Senior Policy Adviser - Climate Justice

About the role

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) is working to speed up and support the transition to a more equitable and just future, free from poverty, in which people and planet can flourish. Inspired by the work of our founder over a century ago, today we are an independent, social change organisation, with an endowment, working across all nations of the UK.

This new role has been created to help us achieve our mission around people and planet and will entail the creation of a new stream of policy development and influencing activity around climate justice. Your brief will be to devise arguments and ideas which can help us advance towards environmental sustainability in ways that are both ambitious and sensitive to the needs of households in the UK, particularly those on low incomes.

We want to be led by the post-holder on the specific scope of work, which should draw on JRF’s capacity to blend policy, analysis, advocacy and convening - combining in-house delivery and resourcing the work of others. We are particularly interested in questions about the costs and benefits of transition in key areas such as housing, energy and transport (given fears in particular around how these might be distributed and the impact on household budgets).

In this role, you’ll have the space and resources to create, connect, convene and cultivate ideas to catalyse social change on climate justice. You’ll design and lead a new area of work, expanding our expertise - and our impact - into a high-profile policy area, and be our point person on climate and environment policy. By linking to JRF’s work on campaigns, advocacy, emerging futures and social investment, you’ll find compelling ways to bring our policy & ideas to life.

About you

Candidates will bring a track record of influential policy contributions, and your portfolio to date will be distinctive for its quality, creativity and rigour. Able to shape the policy and political conversation at a national level, you'll be a 'go-to’ voice for original thinking and expertise among decision-makers and opinion formers. You’ll bring curiosity, a powerful commitment to social justice, and ideally a network of relationships from within the environmental sector.

Applications are welcome from all, regardless of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief, race, sex, sexual orientation, trans status or socioeconomic background. We recognise that we cannot truly be an anti-poverty organisation unless we are also an anti-racist organisation, and we positively encourage applications from people with experience of living in poverty.

We are a Disability Confident Employer. This means that we are committed to the recruitment, progression and retention of disabled individuals. We shall also offer interviews to disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria for the job. If you have a disability, please tell us if you would like to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme.

How to apply

If you share our passion and this role sounds like you, then we’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Please submit your CV and supporting information via our online application platform.

The closing date for applications is 23:59 hours on 31st March 2024.

Interviews will take place either in York, London or remotely the week commencing 22nd April 2024.

We will be running a webinar to share information and answer questions about the role with potential candidates at 12.30pm on the 11th March.

Additional Information

In support of our approach to flexible working, we are happy to receive applications from those seeking full-time employment, as well as those who may want to share the role on a part-time basis. When making your application, please state whether you want to be considered for either full or part-time work and, if part-time, the number of hours per week you would be looking for.

At JRF we’re at our best when we’re continually building on trust, showing we care and making a difference - and hope others will do the same. So for those roles which allow it, we’re developing a more blended approach to how and where you work. This means you can expect to work flexibly between the office and home (with an expectation of two days a week in your home office).