Public Affairs Officer

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This range is provided by National Housing Federation. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

Public Affairs Officer

Department: Public Affairs

Contract: Permanent

- 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 flexitime/TOIL scheme.

- Attractive family friendly policies.

- Season ticket loans.

- Employee awards, and training and development opportunities.

For more information about our benefits please visit our website.

Please note, the successful candidate will be expected to carry out two days in-person working per week on average which will include attendance at the above office location.

Flexible working arrangements can be discussed and agreed with the line manager subject to role and business needs.

An exciting opportunity has arisen at the National Housing Federation (NHF) for a Public Affairs Officer. The NHF is the voice of 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. You can find further information about the NHF on our website.

Our vision is for a country where everyone can live in a good quality home they can afford. We work with our members to make this vision a reality – delivering ambitious programmes that lead to lasting, positive change.

We work at the forefront of the political debate – not only on housing, but also on a wide range of other policy issues including welfare, homelessness and climate change. Our work affects the lives of millions of people and diverse communities across the country.

Our dynamic Public Affairs team has built close working relationships at the most senior level of politics. We have a proven track record influencing policy, shaping legislation and building trusted relationships with key decision makers.

Our Public Affairs Officers independently lead on their own policy areas, creating influencing strategies designed to achieve impactful results for our members. Following a period of significant political change in Westminster, we need you to play a crucial role to ensure social housing maintains its political salience, and that housing associations are understood as an integral part of the solution to the housing emergency.

Key elements of the role:

- Developing and leading public affairs strategies to influence the main political parties on topics that matter to our members.

- Building effective relationships with parliamentarians, ministers and shadow ministers, researchers and political advisers.

- Collaborating with colleagues through project groups and providing expert public affairs advice on a range of policy issues.

- Monitoring Parliament and key political development to ensure NHF staff and our members are informed on key issues.

- Drafting high-quality briefings, letters and other documents for national politicians.

- Making the case for the NHF’s influencing asks in face-to-face meetings with key political stakeholders and presenting to internal and member groups.

The successful candidate:

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate:

- A proven ability to develop and implement effective influencing strategies.

- Experience of building and maintaining strong relationships with key stakeholders.

- Commitment to working collaboratively with colleagues across the organiaation.

- Exceptional written and oral communication skills.

- A good understanding of the political environment and climate in the UK.

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…