Migration and Borders Group

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 275498**Salary**:

- £39,000 - £42,900**Job grade**:

- Senior Executive Officer**Contract type**:

- Permanent**Business area**:

- HO - Migration and Borders**Type of role**:

- Policy**Working pattern**:

- Full-time, Job share, Part-time, Compressed Hours**Number of jobs available**:

- 1Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- Belfast - Drumkeen HouseAbout the job

**Job summary**:
Migration consistently ranks as one of the policy areas of greatest concern to the UK public and businesses, and following the UK’s exit from the EU and subsequent changes to the UK immigration system it remains an area of great interest. An ability to analyse and evaluate the policy recommendations is therefore vital to informing the policy debate going forward.

**About the MAC**

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) is an independent non-departmental public body, established in 2007 to carry out independent reviews and provide evidence-based immigration policy advice to the Government.

The MAC’s independent advice has been highly influential in shaping both immigration policy and the wider migration debate in the UK. Recent impacts of MAC work include:

- A review of the impact of the ending freedom of movement has had on the adult social care sector.
- A review of the Shortage Occupation List.

The Committee is made up of eminent labour market economists and migration policy specialists. The MAC secretariat is a multi-disciplinary team of staff from a mix of analytical and policy backgrounds. It runs the affairs of the Committee including carrying out detailed analytical and policy work. We work across Government and beyond to ensure that policy and strategy in relation to migration and employment is based on the best possible evidence and analysis. The majority of the MAC secretariat is located in the Home Office, the MAC’s sponsor department - with members of the Devolved Nations team based across the UK.

**The role**

The MAC Secretariat is looking to recruit an SEO to lead our work in Northern Ireland and enhance the MAC’s excellent reputation for high quality, innovative and policy-relevant analysis and advice on migration.

This role is located in Northern Ireland with a view to enhancing the MAC’s on-the-ground engagement and intelligence with local and national stakeholders.

**Job description**:
This role combines stakeholder engagement responsibilities with the opportunity to be directly involved in research and analysis, working closely with economists and social researchers in the secretariat.

The role will be split roughly 50/50 so that the post holder spends half their time:

- Engaging with stakeholders and building networks of employers, academics, local authorities in the Devolved Nations;
- Representing the MAC in regular meetings with devolved administrations, UK Government, and maintaining our independence;
- Building our evidence base in the Devolved Nations and briefing the committee with thematic policy papers e.g. regional labour market profiles

The other half of the time, the post holder will be working on wider commissions and programmes underway across the MAC, most of which will have an analytical nature.

The post holder will be part of a Devolved Nations team, alongside an additional SEO based in Wales and one G7 based in Scotland, who will line manage the post holder. The Devolved Nations team is overseen by a member of the secretariat’s Senior Management Team.

**The post holder will be responsible for**:

- Engaging with stakeholders in the Devolved Nations, building relationships and ensuring that sufficient evidence is gathered during meetings.
- Taking an active role in decision-making processes, forming an opinion, and presenting well-sourced evidence in support of a particular course of action.
- Using analytical experience to lead/support a range of quantitative, qualitative research and data analysis projects.
- Drawing on knowledge of research and analysis principles to inform their action, and contribute to discussion at MAC Committee meetings.

**Person specification**:
The post holder will need to be comfortable working with colleagues virtually, as their manager will not be based in Belfast. Occasional travel across the Devolved Nations, to London and to areas of England are to be expected.

**Essential Criteria**:

- Excellent written and oral communication skills: for report writing, engagement with the Committee, Ministers and our partners and to represent the MAC at external meetings and events.
- Strong team player and collaborator who can work with both policy and analytical staff.
- Strong skills in building and managing relationships across organisational boundaries, collaborating effectively with multiple stakeholders.
- Experience of delivering analytical work to tight deadlines.
- Knowledge of analytical principles and experience of carrying out research and/or seco