About us

We are Britain’s national equality regulator and a United Nations accredited ‘A status’ national human rights institution.

We uphold people’s rights without fear or favour. We use the full force of our legal powers to defend people from unfair or unequal treatment and to challenge breaches of the law. We advise on developing laws and provide guidance, training and support to enable compliance.

We bring people together to create change. We work with employers, governments and a wide range of organisations, to promote understanding of equality and human rights and we support them to make improvements in practice.

Our strategy for 2022-25 gives us a strong platform to show that we will use our powers to protect and promote equality and human rights, and that we have identified the main challenges in society where we can make a difference in our role as a regulator.

Overview of the role and responsibilities

The Strategic Communications Business Partner is a key role in the Communications Directorate. You will work across the organisation to provide strategic communications advice to teams. You will lead/support the planning, delivery and evaluation of key projects.

Working as a Senior Associate at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, you will contribute to and/or lead work in support of the delivery of our Business Plan. Our Senior Associates have many opportunities for autonomy and responsibility and are able to work effectively across the Commission, contributing to the success of our projects and/or specialist areas of work. Working flexibly and collaboratively, you will be a self-starter who requires minimal supervision and oversight from senior colleagues. You will continue to hone your judgement and professional/technical skills, taking pride in your work and supporting/developing others.

As a Senior Associate, you will be a valued member of the Strategic Communications and Engagement Team. You will provide leadership on your areas of responsibility. You will have the opportunity to coach and mentor others, while also personally benefitting from coaching from others.

You will need to fulfil this role in a way that is in keeping with our values of fairness, dignity and respect, and display a high degree of flexibility, accountability and initiative.

You will:

• lead on short-term planning, including running a weekly grid check meeting and managing our forward look

• support the Head of Strategic Communications & Engagement with medium and longer-term planning and prioritisation, including gathering and sharing intelligence from other teams

• provide expert strategic communications advice across the Commission and identify opportunities to deliver regulatory impact through best-in-class communications campaigns

• plan, deliver and evaluate integrated communications activity to support high-profile and interesting projects (such as our work on human rights monitoring or to tackle sexual harassment in the workplace)

• provide the Director of Communications with a weekly update on high priority projects

• work on emerging projects/priorities under the supervision of the Senior Principal for Stakeholders and Insight or Head of Strategic Communications & Engagement.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

The full list of Knowledge, Skills and Experience required for the role can be found in the Candidate Pack.

Benefits

In return you can expect to receive a competitive salary, 30 days annual leave plus bank holidays (full time FTE) and access to the Civil Service Pension Scheme and partnership pension schemes.

We will provide investment in your career, giving you access to Civil Service Learning, our peer learning programme, specialist training and mentoring.  

We offer a range of family friendly benefits, such as enhanced parental leave, flexible working including non-contractual hybrid working.

You will also have access to our wellbeing offering, including our employee assistance programme, mental health first aiders, health checks, discount gym membership and retail discounts, cycle to work scheme and other salary sacrifice options. In addition, we have a range of staff networks and social groups.

How to apply

If this sounds like the role for you, please review the attached Candidate Pack for more information and submit your application today!

If you encounter any problems with Applied or have a question about the recruitment process, please contact a member of the People Team, peoplehelpdesk@equalityhumanrights.com  

Disability Confident Leader

As a Disability Confident Leader, the Equality and Human Rights Commission offers an interview for people with disabilities (as defined by the Equality Act 2010 and The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004) and who meet the minimum criteria for this appointment.

Where high numbers of applications are received, the candidates that best meet the minimum criteria for the role may only be invited to interview. If you wish to apply for consideration under this scheme, please complete the appropriate section on the online application form. This will enable us to make the appropriate arrangements, if necessary.

If you require an alternative accessible version of the application form or wish to discuss your application or reasonable adjustment – please contact us by email at peoplehelpdesk@equalityhumanrights.com or by telephone on 0161 829 8100

Diversity in our workforce

At the Commission, we are proud of our respectful workplace that values the contribution of all our staff, whatever their background.  We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment. Our recruitment decisions are based on fair, open competition, with appointment on merit. We welcome applications from everyone to ensure we achieve a balanced representation in our workforce in all grades.