Public Affairs Manager

Do you get a buzz from politics and thinking on your feet to build relationships and influence decision-makers?
Do you want to use your strategic thinking and tactical know-how to amplify the voices of people with MS and the wider MS community?
Do you want to work in an impact-driven team with big ambitions that will support your personal growth and professional development?
Public Affairs Manager
Contract: Full-time (35 hours a week), permanent
Location: Office-based in London, N4 with flexibility to work remotely. With regular travel in and around London for meetings and events.
Salary: £42,862 - £46,758 per annum plus excellent benefits
Salary Band: Band G1
About us
We make sure people living with MS are at the centre of everything we do. And it’s this commitment that unites us across the UK.
Our strategy is based on what people affected by MS have told us is important to them. It gives us a clear and determined focus.
Our work is based on the hopes and aspirations of our MS community. Together we campaign at all levels, fund ground-breaking research and provide award winning support and information.
Our people are our greatest asset and the key to our success. We offer a vibrant, progressive working environment where you'll be able to make a difference.
About this job
As our Public Affairs Manager, you’ll be responsible for our Public Affairs function and have a crucial leadership role in the team.
You’ll be identifying strategies and tactics to achieve our influencing objectives and to position us as go-to experts by decision-makers.
You’ll be based within our campaigns and Public Affairs team, working closely with our policy and evidence, press, and digital teams as well as with key external stakeholders.
To thrive in this role, you’ll have a tenacious and agile approach with a high-level of pragmatism in pivoting and adapting strategies at pace to get the best results for the MS community.
You’ll have a demonstrable interest in politics and in how to shape change through parliamentary and political processes. You’ll have experience supporting junior colleagues to build their skills and expertise and will work well with others to make things happen.
This is an exciting time to join the MS Society as we’re gearing up for a General Election year, developing our organisation and influencing strategies for 2025 and beyond.
If you want to play integral role in shaping how the MS Society increases our influence and impact for the MS community now and in the years to come, we want to hear from you.
We recognise the significant and excellent contributions; experience; and skills our employees bring to the MS Society.
Working with external pay and reward consultants, we’re taking active steps this year to review our employees’ pay and benefits package. Ensuring we’re aligned with the most accurate and up-to-date benchmarks for the UK charity sector.
Closing date for applications: 9am on Monday 26 February 2024
Anticipated interview date: week commencing 4 March 2024
Interested?
More information can be found by downloading the attached documents in 'supporting documents' and then to apply for this role, please submit the following:
an updated CV.
a supporting statement indicating how you meet the essential criteria as set out in the person specification in the attached job description.
Top Tip: you will need to save your Cover Letter, CV and Optional Equal Opps form as one document and upload this to the site.
We’d be grateful if you downloaded and completed the equality and diversity monitoring form and submit it with your application.
Equal Opportunities
We particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities and or from ethnic minority backgrounds.
We’d be grateful if you downloaded and completed the equality and diversity monitoring form and submit it with your application.
Your right to work in the UK
You must have the right to work in the UK to work in paid employment with us. You’ll need to share documents showing you’re eligible to work in the UK if we offer you employment.
You can find the UK visas and permits granting you the right to work in the UK on the UK Government website. We currently don’t have a Sponsor Licence agreement with the Home Office and aren’t able to support you with your visa applications.
Disability Confident Employer
We’re a Disability Confident Employer and we’re committed to promoting equality and diversity.
You can ask for reasonable adjustments as part of both our recruitment and new starter on-boarding processes.
If you need any help or adjustments to apply for this role, please contact us to discuss.
You can also ask for the application materials to be sent to you in a different format. Such as for them to be sent to you by email or in a larger word format.
More about our recruitment and selection process:
The HR team will anonymise your CV and supporting statement before forwarding to the shortlisting panel. This is done as part of our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.
The first round of our recruitment and selection process includes an interview with competency-based questions.
Our recruitment and selection process might also include extra tasks. For example, a written or Microsoft Excel test or making a presentation.
We’ll let you know what the selection process will include when we invite you to interview. You can ask for any more reasonable adjustments for the interview as part of the invitation.
You might also be invited for a second interview. We’ll let you know about this during the selection process.
More about our employee benefits:
We have a wide range of employee benefits including (but not limited to):
Encouraging work life balance:
38 days paid annual leave (including bank holidays), pro-rata for part-time
More annual leave entitlement, based on length of employment
Smart working options (with the opportunity to work remotely and find a smart working pattern that suits both you and us)
Flexible working options
Caring for you and your family:
Generous sick pay entitlement
More sick pay entitlement, based on length of employment
Opportunity to buy and sell annual leave in each calendar year
Free access to a GP virtually 24 hours a day/7 days a week allowing you unlimited advice, reassurance and where appropriate diagnosis
Enhanced leave for new parents
Free access to a confidential 24 hours a day/7 days a week helpline service for both you and your family with a specialist range of support and information
Special leave options (such as up to 5 days paid leave for domestic or personal emergencies a year)
10 days paid disability leave a year, pro-rata for part-time
10 days paid carers’ leave a year, pro-rata for part-time
New family-friendly benefits, including paid leave:
in the event of miscarriage or still birth
to support fertility treatments
for antenatal appointments for both parents
Cycle to work scheme
Death in service scheme
Health cash plans to help offset the cost of health care for you and your family
Thinking about your finances:
Enhanced salary sacrifice pension scheme
Discounted season ticket loan and interest-free emergency loans
Give as you earn to support other charities of your choice before tax
New employee portal including lifestyle savings vouchers and personal wellbeing
Enriching your life at work:
Personalised development plans with a wide range of training courses and opportunities to source additional training options with your line manager
Yearly internal apprenticeship opportunities
New, modern offices that embrace working together both in-person and remotely Various opportunities to influence how we internally operate (including surveys, and focus and committee groups)
Active and supportive internal employee networking groups for collaboration and peer support
2 days paid leave a year for volunteering for MS Society activities during normal working hours (such as fundraising events, or campaigning in the local community)
2 days paid leave a year for volunteering with other charities during normal working hours
Safeguarding
We’re committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of everyone who uses our services and we come into contact with.
This is regardless of:
gender
race
disability
sexual orientation
religion or belief
pregnancy
gender reassignment
We recognise our particular responsibility to make sure vulnerable adults and children are protected.
We have measures in place to protect everyone we come into contact with from abuse and maltreatment of all kinds.
No agencies please.