Senior Policy Advisor

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

- 349763**Salary**:

- £40,025- Leeds: £40,025; London: £44,043- A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%**Job grade**:

- Senior Executive Officer**Contract type**:

- Permanent
- Loan
- Secondment**Length of employment**:

- This role is being advertised on a permanent basis. If preferable, Loan or Secondment options will also be available for existing Civil Servants (Loan) and applicants from accredited NDPBs or any other employer (Secondment).**Business area**:

- DHSC - Chief Scientific Advisor Group - Office for Life Sciences**Type of role**:

- Policy**Working pattern**:

- Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time**Number of jobs available**:

- 1Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- Leeds, LondonAbout the job

**Job summary**:
In DHSC, we are proud of our purpose - to enable everyone to live more independent, healthier lives for longer. To achieve this, and create a great place to work, we have four values: we are inclusive, we constantly improve, we challenge, and we are agile. If this sounds like an environment you’d like to work in, we’d love to hear from you.

The Office for Life Sciences (OLS) is a busy strategy and policy implementation unit of c. 100 people, providing direct support and regular advice to ministers in the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

Life Sciences is a crucial pillar of the UK economy, supporting over a quarter of a million jobs and generating an annual turnover in excess of £94bn. The pandemic has hammered home the vital importance of the sector for economic growth and the future health resilience of people across the UK.

OLS leads the Government’s drive to make the UK a Life Sciences hub, with one of the most pro-innovation healthcare systems in the world and a prime destination for research, investment and innovation across medicines, medical technologies and digital health. This requires direct working with Ministers and their Private Offices, the NHS and industry to shape and deliver government policy.

**Job description**:
The Access to Finance team sits within the OLS’ Manufacturing, Access to Finance and Skills (MAFS) deputy directorate.

**Access to Finance team**

To ensure the Life Sciences sector and NHS can thrive and tackle healthcare challenges, the UK requires a globally competitive Life Sciences investment ecosystem, where companies can access the funding needed for growth.

OLS's Access to Finance team is leading high-profile policy work, aiming to unlock more private investment Life Science companies and making it easier for them to access the funding they need to scale-up in the UK. This is a unique opportunity to deliver real-world impacts for innovative UK companies and a top Ministerial priority. We are a collaborative, high-performing, project-based team meaning priorities change over time.

The postholder will work with industry stakeholders, senior officials and ministers in DHSC and DSIT to improve access to finance for the UK’s most innovative, high-potential companies by championing and driving forward OLS’ access to finance priorities and supporting relevant cross-Whitehall initiatives. This is a busy, priority role with considerable visibility across both departments.

**Person specification**:

- Role responsibilities_

As a Senior Policy Advisor, you will be leading key elements of the Access to Finance teams' work, reporting to the Grade 7 Policy Lead and Grade 6 Team Leader for Access to Finance and Skills. The postholder will support on various components of OLS’s Access to Finance portfolio. Key responsibilities may include:

- Implementing the Access to Finance priorities set out in the Life Sciences Vision, ensuring alignment with other relevant access to finance initiatives across Government.
- Supporting HMT on the implementation of the Mansion House reforms announced by the Chancellor to unlock institutional investment into areas like Life Sciences.
- Overseeing the delivery of the £200m Life Sciences Investment Programme (LSIP), working closely with the British Business Bank.
- Influencing X-Whitehall policy teams to ensure OLS objectives are represented at the highest levels of Government.
- Engaging with industry, including Life Science venture capitalists, institutional investors (e.g., pension funds) and Life Science companies.
- Drafting and/or feeding into submissions, briefings and communications for Ministers, senior leaders and other policy teams.
- Key skills and experience required for this role_

We would love to hear from you if you:

- have experience building effective relationships across Government and with industry stakeholders.
- can demonstrate outstanding verbal and written communication skills, able to compellingly and concisely explain complex policy issues.
- are comfortable working in a fast-