Transport for the North

Public Affairs and Engagement Officer
Reference: FEB20246770
Expiry date: 12:00, Wed, 28th Feb 2024
Location: Manchester
Salary: £43,936 - £50,617 Per Annum
Benefits: 28 days holiday per annum plus bank holidays, access to the local government pension scheme, access to various salary sacrifice benefits, access to Flexi-Time Scheme, allowing accrual of up to 18 additional days leave per year
Attachments: PublicAffairsEngagementOfficer-PoliticallyRestricted-4U(ProfServ).pdf

You will be required to act as TfN’s lead Public Affairs & Engagement specialist applying expertise to ensure the development and delivery of TfN’s Public Affairs & Engagement Service and Strategy in support of all of TfN’s programmes and activities and to maintain and enhance TfN’s reputation and delivery of its strategic priorities.

The successful candidate will partner with relevant business areas across TfN, providing specialist advice, identifying opportunities for communication and engagement aligned to TfN’s Strategic Transport Plan and statutory functions, and designing/delivering public affairs & engagement support services, including identifying new opportunities for TfN to engage, and approaches to service delivery where appropriate. This post will also manage associated external specialists who deliver related professional services to TfN.

The postholder will assist the Head of Stakeholder Engagement & Communications in managing the wider team’s work-streams and oversee priority projects as required.

What we’re looking for:

You will probably have an interest in UK politics and politics in the North of England, and a passion for infrastructure or transport policy:
• Excellent written and oral communication skills for drafting briefings, reports, letters and other documents for internal and external use, and for internal and external events.
• Prepared to organise and manage events on behalf of the organisation, in particular our annual conference.
• Prepared to organise and attend events at Westminster and annual political party conferences.
• Able to manage competing short and long-term priorities effectively and systematically.
• Highly self-motivated and will pursue goals with gusto.
• Understanding of the current transport and related policy environments, or experience of working in the political, infrastructure or transport sectors.
• Experience of undertaking or managing research and / or analysis to enhance business performance and understanding of key issues.
• Be able to quickly understand and explain the links between Government policy changes and day-to-day operations.
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office including Work, Excel and PowerPoint.

Desirable
• Experience of undertaking political engagement and influencing work.
• Experience of managing and / or using stakeholder management systems.
• An understanding of the workings of the UK Parliament and central and local government.
• Experience of using social media and digital campaigning tools.

Essential qualifications:
• Educated to degree level and/or relevant professional qualification.

Closing Date: 12:00pm on 28 February 2024

Provisional Interview Date: 7 March 2024

In return, as well as a competitive salary, our other benefits are:

• 28 days holiday per annum plus bank holidays
• Access to the local government pension scheme
• Access to various salary sacrifice benefits, including Travel Pass purchase scheme.
• Access to TfN’s Flexi-Time Scheme, allowing accrual of up to 18 additional days leave per year

If you believe you have the skills and experience we’re looking for please apply online, ensuring that in your application you provide evidence in the form of specific examples of how you meet the essential criteria in the role profile.

All candidates will be required to prove their right to work in the UK as part of the recruitment process.

At TfN, we welcome and encourage applications from everyone regardless of age, disability, gender, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation. We are particularly keen to encourage applications from women, members of ethnic minority groups and people with disabilities who are currently under-represented.

As part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, all applications will be considered on their merit.

As an organisation we always strive to do the right thing and understand that in order to make a difference in our society and workplace, we must be committed to respecting equality and diversity, showing kindness, tackling discrimination and promoting inclusion and have signed the CIHT Diversity and Inclusion Charter Statement to further endorse our commitment. We are also an accredited Living Wage Employer, this means that every employee earns a real Living Wage and are recognised as Disability Confident employer (stage 2) acting as a disability confident champion within our local and business communities and business networks.