Interim Policy Officer, Healthy Lives
6 Month FTC £42,023 pro rata Hybrid - 2 Days London Office Based
We are currently recruiting a temporary Policy Officer to join The Health Foundation, an independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK. You will join a team working to improve people's health and reduce health inequalities. As Policy Officer you will be the day to day contact for a large programme of work with Combined Authorities, support policy and influencing work to embed health at the core of the government and also carry out any other policy and research duties deemed necessary such as preparing briefings and attending key meetings.
Key duties and responsibilities:
- Point of contact for The Health Foundations £1.6m programme of work with Mayoral Regions, working closely with the Assistant Directors. This programme, working with 9 Combined Authority areas aims to support Combined Authorities to make the most of the opportunities they have to improve health inequalities.
- Supporting The Health Foundations policy and influencing work to embed health at the heart of government. This is a major programme of work for The Health Foundation, building on a recent publication setting out the opportunity of mission-based government to work across government to improve health.
- Undertake specific pieces of policy and research to support their work and carry out other key tasks including preparing briefings and attending key meetings with Ministers, Civil Servants, parliamentarians and others.
- Lead and contribute to a range of policy work, including the planning and development of projects, and with analysis, writing and publication.
- Lead relationships with key stakeholders, keeping them updated, handling queries, commenting on outputs, and escalating issues.
- Write for a range of audiences to communicate their research and analysis, and relevant policy implications. This could include contributing to the Foundation publications, press releases, internal briefings, and other relevant outputs.
- Assist with the communication of our work to a range of audiences, using a variety of means. This may include supporting in meetings, events, and webinars, facilitating roundtables and workshops, and providing other ad hoc support for our influencing work.
- Keep abreast of relevant policy and research pertaining to the work.
- Conducting and supporting in-house scoping work. This could involve working on areas including young people's health, regional devolution, and the wider determinants of health.
- Demonstrate initiative and intellectual agility in identifying areas of interest for the team to focus on, or to scope to externally commission research on.
Skills and experience required:
- Demonstrated experience of making a distinctive contribution to policy projects through strong research and analytical skills.
- Demonstrated experience in writing for and disseminating findings to a range of audiences, including policy audiences, through drafting written papers or reports and giving oral presentations. Ability to write briefings and meeting minutes.
- Strong knowledge of policy in relation to population health and/or the social determinants of health and/or social issues relevant to young people, with a commitment to reducing health inequalities.
- Demonstrated experience of influencing stakeholders, including awareness of different ways to influence Government and Parliamentarians.
- Ability to self-start and work autonomously, work flexibly and across teams successfully.
- Highly developed organisational skills, including the ability to take responsibility for workload and a proactive approach to problem solving and teamwork.
- Excellent interpersonal and team working skills with the ability to build strong productive relationships with internal and external contacts of all levels.