Senior Policy and Review Officer

PO4-PO6, £46,206 - £62,451
Permanent
Full Time
Wandsworth Town Hall, Richmond Civic Centre
Are you looking to make a difference in 2025?Ambitious to drive innovation and change for two high-performing Councils, serving 500,000 residents across South-West London?

Do you want to work for Councils unafraid to work at scale, delivering one of the most substantial Cost of Living responses in London, large-scale regeneration projects, ambitious climate change action, and delivering London Borough of Culture 2025?

Do you enjoy seeking out and developing new ways of working, and are comfortable challenging colleagues to think differently?

Do you want the opportunity to work closely with lead members, helping them to turn their priorities into high-profile, innovative projects which make a difference for our residents?

If so, we have the role for you (Senior Policy and Review Officer).This is a great opportunity to join us in a senior position and help drive the delivery of the Councils' priorities.

Over the past year, the Policy team has played a key part in delivering the top priorities of the administrations for Richmond and Wandsworth including the expansion of the flagship Access for All programme, the launch of Wandsworth's new logo and core pledges, refreshing our opposition to Heathrow expansion, and the development of the £3 million Cleaner Borough Plan.

About The Role
We are responsible for supporting innovation, identifying examples of emerging practice from elsewhere and developing opportunities to pilot them locally.This post would suit someone with strong analytical skills, a sense of curiosity about how things work and how they can be improved.

As Senior Policy and Review Officer you will take a leading role on a range of high-profile, Member priority projects, working with services across the Council to develop strategies and services which deliver on the Councils' goals.No two days in the role will be the same, thereforeyou will need to be adaptable, and able to quickly learn about new subject areas.You will need to build good working relationships with colleagues at all levels of the organisation, and to build a collaborative environment for delivering projects. At times these projects will be complex, so you should be comfortable working with ambiguity.

In the role, you will need to present and engage with a range of audiences, including lead members, senior officers, and residents. You should be able to adapt your communication style and to communicate in a range of formats.You will be expected to produce high quality reports for, and on behalf of, senior officers and elected members with minimal supervision, and should be comfortable drawing on a variety of sources of information including interpreting data to inform these.

Essential Skills And Experience
A key role for the team is supporting services to reduce inequality in the boroughs, and holding them to account, and as a senior policy and review officer you should have a sophisticated understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion work within the public sector and a strong understanding of the councils' duties under the Public Sector Equality Duty.The postholder will provide advice to services on how to complete robust Equality Impact Needs Assessments and lead on providing constructive challenge to ensure that services are taking every opportunity to reduce inequality locally.

Alongside this, you will play your part in the wider Policy and Review team by sharing responsibility for business as usual tasks including producing regular briefings, collating corporate plan updates, and reviewing Equality Impact Needs Assessments.

We work on high profile projects and routinely work with elected members. You therefore need experience of working in a political environment.

For an informal conversation please contact: Jamie Fisher, Head of Policy and Strategy via

Closing Date:
5th October

Shortlisting Date:
W/C 6th October

Test:
W/C 13th October

Interviews:
W/C 20th October

We may close this vacancy early once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Please submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working including and other arrangements.Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you'd like to explore.Currently, we work as a team from the office for two days a week, across two locations (Wandsworth Town Hall and Richmond Civic Centre).

Richmond & Wandsworth Better Service Partnership are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone.We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to the Councils and can improve the way we deliver services.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer. If you require any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment and selection process, please let us know.

We are also committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.Some posts may be exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to these posts will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

We offer a wide range of benefits designed to attract, develop, and reward our employees such as 40 days annual leave (including Bank Holidays), flexible working and a generous pension plan.