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 new 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

We are looking for an exceptional Project Manager to lead projects in the Regulatory Network. You will be a self-starter who requires minimal supervision and oversight from senior colleagues.  Reporting to a line manager within the Legal team, you will need to work flexibly and collaboratively with colleagues within the Regulatory Network and across the wider Commission, in England, Scotland and Wales.

As a Senior Associate, you will continue to hone your judgement and professional/technical skills, taking pride in your work and supporting/developing others.  The role involves a high degree of accountability, initiative and resilience. You will need to fulfil this role in a way that is in keeping with our values of fairness, dignity and respect.

You will:

• Initiate and manage projects in accordance with the Commission’s agreed project management methodology.

• Create and maintain project documentation, with support from other relevant functions, including: project briefs; delivery plans; risk registers and issue logs; people and budget resource plans; delivery and impact monitoring reports; terms of reference for working groups; roles and responsibilities documents for the project team; data handling plans; sign-off and approvals process.  

• Monitor performance and take prompt action to address or raise issues, risks or delays.

• Convene and chair project team meetings and cross-commission working groups where relevant, producing minutes and follow-up action points.

• Liaise regularly with colleagues in other functional teams to plan and co-ordinate cross-commission working.

• Act as a central point of contact for projects, overseeing administration of the project email inbox (with administrative assistance).

• Report to relevant steering groups, and prepare reports for the Leadership Team and the Board.

• Work with the Communications team to plan and ensure delivery of all communications and stakeholder engagement activity to maximize the impact of our projects.

Team Responsibilities

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has an ambitious new strategy, focusing our resources on where we can make a real, lasting difference to people’s lives across Britain. We will use our powers to tackle unlawful discrimination, improve equality outcomes and protect and promote human rights. As a regulator, we have a strong set of powers and levers, and our aim is to use all of these to the greatest possible effect, across the most challenging issues facing Britain today. These range from upholding rights and equality in health and social care, against the context of the inequalities exposed and exacerbated by the pandemic, to addressing the growing equality and human rights impact of digital services and artificial intelligence so that people are not left behind as services move online, or unlawfully discriminated against by automated decision making.

To ensure we fulfil the ambitions in our new strategy, we continue to develop and strengthen our regulatory model and we’re investing in building our regulatory capability. We want to constantly learn about and improve how we regulate most effectively, and we are committed to the continuing growth and development of our teams. Working with us should enable colleagues to develop and deepen their knowledge of and expertise in equality and human rights law, as well their skills and confidence as regulators.

This is a new role within the Commission’s Regulatory Network, comprising Legal and Compliance teams. The Regulatory Network sits at the heart of the Commission.  It makes use of a range of different tools to ensure regulated bodies feel enabled and motivated to comply with their equality and human rights obligations, and non-compliance has serious consequences.

We use the right regulatory lever at the right time and in the right circumstances to achieve our goals. We: 

• build an evidence base so that we understand how well organisations are complying and how we can make best use of our resources to achieve impact

• ensure individuals are more aware of their rights and how to seek redress

• issue authoritative, targeted guidance and

• conduct targeted litigation and enforcement work that achieves wide impact and drives lasting, positive change.

The role will initially be based within the Legal team but in the future may be deployed across any of the regulatory network teams as the need arises. The role will report to a Principal who will, in turn, report to the new Director of Legal Policy and Advice. The Legal Policy and Advice team is a new team within the Regulatory Network.  It will be responsible for advising and informing our positions on a wide range of our work from government consultations to our own inquiries, and providing advice direct to the Board and the Chief Executive on equality and human rights law, including how it intersects with other relevant areas of law.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

The role requires excellent communication skills, tact, diplomacy and resilience. You will need to build strong relationships with colleagues across the Commission, including senior leaders, and with external stakeholders and have an awareness of the external political landscape.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience required include

Essential experience

• Demonstrable experience of running high risk projects to challenging timescales

• Experience of working with cross-functional teams.

• Experience of relationship building with external stakeholders, including legal stakeholders.

Desirable experience

• Experience of working within a regulatory/legal environment. 

• Experience of building impact in project work.

Essential knowledge and skills

• Ability to challenge robustly and ensure delivery of quality projects to budget and timescale.

• Strategic thinking and a willingness to propose solutions to potential problems.

• Awareness of equality and human rights issues and the policy context/agenda, particularly in politically sensitive areas.

• Desirable knowledge and skills

• A formal project management qualification may be an advantage but not essential.

Benefits

In addition to a competitive salary, we offer a range of benefits including flexible working patterns, 30 days annual leave plus 8 bank holidays (full time FTE), access to the Civil Service Pension Scheme and partnership pension schemes, and enhanced parental leave benefits. More information can be found in the candidate pack.

How to apply

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

If you have any questions, please contact Suzanne Devlin – Project Manager – Legal, Intelligence and Impact: Suzanne.Devlin@equalityhumanrights.com.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an accredited Disability Confident Leader and operates a Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS) for candidates with a disability.

Should you wish to apply under our Guaranteed Interview Scheme or request a reasonable adjustment, please indicate this in your application.  

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 recruitment@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.