Policy Officer

What if you contributed to influencing the global engineering community?

What if you worked in a team that advised government and policymakers on matters relating to engineering and technology?

What if you were our Policy Advisor?

At the IET, making our world a better place starts by creating a better place for our people. At the IET you’ll have more than just a job. Our work is exciting and challenging, connecting the people who solve the problems that matter. It means working with us has real meaning and impact, and you’ll grow - professionally and personally - in ways you never thought possible. We’re also making significant investments in our people, including providing a modern, vibrant workplace and embracing hybrid working.

What you’ll be doing

As a Policy Officer joining the Policy and Insight team, you will work closely with Policy Advisors and Managers to formulate impactful policy responses and develop positions on key issues. Your role will extend to providing support in policy and public affairs within our key areas: design and manufacturing, energy, digital, transport, healthcare, innovation, and skills. Your responsibilities will involve leading research initiatives, stakeholder mapping, working closely with volunteers to develop comprehensive policy documents, and organising targeted events for our primary stakeholders, such as government, academia, and industry.

What we hope you can bring to the role

The ideal candidate will have knowledge of the political landscape and legislative processes in the UK. You will have the aptitude to assimilate complex information and your ability to identify potential opportunities within intricate details will play a crucial role in formulating well-informed policy responses and positions.

You will have experience of developing and disseminating policy and public affairs through working with government and planning and implementation of political campaigns.

As a natural rapport builder, you’ll be able to communicate and collaborate with a wide range of stakeholders and volunteers, internally and externally. You’ll also have experience of conducting research and analysing and extracting key data.

We’d love to get to know you

Is Imposter syndrome creeping in? Don’t worry - we’d rather hear from you this time than not hear from you at all! Read on for a little more information about the role; but also, keep in mind that we’re open to discussing flexible ways of working, including reduced hours and working in an agile way, supported by a hybrid working framework that allows you to find the best place to do your best work.

A little more about the role

• Under the guidance of the Policy Advisors and Managers, work to support a broad portfolio of work across the engineering sectors, including:

o Undertake research, evidence gathering and applying critical analysis to a variety of engineering topics,

o Identify policy areas and contribute to policy thinking,

o Drafting material from project group and panel activities including reports, briefings and presentations.

• Engage with a wide range of stakeholders to understand the industry and academic attitudes to key policy agendas and increase the impact of the IET’s work - both within the IET and externally.
• Understand complex work from stakeholders and turn this into simple policy briefings for Government.
• Work with our volunteers to draft responses to consultations and submissions.
• Work closely with the Public Affairs, Content, Strategic Marketing, and Communications teams to plan the development and release of information to help maxmise the impact of our policy and insight outputs.
• Help shape our engagement with key public policy events and discussions and coordinate impactful roundtables and workshops in response to requests for engineering input into a range of policy challenges.
• Support the IET’s work in Public Affairs, including stakeholder mapping, identifying political campaigns and increasing relations between politicians and the IET.
• Comply with departmental processes including monthly reporting on KPIs, contribution to team meetings, responsibility for budget within their areas, formal consultation processes, volunteer registers, and financial processes.
• Support voluntary panels and their members.
• Undertake any other duties and projects as required.

A little more about what we’re looking for

• Experience of working in a policy environment, in government, or with a thinktank, trade organisation or membership body would be desirable.
• Excellent written and verbal skills and an ability to communicate with impact.
• Outstanding interpersonal skills able to collaborate across professional boundaries and proactively develop and nurture networks
• Ability to communicate complex ideas in a clear and compelling way
• An interest in public policy, public affairs and ideally engineering and technology
• A creative and critical thinker who is open to new ideas, and enjoys collaborative ways of working
• A strong team player who is also able to demonstrate initiative, with sound organisational and planning skills, and the ability to work under pressure and to deadline
• Project management experience would be an asset, but is not essential
• Strong analytical skills and ability to assimilate complex information quickly
• Experience of working with committees and/or volunteers

What if you could be you? The IET is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. To find out more, head over to our 'Work for the IET’ site.