.

You will be applying creative thinking to improve processes, offering clear recommendations and securing agreement for improvements to external engagement and advocacy work that leave a positive legacy.

Who we are looking for

• A strong track record of managing stakeholder relations for an organisation including extensive experience of successfully delivering stakeholder analysis and engagement

• A great communicator who can draw on evidence to write compelling content and speak confidently

• Experience of influencing at a senior level and collaborating with a wide range of partners

• Ability to prioritise and cope with varied demands in a multi-disciplined organisation

• Strategic thinker, able to balance long-term organisational objectives and audience needs to deliver results

We are an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusion. If you have a disability or neurodiversity, we would be happy to discuss reasonable adjustments to the job with you. Having just won the Gold Award from MIND, we also recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance.

We are an inclusive employer and believe that flexible working options are for everyone. We want to make sure our working arrangements don’t prevent anyone from joining us because of their personal circumstances. We also want to provide you with the best balance in your home and work life that we can.

We are open to considering options including job sharing, part-time working, compressed hours working and different working locations, including hybrid working. Please visit our jobs pages or contact us to find out more.

Why work for Historic England

We offer a wide benefits package including a competitive pension scheme starting at 26% contributions, a generous 28 days holiday, corporate discounts, free entry into English Heritage sites across the country and development opportunities to ensure you achieve your goals.

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for everyone. Diversity helps us to perform better and attract more people to support our work. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds.

We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and candidates with disabilities as they are underrepresented within Historic England at this level.