Senior Public Affairs Officer

• Support the delivery of the organisations public affairs strategy, helping to engage MPs, peers, government officials and political influencers in a timely and targeted way.
• Monitor political, policy and stakeholder developments and draft briefings that can inform the organisations advocacy, external engagement and support for its members.
• Provide high quality political, parliamentary and stakeholder advice to colleagues, escalating issues to more senior colleagues, as required.
• Support parliamentary engagement activity including preparing submissions to select committee inquiries, briefing spokespeople, and drafting briefings and correspondence aligned to the organisations influencing priorities.
• Help to maintain effective relationships with key external stakeholders including Royal Colleges, professional bodies, think tanks, government departments, Arms-Length Bodies and patient charities.
• Contribute to planning and delivering the organisations engagement at political party conferences, including fringe events, stakeholder engagement, and logistical support.
• Serve as communications lead for some of the organisations key work programmes, campaigns and policy topics as part of the departments account management model.
• Participate in the press office on-call rota so that the organisation can provide a 24/7 service to the media, members and senior colleagues, as well as supporting the media team during busy periods.
• Support the development and delivery of the organisations communications agency, HealthCommsPlus. This could include providing specialist public affairs / communications support, client account management and other commercially oriented activities, subject to business need.
• Assist with administrative and operational support in the department, as required. This could include supporting the director of communications with diary management, booking travel and accommodation, processing purchase orders and invoices, formalising minutes and action logs, preparing internal papers, supporting the onboarding and induction of new starters, and providing logistical support at away days and other departmental events.

Essential

• Experience in public affairs, either in-house, for an agency, or having worked in government or Parliament.
• Experience in contributing to the delivery of public affairs plans and campaigns designed to meet organisational objectives.
• Proven ability to support the delivery of integrated communications plans and use appropriate channels to reach targeted audiences.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to network and maintain effective relationships with a variety of audiences, including senior colleagues and external stakeholders.
• Experience drafting briefings and providing clear, concise political insight, including against tight deadlines if required.
• Excellent written skills with the ability to produce highquality copy for political and stakeholder audiences.
• Good organisational and project management skills, with an ability to identify opportunities for proactive communications.

Desirable

• Experience of working within healthcare communications, a membership body, and/or a communications agency.
• Knowledge of the health and care environment, including policy processes and political context.
• Experience supporting external events aimed at government and/or political audiences.