Head of External Affairs and Campaigns

Vacancy reference: HEACAug24
Salary: £60,005 - £65,125 per annum
Location: London
Closing date: 18/09/2024
Department: Public Affairs
Hours Per Week: 35
Contract: Permanent

Benefits

- 27 days’ annual leave + statutory holidays + three closures days over the Christmas period.

- Flexible working for all staff including working from home/hybrid working, and flexi-time/TOIL scheme.

- Attractive family friendly policies.

- Private healthcare cover.

- Season ticket loans.

- Employee awards, and training and development opportunities.

Please note, we are currently consulting with staff on an expectation of two days a week in-person working to take effect from October 2024 which will apply to this role. We will keep candidates updated on this as appropriate, subject to the outcome of the consultation.

An exciting opportunity has arisen at the National Housing Federation (NHF) for a Head of External Affairs and Campaigns.

The NHF is the voice of not-for-profit housing associations in England. We are the trade body to almost 600 housing associations, who have grown from philanthropic roots to provide 2.6 million homes to around six million people.

Our members are key partners of the government in fixing the housing crisis. The NHF is an influential and trusted voice in shaping housing policy and practice.

You will be responsible for building and maintaining our key relationships across national and local government, and with regulators, residents of social housing, our partners in the charitable and social sectors and investors.

You will work closely with our policy, research and media teams to develop evidence based, credible policy positions and convey these to our key audiences.

Please scroll down to the bottom of the page to download the full job profile and person specification for this role.

Key elements of the role:

- Responsible for the NHF’s approach to building and maintaining a broad range of external relationships, including our public affairs and campaigning activities. You will ensure the sector’s voice is credible, respected and influential.
- You will provide strategic counsel to the NHF’s leadership team and Board and support members to collaborate and take collective action on issues that affect the reputation of the sector and our standing with the government and the public.
- Through our public affairs and campaigns work you will lead on the NHF’s coalition building, with political stakeholders and wider partners across the UK.

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate experience of:

- Building successful stakeholder engagement programmes at a senior level.
- Building alliances and coalitions in support of shared outcomes.
- Working on sensitive and high-profile issues with integrity.
- Handling complex and technical policy issues and translating these for different audiences.
- Delivering integrated influencing projects at scale, including working with ministers and senior officials.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

The NHF has published its equality, diversity and inclusion strategy, which was co-created with staff. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace, and we value the contribution each individual makes to our work.

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and are working to increase the diversity profile of our workforce. We are currently under-represented by ethnic minorities, people with a disability or disabilities and LGBTQ+, and would particularly welcome applications from people in these groups.

Disability confident committed employer

We are a disability confident committed employer. If you are a disabled person who demonstrates you meet the skills and experience we consider essential for the role, we will offer you an interview.

We are happy to consider reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process if you have a disability or have a condition that you feel may affect your performance during the recruitment process.

Our role profile and job advert can also be requested in large print or in accessible format via this email address.

Uploading your CV and cover letter

If you decide to apply for this role, when requested, please upload a version of your CV that does not include any personal details, such as name, gender, age etc. You should also ensure that you do not add your name at the end of the cover letter. This will help us to shortlist candidates for interview based solely on their knowledge, skills and experience.

Right to work in the UK/UK VISA sponsorship

You must have the right to work in the UK and it is important to note that the NHF does not sponsor individuals to work in the UK.

Closing date for applications: 18th September 2024

Interview date: 7th October 2024