The Nuffield Foundation is recruiting to the new role of Senior Policy Officer in order to increase the impact and influence of the research that we fund.

About the role

The Nuffield Foundation is a charitable trust. We tackle the UK’s biggest social challenges by funding research, generating evidence, and guiding decision-makers to implement solutions that improve people’s lives.

Working within our Policy and Public Affairs team, you will work across the Nuffield Foundation family to enable evidence-based influence among a broad range of stakeholders including Government, parliamentarians, other policymakers at national and regional level and the third sector.   

You will contribute to thinking and development of prioritised policy areas with within our strategic review, produce external policy outputs (including reports, briefings, consultation responses, letters and web content) as well as internal briefings on key policy issues for senior colleagues, and teams across the organisation.

This role will also horizon scan and monitor forthcoming legislation and policy agendas as well as monitoring parliamentary activity and support our parliamentary engagement strategies to promote Nuffield-funded research.

About you

You will already have some experience of working in a policy or public affairs role, with an excellent understanding of the political climate and mechanisms of the UK political system.

You will have knowledge of social policy issue and be comfortable working with academic research and be able to identify opportunities where the Foundation can achieve real impact with its work.

You will be a strong communicator (both in person and in your written outputs) and be able to work across a wide and varied policy portfolio and engage with a range of policy makers and other stakeholders.

 You should have a creative, collaborative, open and inclusive approach to working, with the ability to work well in a team and also independently.   

 This is an excellent opportunity for someone looking to further develop their policy skills at a time of great shift in the social policy landscape.  

For further information about the role, please click here to download the full job description (PDF).   

About us  

The Nuffield Foundation is an independent charitable foundation with a founding purpose to advance social well-being.  

We achieve this by funding and undertaking rigorous research, encouraging innovation, and supporting the use of sound evidence to improve people’s lives. We tackle pressing, complex questions. Our aim is to open up opportunities and to improve lives for individuals, families and communities, within a just and inclusive society. Our work addresses the inequalities, disadvantage, discrimination and vulnerabilities that people face, and considers the social and ethical implications of scientific and technological advances.   

We are the founder and co-funder of Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Nuffield Family Justice Observatory and the Ada Lovelace Institute.   

We value diversity in background, skills, perspectives and life experiences. Further information on the Foundation’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion work can be found here. 

Further information and how to apply  

The closing date for applications is 09:30am (GMT) on Monday 1st December 2025, with interviews expected to take place on 11th December 2025. 

You will be required to complete some questions as part of this application process, and you are also required to upload an up-to-date copy of your CV. The Applied platform lets you save an application and resume it ahead of submitting before the application deadline.  

The Nuffield Foundation and its Centres think deeply about the role of emerging technology in society. All recruitment decisions are made by a person (we do not use AI tools to rate or reject applicants). We ask applicants to respond to the questions using their own experience, thinking and opinion, writing in their own tone of voice rather than using generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. The use of generative AI can result in generic responses to individual questions which stand out less to reviewers.

Please note that for vacancies which receive a high volume of applications, we may undertake an initial screening of CVs.

Should you need to make an application in a different format or require any adjustments as part of the application process, please get in touch with us: recruitment@nuffieldfoundation.org  

We are committed to inclusive working practices and during the application process we commit to:   

• As a Disability Confident employer, we will offer an interview to a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the essential criteria for the job. 

• making any reasonable adjustments – for example providing documents in different formats, arranging for a sign language interpreter for interviews etc   

• reimbursing reasonable travel costs (and any childcare or care costs) for interviews where in-person attendance is required   

Our benefits package includes:   

• Genuine flexibility - we are open to requests for part-time hours, compressed working weeks, or job shares. 

•  28 days holiday per annum and all public holidays, with the option to buy or sell up to 5 days (prorated for part time staff). 

• A salary exchange pension scheme that offers employer contributions of up to 11%.    

• Life assurance scheme.    

• Family leave policies that provide an enhanced level of pay.    

• Cycle to work scheme and loans towards season tickets.    

• Regular opportunities for learning and development – including coaching, mentoring, and dedicated reading days for personal development and reflection. 

• Support with your physical, mental and financial wellbeing including an employee assistance provider, a private GP service, personal health reviews with Bupa, a will and funeral planning service and a staff network of trained Mental Health First Aiders. 

• A warm and welcoming workplace culture, with active peer groups and social networks to help you connect and belong.