Senior Policy Advisor

Job summary

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the UK government department responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world-leading food and farming industry, and sustaining a thriving rural economy. Our broad remit means we play a major role in people's day-to-day life, from the food we eat, and the air we breathe, to the water we drink.

Strategy Directorate

Strategy Directorate is a fast-paced, dynamic, and challenging environment. Our purpose is to give a high quality and timely service to Ministers and the Permanent Secretary, and to ensure that Defra group is able to achieve the strategic objectives we set out in our Business Plan.

We work in support of Defra’s strategic objectives, look at how we can join up with other initiatives across the organisation to get things done, support each other to deliver excellent work, help Defra to make good decisions and we identify and unblock barriers to change.

The Team

Our team is responsible for place-based delivery and English Devolution. English Devolution is a significant priority for this government and tailoring delivery approaches to align with local priorities, within a national framework, is fundamental to improving Defra’s outcome delivery.

This is an exciting time to join a team in a high-priority work area, with significant opportunities to develop and lead new areas of work. As an SEO senior policy adviser, you will support the team’s reputation within the department and across government and help Defra to articulate a coherent strategic vision for its approach to English Devolution and place-based delivery.

Encouraging diverse applicants

We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups.

Location

This role can be based at any Main Defra Policy Hub. You will be expected to attend your contractual office 60% of the time.

Job description

As an SEO senior policy adviser in a central team, you will play a critical role across the team’s priority work areas. Our work is high priority for the new Prime Minister and Secretary of State; you will need to be comfortable working across a wide brief, reprioritising work to meet shifting demands across the portfolio, and handling ambiguity. Our team’s priority workstreams include:

1. Developing and delivering recommendations for how place-based delivery can improve Defra’s outcomes, in collaboration with policy teams across Defra and our Arms-Length-Bodies.

2. Coordinating Defra’s approach to English Devolution policy and local government reform work, which is principally led by the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG). This involves working with multiple teams across the department to develop an understanding of Defra’s interests and equities in this policy area, and influencing MHCLG and other departments to ensure these are reflected in government policy.

3.Developing and maintaining strategic relationships with local government, and particularly with Mayoral Combined Authorities, e.g. this includes running a programme of mayoral roundtables.

4. Developing and articulating Defra’s strategic approach to English Devolution and place-based delivery; gathering intelligence on what we are already doing and how we can do things differently.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Strategy and Delivery division and the Place Team within that; a collaborative and high-performing division sitting at the centre of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. We develop strategic policy with huge impact, and also work in close collaboration with external delivery partners on the ground, delivering projects which bring to life the significant opportunities arising from increased devolution, and the challenges which need to be addressed in order to make it a success.

Person specification

The post holder will work across the full range of the team’s functions, which will include the following responsibilities:

· Developing strategic connections and trusted relationships, supporting a network of place-based delivery stakeholders and experts to support our priority workstreams. This may be at the divisional level, working between our strategy and analytical teams, across the department, including close working with Arms-Length-Bodies, or stakeholders such as Local Authorities or Protected Landscapes.

· Representing Defra with credibility and integrity, owning account-management type relationships with local partners such as Mayoral Strategic Authorities. Acting as lead point of contact and coordinating strategic join-up across Defra to actively help address barriers to on-the-ground delivery of local priorities.

· Preparing briefings for ministers or senior officials attending, for example, cross-Whitehall local devolution and place-based delivery governance fora, or external meetings with mayors or local leaders.

· Providing secretariat functions for place-based delivery governance mechanisms.

· Owning project management processes to support the team with risk management, prioritisation of commissions, and business efficiency.

· Supporting the team to provide clear, evidence-based advice for the Secretary of State, ministers and senior leaders on place-based delivery. Your advice will support robust decision-making, inform the prioritisation of action and ensure tangible benefits are realised. This could involve, for example, collating and presenting sub-national intelligence.

· The opportunity to independently lead change, being a partner to key areas, ensuring analytical rigour and critical thinking are used to achieve priority outcomes.

· Actively contribute to making the Strategy and Delivery Division to a great place to work.

The successful candidate will:

· Be able to operate in highly uncertain and ambiguous environments, comfortable driving progress using their own initiative, whilst being resilient to change.

· Display high levels of judgement across a broad, and often sensitive range of issues, knowing the right time to escalate issues.

· Be able to work flexibly at pace, managing competing deadlines by planning, managing and prioritising tasks across a complex and busy portfolio with multiple interdependencies.

· Have strong organisational and effective decision-making skills, drawing on their own judgement and initiative.

· Have intellectual curiosity and willingness to challenge assumptions or established ways of working based on evidence.

· Have strong interpersonal and communication skills.

· Be able to manage upwards and to work confidently and credibly with people of all grades, supporting progress on the place-based delivery and devolution agenda.

· Have good analytical and problem-solving skills, able to think critically and see through delivery problems by breaking down complexity and testing workable solutions.

· Be familiar with the English Devolution agenda and/or have experience of working in Local Government.

Roles in strategy and delivery require post holders to be agile across projects and workstreams as the DD’s work is closely related to Ministerial priorities which may be subject to change.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your