Senior Principal - Engagement & Insight

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Location Cardiff, Manchester, Glasgow
Salary £63,593.16 (pending a pay award for 2023/24)
Team Communications Team
  • Closing: 11:59pm, 4th Jun 2023 BST

Job Description

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

Performing a key leadership role in the Communications Directorate, the Senior Principal Engagement and Insight will be responsible for leading our stakeholder engagement, strategic communication, and correspondence teams.

Working closely with the other members of the Communications Senior Leadership Team, you will develop and implement a new strategic approach to engaging with our stakeholders both across Great Britain and internationally. You will provide expert advice on gathering insights on stakeholder views and develop new engagement channels to enhance collaboration and understanding across a diverse audience. You will ensure our communications activities are insight-led and you will develop and implement evaluation strategies to support a culture of continuous improvement.

You will:

  • Develop our approach to stakeholder engagement and provide advice to the Commission’s Leadership Team on the ongoing management of stakeholder relationships and intelligence to support our strategic priorities.

  • Oversee the delivery of a comprehensive programme of virtual and in-person stakeholder events to build relationships and support the delivery of our strategic plan. 

  • Develop and implement consistent mechanisms to collate, track and report on stakeholder insights, to inform both communications activities and the wider work of the Commission.

  • Develop and implement new mechanisms to measure and track reputation.

  • Oversee the management of Memorandum of Understanding agreements with key partners.

  • Working closely with the Strategy team and Human Rights Monitoring team, develop a new international strategy and programme of international engagement to support our role as a United Nations accredited ‘A status’ national human rights institution.

  • Provide expert advice on all aspects of the strategic communications and stakeholder engagement function to senior managers across the Commission. 

  • Lead and develop direct reports to provide strong leadership for their functions, setting clear goals and expectations, and creating a culture of high performance and excellence.

  • Deputise for the Communications Director as required.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

This is a high profile role within the Commission. You will need to have the confidence of senior managers across the Commission whilst inspiring your teams and supporting them to thrive.

The role requires extensive experience of working with diverse audiences on complex and contested issues. You will need a high level of personal resilience and the ability to build strong credibility at pace. 

Essential Knowledge, Skills and Experience required include

  • Proven track record of designing and implementing effective stakeholder engagement strategies on complex and high profile issues.

  • Demonstrable experience of leading audience research, both qualitative and quantitative.

  • Experience of designing and delivering large and small-scale events both online and in person.

  • Significant experience of working at a senior level, leading communication teams to plan, deliver, and evaluate multi-channel communications and engagement campaigns on high profile issues.

  • Experience of budget and contract management.  

  • Ability to work with a range of individuals and organisations, sometimes in a challenging environment, to build trust and credibility on highly contentious and sensitive issues.

  • Ability to prioritise and respond to complex requests, troubleshooting to work at pace and manage multiple competing deadlines.

  • Knowledge of the stakeholder landscape the Commission operates in. both across Great Britain and internationally.

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 for more information and submit your application today!

If you have any questions, please contact Moya Alcock, Director of Communications, moya.alcock@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.

Removing bias from the hiring process

Applications closed Sun 4th Jun 2023

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Removing bias from the hiring process

  • Your application will be anonymously reviewed by our hiring team to ensure fairness
  • You’ll need a CV/résumé, but it’ll only be considered if you score well on the anonymous review

Applications closed Sun 4th Jun 2023