Public Affairs Adviser

Citizens UK

Citizens UK is the UK’s biggest, most diverse and most effective people-powered alliance. We bring communities and local organisations together to work on issues that matter; from campaigning for zebra crossings on dangerous roads, to reforming the immigration system, to the Living Wage campaign. We have a track record of winning change through hundreds of local and national campaigns. We know everyday people have the ability to shape the world around them. We believe that through developing local leaders, we can drive nationwide change and create community-led solutions to big and small problems.

Purpose

At Citizens UK, our organisers and project staff work within communities to develop leaders, strengthen organisations, campaign for change and organise across difference. There are various project roles and operational, communication, finance and HR roles that support the organisation and project staff and organisers to deliver on this mission and work. This work is rewarding and can be challenging; it requires a personal commitment to inclusion, a willingness to listen and disagree respectfully, and an interest in working in an organisation where our staff, member institutions and leaders will come from a diversity of backgrounds and often hold views that may be very different from our own. More information about how we operate within this context and build trusted relationships across difference can be found on our website and is covered in induction. Onboarding and navigating this relational culture, and type of work, is supported by line managers and further training.

We have a rich history of teams in our projects and campaigns successfully engaging with senior politicians - be that through developing longstanding relationships with local MPs or future City Mayors and Prime Ministers publicly committing to community-designed pledges. As a non-partisan organisation, engaging with politicians and decision-makers of all political colours is integral to the success of our leader-led campaigning. Much of our political engagement is driven by the institutions and the volunteer community leaders within them. All of CUK’s successes started there, in the powerbase of the community. Other aspects of our political engagement comes through our project- and campaign-specific work; for example around the real Living Wage or our refugee and migration work.

Part of a busy team of communications and campaigns specialists in a fast-paced department, this is an exciting opportunity to support CUK’s political engagement. As CUK has grown, we want to be more strategic and use broader tactics to engage with decision-makers. A key part of your role will be to support teams to connect and coordinate stakeholder relationships that are held across the organisation whilst also supporting chapters and projects to build capacity in public affairs, develop their strategies and engage locally. You will play a critical role in shaping our public affairs work through monitoring, bringing together intelligence and drafting policy briefings, as well as advising on the best course of action to engage with decision makers and win key campaigns.

The ideal candidate will be someone who is excited by maintaining our commitment to being led by the community and our local alliances and maximising their ability to win change. You’ll be a strong and patient communicator with the ability to build meaningful relationships internally and externally, with brilliant instincts for how to take complex issues and translate them into engaging tactics. You’ll be politically savvy with a detailed knowledge of the workings of government and parliamentary procedure as well as a working knowledge of the devolved administrations. You’ll ideally already have experience working as part of a team to deliver campaign results on a national and local level and be excited by the breadth of work that Citizens UK does.

Main Responsibilities

Working as the Public Affairs Adviser for Citizens UK, reporting to the Senior Policy and Public Affairs Manager, your responsibilities will include:

Contribute to CUK mission and its strategic objectives

• Help Citizens UK deliver on its mission and objectives, including developing leaders, making change on issues that matter to our members and developing our effectiveness in linking local organising to national campaigns.

Situational Awareness and Research

• Maintain and develop Citizens UK’s influencing stakeholder contact programme, identifying opportunities and strategies to improve engagement.
• Monitor the shifting policy and political landscape, advising colleagues on opportunities and risks for Citizens UK.
• Work with key sector stakeholders and internal teams to support a broad public affairs plan.
• Help to shape campaign plans and mobilise the public and our campaign supporters and community leaders.

Strategy Development

• Lead on the design and implementation of a focused and effective influencing strategy, working closely with project and campaign leads and supporting community leaders.
• Shape public affairs strategy at a project / campaign level, ensuring that plans deliver against the influencing goals of the project / campaign; evaluating effectiveness of the strategy and adjusting as required.
• Participate in development of the wider communications strategy, contributing tactical and creative ideas around implementation of public affairs plans.
• Help to secure high level meetings, brief key staff and action team members in advance, attend as appropriate and ensure follow up actions are completed.
• Ensure that the delivery of the public affairs strategy is aligned with Community Organising principles.

Reputational and Risk Management

• Awareness of potential reputational risks and proactively develops appropriate protocol \ messages.
• Effectively represent the organisation according to the public affairs plan.

Materials Development and Dissemination

• Create policy briefing materials on key thematic areas such as migration, asylum and refugees, employment, social care etc.
• Keep good records of our relationships with stakeholders.
• Monitor, disseminate and respond to parliamentary activity that is relevant to our projects, campaigns and chapters.
• Support colleagues and community leaders to draft consultation responses where relevant.
• Produce high quality briefing materials that adheres to the brand guidelines and work with colleagues to support their capacity, understanding and use of public affairs assets.

Social Media and Website

• Work with the communications team on public affairs opportunities to build our reach and engagement with key audiences.
• Ensure all content is produced to support accessibility and in latest formats.
• Support on email campaigns – data management, copy and creative execution, testing strategy for optimisation.
• Analyse and report on campaign response and ensure lessons learned are applied to future campaigns.

External Relationships

• Support community leaders in their engagement with politicians through training and advice.
• Support others to build effective relationships with other organisations, parliamentarians and civil servants across Local Authorities, Regional Authorities, both Houses and relevant Government Departments.

Campaign and Events Management

• Generate ideas for political tactics which can support campaign actions and provide advice and support for them to be delivered.
• Support events organised by colleagues with public affairs support where appropriate.

Internal Comms and Knowledge Management

• Work with members and other stakeholders to continually test, learn and improve on our public affairs approach.
• Maintain centralised digital assets, e.g. photos, video, templates, slide-decks, trainings.
• Update key public affairs files and assets; ensuring data protection (GDPR) compliance and that informed consent is obtained if required.
• Contribute to the maintenance of organisational planning tools.
• Act as a brand ambassador for the whole organisation.

Internal Relationships

• Demonstrate ability to coordinate and advise on the public affairs work of colleagues across the organisation and work with external suppliers and providers.
• Support effective negotiation between colleagues across the organisation to ensure coherent engagement with political stakeholders.

Learning, Expertise and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

• Keeps up to date with public affairs developments, good practice in third sector etc.
• Trains and advises others with relevant and helpful advice and technical support to upskill colleagues.
• Proactive in maintaining own wellbeing at work.
• Displays self-awareness of DEI issues and the impact on colleagues.
• Acts as a role model for DEI awareness and implementation. Is alert to and manages the impact of DEI issues for stakeholders.

Personal Specification

(D) Desirable, (E) Essential

Experience

• Experience in working with parliamentarians of all political backgrounds (E)
• Experience working with multiple internal project teams (E)
• Experience of managing a stakeholder engagement campaign (E)
• Experience developing evidence-based policy positions to influence policy at local and national levels (D)
• Experience of utilising digital tactics to enhance public affairs strategies (D)

KEY SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

• Strong political instincts and strategic awareness (E)
• A clear and demonstrable understanding of parliamentary processes and procedures with in-depth understanding of the way that decisions are made within policy and parliamentary processes (E)
• Ability to support others in their influencing strategies (E)
• Excellent influencing skills (E)
• Strong understanding of integrated campaigning tactics (E)
• Ability to interpret data and research to utilise in lobbying tactics (E)
• Excellent written and verbal communication and ability to tell stories (E)
• Ability to map, analyse and evaluate national policy (E)
• Ability to work independently and prioritise effectively (E)
• Excellent time and project management skills (E)
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines (E)
• A flexible and adaptable approach to work (E)
• A passion for social justice and communities (E)
• Good understanding of local and regional government (D)
• Comfortable working with diverse people of all faiths and none (E)

PERSONAL QUALITIES & VALUES

• Inclusive (E)
• Self-motivated (E)
• A strong team player (E)
• Adaptable and innovative (E)
• Creative and curious (E)
• A willingness to learn about and embed the practice of Community Organising (E)
• Accountable (E)

Interview date: 21 January 2025